Lauri Yl’nen. Building a highway to the top.

Rugby does not have a long history in Finland. The last Nordic country to take to rugby, the first recorded game (men or women) was in 1978, and it was not until the 1990s that the game began to put down roots. As a result it was no surprise to learn that?˜Lauri got his first taste of?˜game overseas.?˜"I got introduced to rugby while on exchange in New Zealand back in 1998", he told us, "and?˜I took up the game in Finland when the domestic league was found in 2001. I played in the national team for roughly 10 years".

Lauri - who is a personal trainer - started his?˜move to the other side of the touchline when he?˜began?˜fitness coaching for floorball, starting to coach?˜rugby in 2008, first?˜with 15s and later transferring to 7s. Which brought him to the notice of the Finnish Rugby Union:

"I got asked to help with the backs coaching for 15s national team, and eventually found myself helping out with the management of the sevens team. When the previous coach stepped down, I was selected. A few years back there weren't that many coaches coaching womens teams. Now things are a bit different and we are getting more women coaches, as well as retired players who want to give back to the sport"

Since taking over the national team,?˜Lauri has been at the centre of major changes in the organisation of women rugby.?˜

"Things have changed quite drastically in last three years. When I took over the coaching in 2012 I made a core plan for the development of womens game in Finland. The plan included a domestic sevens series, played indoors in the winter, and now we are just starting our third season. which runs from January to May, with the outdoor fifteens season then running from June to September.

"As a result sevens is mainly played indoors on an artificial grass which has it's own challenges as it's fairly expensive and major sports tend to get first pick of pitches whenever they wish. Yet this is the way we can grow the sport and get more games. As for fifteens, last summer was the first season with proper 15-a-side games as previous years it's been more of a 10s or 12s, which is great as again it also shows the growth of the sport. This year we have eight clubs playing in the sevens series.

"However?˜most players do not start playing until after high school, which is a bit of a worry. Most of the clubs are based in university cities, so they get a lot of new recruits who come there to study. Fortunately there is a lot of more action going on in schools with Get Into Rugby and?˜the womens national team is a proud supporter of GiR."

There are only around 175 registered players in Finland - of all ages and abilities, so Lauri has to make sure he does not miss any talent. "In the previous years we've screened about 35 players per year but this autumn we had a total of 70 names on the list including potential beginners. Some of the players are just checking out what the national team is about but yet it is another signal of the growth," he tells us.. "Still, I wouldn't mind having a player pool of hundreds," he adds with a smile!

But player numbers are the least of the challenges he and his team face:?˜

"The main problems we face are related to finances, long winter and distances. The players attending all camps and tournaments pay between ??2000-3000 to play. This cuts down the interest towards the national team, but then again the players who put their heart and money into it are really devoted. The costs are so high due to indoor training fields during the winter as the snow is on the ground from December to April.

"Finland's geographical position means that all the major tournaments are far away and the flights are expensive. Therefore we are only taking part in on or two?˜international tournaments a year, besides the European championships. We get some financial support but being a very small sport with volunteer based federation, we are struggling to find sponsors [hint, hint!]. I'd love to take the team to play in different tournaments around the world, but now we just have to do things differently and think outside the box.

"Coaching wise a major difference between us and the big nations is that none of us gets paid. Of course there always is a trade-off between coaching/playing and family and work. The voluntary position means that the income needs to come elsewhere, and being a personal trainer with my own company take its time which means that I can allocate less time to coaching than I would like to. It's the same for our players as well.

"Another challenge is that, due to a small player pool, the significance of losing a top player is huge. For example I know that this spring we will need to cover a loss of two or three absolutely key players. But wouldn't it be boring if everything went smoothly?"Training starts in October with a try out camp. After that we get together once before the new year and after that once a month. In Helsinki area we have enough players to have a short weekly session during the spring season."?˜

So what has been the secret of his success?

"Probably the biggest reason we have done well in recent years?˜is that we have had a core group of players who have put their heart and soul into the team. The long-term plan an restructuring sevens that I introduced in 2012 is one factor. We have developed a team culture where players take a lot of responsibility and are heard, it's a sort of "leaderful" team, which is probably a bit different to other international teams. I think myself more of a facilitator or an enabler for the players to grow and learn.

"We also had a look at things we can do differently and what our strengths are. For example, with the player base we had, we weren't going to be the fastest team around. But maybe we could be the strongest or fittest? It worked well in group B and took us far in group A. But for the Grand Prix we need to pull few more aces from the sleeve."

So how far can Finland go?˜in the European Grand Prix?

"Some of our players have a bit of experience on playing against the top teams, but then we have players who have none. We all have a lot to learn. First and foremost we'll be concentrating on our own process of building the team. It may sound as a cliche but that is the only thing we can affect. We'll see [in the first leg] in Kazan if we can upset some of the other teams and give them excruciating 14 minutes. Overall it's a great opportunity to learn and develop - and naturally we want to stay in the Grand Prix."

In the end, what are Lauri's hopes and?˜targets for the Finland team??˜

"We've set a path for the development of women??s sevens in Finland and now we need more and more people to help make it into a highway. That?˜way the national team gets a platform from where it can grow. The 2020 Olympics would be a dream come true. I also want to continue learning to become a better coach and hopefully I'll find an opportunity to gather the knowhow by coaching professionally abroad!"

?˜