A Day in Kouvola

February29:

Hey guys.  Happy Leap Day!  Maybe the extra day doesn't mean much to you, but for me I'm always happy to celebrate a holiday, even if the day isn't technically a holiday.  Leap day means the Summer Olympics are coming, and I love the summer games almost as much as the World Cup so I get pretty psyched about Leap Day.  As you know since you read everyday, I went to Kouvola today with Kenny and Vili.  It was a pretty fun .  The best thing about going to Kouvola though was simply leaving Myllykoski.  Any reason to leave this place is a good reason.  I made this video right before we left.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day to take a day trip.  The sun was shining and we were ready to go to the big city!  Once downtown, we realized that Kouvola was indeed not that big, but still interesting.  Over the next five hours we walked around the city centre and generally enjoyed ourselves.  It's a bit embarrassing, but my favorite part of the day was going shopping at Dressmann, a store that sells dressy-type clothes.  I bought some clothes on the sales rack and everything cost me 20 euros total!  I bought two semi-dressy shirts, dressy pants and a nice outdoor jacket.  The jacket was 100 euros normally, the pants 40, and the shirts 40 each.  Maybe I’ll get around to posting pictures sometime.  For now here's a picture of that shopping center.

In addition to bargain shopping, we also used this trip to take go to a few restaurants.  There are no restaurants in Myllykoski, except for a pizza place.  First, we went to Hessburger, a fast food burger place.  The boys got burgers, but I went for the fish and chips.  I went to England for the first time last year, and the only thing (other than the people) that I missed was the fish and chips.  Just one restaurant wasn’t enough though, and after a few hours we went to another one called Angelina’s and got some chicken and pasta.  We have to be ready for our double trainings tomorrow!

There’s really not much more to say about Kouvola.  It was disappointingly small.  There was plenty of shopping though, so if I end up signing here at MYPA then I will at least have a way to kill some time on the off days.  My next trip if I’m still here next week will be to Helsinki, so stay tuned.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

Payday sucks when you don't get paid! And MonsterDogs.

February 28:

Today was supposed to be my first payday in Finland/Europe.  My contract with Haka was slated to pay me $2150 per month after tax + a free apartment.  Maybe MYPA will pay me for the week I’ve been here?  Lol I’m not holding my breath on that one.  Anyways…

I don’t really want to go much into the trainings here but there are a couple things I’ve got to get off my chest and since I’m absolutely sure no one in Myllykoski reads this (or much anyone outside of my family), I can say what I want.  First, our trainings have been 75% intrasquad scrimmages.  That’s fine, nothing wrong there I guess, but we only have 20 guys.  That means that we play 10v10 on an enormous field.  The result is something closer to basketball than soccer.  One team sends six attackers versus four defenders in a huge wave.  They either score, kick behind for a goal kick, get dispossessed or have their shot saved by the goalkeeper.  Literally regardless of what happens, the other team immediately begins a counterattack the other way.  It’s like this team is coached by Paul Westphal and Mike D’Antoni.  This is a ridiculous way to play the scrimmages because in the end nobody gets better at all.  In the match the team didn’t make 10 consecutive passes at any time, yet in the training we don’t try to pass, we try to run up and down the field as fast as possible.  I wish the coach would say something but maybe that’s what he’s looking for.  There’s a reason why he’s got a head coaching job and I have no job.  Maybe I shouldn’t be complaining since I get breakaways every single practice and score every practice.  If this team had more than one player signed who could score, then this approach could actually work.  I guess I’ll have to be that guy.

Second, we have a training program that makes absolutely no sense.  We had two medium difficulty training sessions on Monday, one physical training today (Tuesday) at the clubhouse, tomorrow (Wednesday) is off, then we train twice again on Thursday and once on Friday before playing Saturday.  It seems that we could find a more consistent schedule, especially since each training requires a 20km drive to the turf field.  That’s it for my soccer rambling.

-----------------------------------------------

People here seem to just not care about the weather at all.  I’ve been having allergy problems since Saturday, but I refuse to go to the pharmacy today because it’s snowing like the world’s about to end.  It’s only 4:30pm but it must have snowed close to a foot already today.  However, I keep looking outside and see people walking their bear-dogs.  Side note: all the dogs here have a hilarious amount of fur.  Every single dog looks like some long lost four legged creature from the Ice Age that you’d see at the Smithsonian.  One lady walked by with two dogs that must have weighed 70 pounds each and looked like wooly mammoths.  She could just have easily have ridden those things around town.

Tomorrow I will venture into central Kouvola, the most urban area around.  I’ll be heading down with two trialists who are staying here with me, Vili and Kennny.  Vili is from Finland and has his car here so we’ll make the 20km drive into town and have a nice day.  I’ll take some pictures!

Another Week in Myllykoski

February 26:

I got word today from my finnish agent that my trial has been extended for another week.  Apparently the coach was happy with what he saw in training, but discouraged by the game.  That pretty much syncs up with how I felt about my performance.  Honestly I think this team needs a player that is a speed option and has a real desire to take responsibility and score goals.  Currently there is no real speed option and only one player who scores goals.  I can use this week to show my value, but in reality everything is going to come down to the match on Saturday.  We play HJK, the reigning Veikkausliiga champions.

Other than that there’s really not much to report.  I did literally nothing today.  This morning I went to the pharmacy, but of course it was closed.  In fact, the only things open on Sundays in this town are the church, bar and grocery store.  I’m not saying that as a brief listing that includes more things; those are literally the only three things open.  Want pizza?  Sorry.  Unless you want to get one from the grocery store.

Not that you care, but for the last three days my allergies have been going crazy and I have no idea why.  Normally this happens when the leaves start to come back on the trees, but there are two feet of snow outside and no leaves whatsoever.  I can’t imagine there’s any pollen here either.  If you have any idea as to what is going on with me I’d be happy to hear it.

I’ve got to make this week count!  There’s not much time to get a contract and the options shrink every day.

Playing with MYPA: The Worst Thing Ever

February 25:

What a catastrophe of a day.  We played a League Cup match today against FC Lahti.  I played the last 30 minutes or so and was absolutely terrible.  Of course, I wouldn’t be a good whiner if I didn’t blame some of my performance on the lack of service from my teammates.  I literally touched the ball maybe a half dozen times total in 30 minutes.  To make matters worse, the coach (who yelled at everybody) yelled at me constantly to “wake up!”

One thing that I’ve noticed since I’ve been here is that the coaches seem to want me to be something I’m not.  Despite the fact that I played great in a two striker set during both training sessions, I was thrown into the match today as a lone striker.  Both of the center backs on the other team were big, physical players and they dominated me in the air.  The whole time I was in the game I never received a pass to my feet or into a space where I could get it.  I did have one bright moment when I intercepted a pass in midfield and carried the ball to the edge of the box before laying it to the winger, who promptly crossed it out of bounds for a goal kick.  It was that kind of day for myself and the team.

I haven’t spoken to the coach but I don’t anticipate getting good news.  While it’s still possible that my performances in training will earn me a contract, it’s more likely that the match performance undermined my chances.  If so then I’m not too concerned since I’m not too big on the idea of playing here anyway.  I think my next move will be to go to Sweden, since my name is probably losing a bit of weight in the finnish league.  I’ve been essentially cut by two teams and MYPA would be the third so I don’t know what my options will be with other clubs in the league.  I’ve had trial offers in Sweden before so hopefully I can arrange one or two this week and next.  I would prefer to live in Sweden anyway, so maybe things will still work out for the best after all.

Tomorrow is likely a travel day, so I’ll be in touch soon but maybe not tomorrow.

My First Training With MYPA

February 23:

Myllykoski is an extremely boring place.  The team had two training sessions today, and still I’ve had a depressing amount of free time with nothing to do.  There’s only so much Netflix and Hulu that a person can watch in his apartment kitchen!  Actually that’s a lie; there is no limit to Netflix and Hulu.  Those sites are amazing.  I love them so much.  In fact, I don’t know how I would have survived living a year in Harrisburg or how I’ll live anywhere in Finland without on-demand movies and tv.  People think that professional athletes are out all the time doing events and expensive dinners, and perhaps those players at the top level do, but most professionals I’ve ever known spend most of their free time at home watching movies or playing video games.  The top 100 rankings of most video games are predominately professional athletes.

When I actually was doing stuff today, I was doing pretty well.  In the morning we did some physical training in the team clubhouse.  It sounds more difficult than it was, mostly yoga movements and ab exercises.  We also did some strength exercises using various weird moves with a partner.  One had my partner run up and jump into me and I had to catch him ten consecutive times.  In another I had to hold a plank position while two teammates did push-ups on my back.  Things like that.  It was unusual but a decent enough workout.

In the afternoon we had the first training with the ball since I’ve been here.  It was pretty fun, as all we did was play 5v5 games then a 20 minute 11v11 intrasquad scrimmage.  My team was 2^nd out of four teams and I performed well in the small sided matches.  In the full sized scrimmage, I played with the reserve team but was very dangerous.  I scored a goal (on a cheeky backheel, no less) and we finished tied 1-1.  As I’ve said with the last two clubs I’ve trained with, I’m definitely good enough to play here.  Whether or not I’ll be offered a contract is a totally different story, I’ve come to realize.

One interesting thing about my time here at MYPA is that I really couldn’t care less about the opportunity here.  The disappointments of Haka and Jaro have caused me to not get my hopes up at all about the opportunity at MYPA.  Even though I’m here as a trialist, I feel almost like I’m not playing for anything at all.  If I get offered a contract, fine.  If not, well then I have options that I’m more excited about elsewhere anyway.  This whole experience has taken an emotional toll on me already and it’s only been three weeks.  I can only imagine how things will be if I indeed get a contract and I’m here for a long time.  Hopefully I will be.

I have training tomorrow (Friday) and a match Saturday.  Maybe my carefree demeanor will be what I need to get a contract?  You never know.  Weirder things have happened.  Til next time.

Going Crazy at MYPA House

February 22:

It was my first day meeting the new team, and they’re a good bunch.  Today was just a recovery day so all we did was some dynamic stretches and easy movement exercises to help the players’ bodies feel better.  Nothing out of the usual except that a) the coach wasn’t there and b) everything was done at the clubhouse.

I should note that MYPA’s clubhouse is quite unique.  First, it is a three story building plus a basement and it houses a (very old) gym, club offices, the locker room and a sauna.  In addition it also houses a bowling alley and the awful apartment I’m staying in.  You may or may not have noticed a problem there…allow me to clarify: THERE IS A BOWLING ALLEY ABOVE MY APARTMENT!  I didn’t notice it last night because I was picked up so late that I arrived after it closed.  For the past 7 1/2 hours, (it’s 8pm now) I have been hearing bowling ball after bowling ball crash into pins and be returned to the top of the lane.  Now I must admit that the bowling balls sound an awful lot like thunder, so in a way it’s kind of soothing.  Something like a thunderstorm going on outside while you’re comfortably indoors.  But in another, more real way, it is incredibly annoying.  If a writer were trying to create a terrible apartment for a novel, he or she wouldn’t even dream of putting a bowling alley upstairs.  It’s just too ridiculous of a thought.  Surely, the author would think, no one would put a dwelling underneath a bowling alley.  Or better yet, surely no one would think to put a bowling alley on the third floor of the building!

Oh and remember when I said I was working in the kitchen?  Well the outlet that the freezer was hooked up to stopped working.  When I got back from training there was a huge pool of water coming from it.  It smells great.

Tomorrow I get to actually play soccer, which should help me to be more comfortable here.  There are actually going to be two sessions, and one of them is an all-or-nothing, make-or-break session with myself, another trialist and the two goalkeepers.  I’m pretty sure I will be judged for better or for worse based on that 60 minutes tomorrow afternoon.  But why shouldn’t that be the case?  It goes with the theme of this trip.  I’m confident though in my ability and one of the trialists here is someone I’ve actually played with long ago when my future was much brighter.  You’ll never guess who it is so don’t even try.  I’ll ask him if he minds me mentioning his name in this blog and if he says yes then I’ll mention him and tell a bit of his story.

Wish me luck!  I sure could use some right about now.

Coming to Kouvola...uh, I mean Myllykoski

February 21:

Today was pretty boring but noteworthy because I have now arrived at my next trial with MYPA (mee-pa).  The club is located in Myllykoski, which is part of a group of towns that form Kouvola.  Of course, things being the way they have been thus far in Finland, I had no idea that the club was not in the center of Kouvola.  What that meant was that instead of staying and training in a relatively good sized city (Kouvola’s city center is upwards of 50,000 people in a space about the quarter the size of Indianapolis or Tampa’s downtowns), I was staying in a village of what can’t be more than a couple thousand people.  Myllykoski is by far the smallest town I have visited in my time here.  It makes Valkeakoski seem like a metropolis.

That said, at least I’m here.  After waking up and schlepping my luggage to the rail station, I took three trains and six and a half hours to reach the Kouvola train station.  There I awaited my ride…and waited. 

And waited. 

After two hours finally, mercifully, a player came to the rescue and picked me up.  The player was really nice though and put my mind at ease.  That is, until I got to the place where I’m staying.  It’s an apartment that is connected to the club office and it is a nightmare.  In stark contrast to the nice hotels I’ve been staying at up until this point, this place is more or less a dump.  The electricity isn’t even working is most of the rooms.  I’m writing this blog post from the kitchen, since the room I’m staying in has no lighting whatsoever and the plugs in the room don’t work.  My room doesn’t even have a door.  If I had a normally functioning laptop I could just charge it up and then work from my room, but like a big dum dum I bought my laptop on craigslist and therefore it carries no charge and shuts off the second it’s disconnected from the charger.  Oh well…

Complaining aside, I’m ready to get this trial going.  Tomorrow probably won’t be much as the club just played a match today (they won, 2-1).  Maybe the sun coming up will give me a sunnier disposition.  I hope so, because the way I feel now makes me wonder if coming to Finland was even a good idea.  I had a lot of optimism in traveling over here, but a series of bad things happening has made me wonder if maybe success here just isn’t in the cards for me.  I was a starter with a contract at Haka and they let me go, then I played well and was dangerous in a position of need for Jaro and they let me go as well.  Hopefully MYPA will see that I’m good enough to help and offer me a contract based on that, but even then I don’t know if I even want to stay here.  If I get an offer I guess I would have to take it since there are no others, but I have to weigh my unhappiness against the small salary and relatively long odds of moving to somewhere bigger and better.  But those are tough decisions that professionals have to make.  And I’ve got a ways to go before I can even get to that point.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.