TPS has played in the League finals in the last two springs. So everything is fine on the banks of Aurajoki?
TPS wants to be Europe’s top organization in the future. JAAKKO STENROOS / AOP
- According to Erkka Westerlund, sports are the best growth platform for children and young people.
- TPS will first reach the top of Finland and then of Europe.
TPS’ sports activities are managed by three experienced hockey players. Rauli Urama is the director of sports operations, and the sports management team also includes former Leijona coach Erkka Westerlund and player icon Saku Koivu as chairman.
The task of the management team is to plan and develop TPS’s expertise and conditions in the long term, in support of operational activities.
– Urama manages the operational activities of sports. Me and Saku are spars. We try to support Urama as best we can. We all have our own strengths, and we combine them, explains Westerlund to Iltalehte about the trio’s roles.
Looking for top coaches
Urama was in the hands of the Finnish Ice Hockey League for a long time before moving to Turku.
– He has a strong background as a Finnish hockey player. Together, we are looking for an identity for TPS, what TPS coaching is. If we want top players in Turku, we must have top coaches, says Westerlund.
– My role is not close to the league team, and neither is Saku’s. It is the work of Urama and the coaches. All in all, Saku has so much to contribute to this endeavor through his playing career. He is interested in entities.
A look into the future
According to Erkka Westerlund, TPS wants to help children and young people in the Turku area to move more. Good physical condition is also a support in matters of the spiritual side. JOEL MAISALMI / AOP
The TPS organization has clear goals.
– The goal of the sports management team is to look years ahead. How can we get TPS’s sports activities to the top in Finland, and then to the top in Europe, thinks Westerlund, who twice piloted the A national team.
TPS won silver twice in a row – is the club already at the top of Finland?
– Not yet. TPS has stretched well in the last two seasons. During the two seasons, the biggest responsibility for the success has been with the players and coaching. They made the sporting result of the last two years. It has been even better than expected.
Raimo Helminen and Jussi Ahokas coached TPS to silver.
– We have a lot to develop with the team and in background stories. If TPS wants to be successful in the long term, competence, i.e. coaching, must develop.
If TPS develops a top talent from its organization in Finland, it will also be close to the top in Europe.
– Of course, the top European clubs operate on completely different budgets. We develop competence. It is our number one strength in Finland. I believe that if Finland is at the top as an organization, it is also at the top of Europe.
The NHL takes the best
In terms of sports, the NHL is a big factor in the whole.
– When the team is built on its own young people, and when the players get to the surface, many leave behind the rapako, the professor thinks.
Among TPS’s youngsters from last season, Juraj Slafkovsky, Juuso Pärssinen, Markus Nurmi, Emil Estonia and at least for training camp Mikael Wipes.
– We are on the right track. The first thing we wanted to do in the sports management was to get the league team on the right track. Urama has done a good job and received good help From Tomi Kallio and Mika from SuoraniemiWesterlund reminds.
– Polishing the sports side is hard work. The financial side is also a challenge alongside it. It’s not easy. Probably not in any club.
Children to move
TPS’s strategy has another important point alongside top sports. That’s what Westerlund likes to talk about.
– The other side of the club’s strategy is the development of the Turku area. What sports and TPS can do for people here. The most important thing is the activities of children and young people. Exercise and sports are generally the biggest enablers of well-being, Westerlund stresses.
– Of course, this issue is not the problem of TPS alone, but it is a national issue. We have to be able to work better for society in sports, 65-year-old Westerlund thinks.
Mental wellbeing
Long-time Lions captain Saku Koivu is part of the TPS sports management team. JUSSI SAARENEN
Westerlund concretizes his message with a pyramid example.
– There are about 30 players in the junior hockey team. Traditionally, only the top, i.e. a few, may become a player in the League. They get enough attention in the clubs, but how can we take care of all 30 young people? What can we offer them? It is a socially valuable thing.
– Sports is the best growth platform for children and young people. This includes physical well-being, which helps with mental well-being. And working in a team supports the social side. It’s a societal issue, continues Westerlund on a very important topic.
– So TPS wants to be a top European club, but we also have another side. Every child and young person is valuable. We also need good coaches in children’s and youth activities.
TPS is celebrating its 100th anniversary season. It can be seen, for example, with the game outfits that change every month. Each kit honors a specific decade in the club’s history.