Interview with Team Canada's Head Coach

Seppo Pulkkinen, coach of Happee in the Finnish Elite Floorball League, is Canada's new Head Coach

On Thursday, February 4, 2010 I had a chance to sit down with Team Canada’s head coach Seppo Pulkkinen before practice at Sherwood Secondary School in Hamilton, Canada.

First of all, who is Seppo Pulkkinen?

Primarily I am a passionate coach, as I have been coaching for 35 years! For the first 25 years of my coaching life I worked in volleyball, including 6 years as the head coach of the Women’s National Team for Finland.

I am a physical education teacher and a principal. I have a positive outlook on life and enjoy meeting people from all around the world and learning about difference cultures. It’s important to have a good sense of humor and not take life too seriously.

Tell me about your previous coaching experience.

I am coaching Happee, a floorball club in the Finnish Elite League, for the 5^th season. I worked with the Finnish Women’s National Team in floorball for 6 years. Originally I started coaching floorball in the 4^th division and after we moved up to the 2^nd division, I started with Happee.

How did you become Canada’s coach?

My club Happee played KooVee in Tampere, which is the team that Harry Hannelius’ (Team Canada’s General Manager) son Lauri plays for. After the game, I spoke with Harry and he asked if I would be interested in coaching Canada.

He was adamant that my English had to be very good, so he asked that I write a story in English about myself. He then called me on the phone and interviewed my in English!

It was a very good time to approach me because I am very motivated to coach right now and I was looking to do something international.

What style of game can fans expect Canada to play?

Canada will play modern floorball; which I think is an active forward-moving game. We will not play a boring, passive, standing game. We will look to create movement with the ball and players but that being said we must remember to play good defense.

Our fore-checking will be very active and we hope to use the pressure we create to make Team USA’s defense uncomfortable. I think we will be playing the style of the future!

A challenge we face right now from a coaching perspective is the short time frame we have to work with the players. Right now, we will focus on beating the USA and then when we go to Helsinki we want to not just go but also compete.

For a hockey coach looking for a new challenge, what are the major differences between coaching floorball and hockey?

In floorball, players can’t body check and you play without blue and red lines. This results in a much simpler and more straight-line game. It gives coaches some cool new opportunities but because the game is played 5 on 5 there are lots of similar concepts and ideas.

I think coaching floorball is a wonderful opportunity for an ice hockey coach. They can get reenergized and motivated.

You have a strong passion for volleyball, do you think Canadian volley ball lovers should give floorball a try & why?

Yes, I do. Believe it or not there are lots of drills from volleyball that transfer over to floorball. The game focuses on speed, agility and keeping the ball moving at all times, which are also important things in floorball.

What has been your biggest surprise of the journey so far?

Everyone is very positive and the players and staff are very motivated.

What is your biggest disappointment?

Nothing!

If you could change one thing in Canadian floorball, it would be:

To get more people playing the game. Floorball needs to be more popular in schools. It is an inexpensive game that focuses on conditioning and is very social.

What do you think about the level of the Canadian-based players on your team?

They are very good players with a good background in sports. Some of the players are from ball hockey which is very close to floorball. I think these two sports need to  find each other further and focus on cooperation.

There are some very talented guys young guns like Joel Inouye and Mike Hayward. It’s obvious Anthony Herrington has done a great job teaching these players.

You like your player’s to be creative and you usually have a few “artists” on each of your teams to score goals. Have you found your team’s “rembrant”?

Yes, I have, but it is a secret. Overall we have great personalities on the team and some very skilled, artistic guys.

What do you think the future of Canadian Floorball will be like?

I hope that there will be cooperation with ball hockey and that the sport gets into schools. There is massive potential here because Canada has a great background in stick and ball sports.

What does your club Happee think about your work with Canada, because your club is in the middle of a tight playoff race back home?

They are very pleased and very supportive. I think they are proud that we are here.

What have you heard about the Canada Cup?

Yes, Lasse Riitesuo from Happee played a few years ago and he has talked about the Canada Cup constantly. He actually still tells stories about it. We hope to participate in a couple of years.

And finally, Canada will beat the United States because:

We are more skilled, faster and ultimately better on every level!

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