Ben's Second Week

I have really been able to settle down during my second week, as I started to get into the groove of coaching and playing. Matt and I usually coach about three times a week for an hour and a half each time. This has been a fun and challenging experience. The kids range from 9-16 and they represent the full spectrum from being brand new to the game, to having played for a number of years.
One day Matt and I went to an elementary school to teach football to a group of about 25 boys. We were very excited to see that seven of these boys came out to practice with the junior teams two days later. Many of these young boys show a lot of promise, and something our junior teams need more than anything is numbers.
On Friday night before our game Matt and I were invited to our head coaches apartment for dinner. His name is Ilpo Temonen he was a long time player for the Indians, now the head coach, and his photo you see below. The meal was fantastic, and we watched video of games from the Indians last season. The following day we had the trip down to Helsinki for our game, and you can read my game summary to hear more about that.

The celebration following the game was a lot of fun, many of the players and coaches went to a bar together and had a great time. The next day Matt and I went to our teammates, Janne Siltanen, lake house for the day. The weather was great as it has been for the past week now, and it was very nice to be in the sun, although the water was still very cold. At the lake house there is a sauna that we used. We were alternating between 5 or 10 minutes in the sauna, to jumping in the cold lake water. On our last trip into the sauna it was quite hot, and we threw a lot of water on the stones to create a bunch of steam. Maybe its because I sweat so much, but once that steam hit my skin I began to feel a burning sensation and really lost my cool. I started yelling that I needed to get out of the sauna immediately, and everyone was laughing at me. No harm done though, perhaps I’m just a little sensitive to getting burned, (For non-family members: I poured a pot of boiling water on my head when I was 5, hospital for nine days, only memory- being in a big silver tub and having someone scrap my skin off with steel wool…) Regardless, it was a great day and I look forward to many more times at Finnish lakes, known as the land of a thousand lakes.
The mosquitos around dusk here (11 pm) have been pretty terrible. They seem to be bigger and badder than anything I was used to in the states. There also does not seem to be any good solution other than just staying indoors, luckily they are not our for many hours during the day. Matt and I are also helping coach at a sports camp this week. We are helping three hours on Tuesday, 1.5 Wednesday, and 1.5 Thursday. This will help us get a little bit of extra food/beer money. These kids are much younger than those on the junior teams, and that has proved to be even more challenging. That’s because these little ones have not yet begun studying English, so it is necessary for us to have a counselor translate constantly. On top of this the counselors don’t know the game of football either, so the general football language is tough on them too.
We have enjoyed some great dinners this week at Satu Yrjanne’s house, she is the sister of the aforementioned Janne Siltanen. This has been a big help, as Matt and I haven’t really been keeping the fridge stocked too well. I have also booked a trip to Oslo for later this month. Looking forward to meeting up with Tony Torres while I’m there, as well as some friends that I met while abroad in Perth, Australia. We have a big game this weekend with the only other undefeated team in the league, Vantaa Taft, and it is our first game at home. The Indians will be celebrating their 25th season at our home game on Saturday. Sorry I have no more pictures, Matt has some and he will be contributing to the blog shortly.