At Floorballmaniatv, AKI Karjalainen.

This time we move to Finland and meet another goalkeeper, one of the best young goalkeepers under 19 in Finland, great interest around him, very high average in his outings with the team and the national team.


 Skillful between the posts, great physical prowess, fast and instinctive, he is not afraid of anyone, indeed he is the one to instil terror to the opponents who find him in front. 


In the eyes of the fans of this sport, there is still the game against the Czech Republic under 19, Finland wins with a clear result, but he packs 32 saves, closing the door to any Czech assault. Finnish by birth, born in 2002, a thought for all strikers, with her 175 cm in height, we present you AKI Karjalainen. 


1) Hi AKI Thanks for accepting our interview. How are you after this black period, due to the pandemic? How did you spend your time?

1 Hi! Lovely to be here. Corona brought a lot of uncertanty and it affected also training. At the end of the season I was thinking not to have a long break after the season ends (with floorball specific training) but that of course still happened due to this pandemic. This much time in our hands left us thinking about what and how to train.

 I tried to do as much as possible and this really put my mind to work. Me and my coach had to think of ways to train my skills and it turned out pretty well in my opinion. I had about 8 weeks of really hard exercises till my lower back got injured. This pandemic and my injury combined really frustrated and put me feeling depressed for a moment. Now I'm in a rehab stage.

2) Many fans know you, but many of our readers will know you after this interview. Who is AKI? What do you do in life besides being a great floorball goalie? 

2 I am a person who is emphatic, thoughtful and puts all effort in to the things I do. I love to compete in things I am passionate about. Also you need to be a little bit crazy if you are a goalie :). 

I study in a sport oriented upper secondary school in Kastelli, Oulu. There I am interested about lot of things and I love to learn about those things. For example I like health education, social studies and psychology.I love philosophy as it teaches you about argumentation and there you have to put every brain cell to work but it still is fun and relaxing in a way.

I would love to be able to get in a economic science school. I'm most passionate about marketing, advertising, branding and social media management. That is where a lot of my free time goes. Building my brand. I have 3 different profiles (+my personal) on instagram and 2 of those have tiktoks and also I put out content to a few companies.



3) A question we ask everyone, how did you hear about Floorball? do you remember your first training and your first team? Who introduced you to this sport? 


3 Before floorball I played Finnish baseball which helped me to learn throwing. Unfortunately I had to stop playing because my family didn't have enought time to drive me to the training on a weekly basis. I have three big brothers. All of them had tried floorball and one of them played/coached it actively. When I was about 9 I started to attend a floorball club every sundays.

 There I always wanted to be a goalie but someone else got the place before me. In the final training of the season before a break, after months of waiting, I finally got to be in the goal and even thought I was really bad (like REALLY BAD) I enjoyed it a lot. In the first training of the following season I was again a goalie and still loved it. Then my brother started to train me in our backyard.

4) You have been playing for a long time, have you always played on goal? In your opinion, a boy or girl who starts floorball, what characteristics must he have to become a Goalkeeper? 

4 As I said I always wanted to be a goalie but before I got the oporturnity I mostly played as a defender. A beginner goalie has to have the willingles to learn, not to quit after failing (because you will fail, a lot) and because goalie coaching isn't available to everyone and it isn't the best yet, you have to be able to search information, learn and try new things and also be able to discuss about your ways of solving problems.

5) In Finland the match against the Czech Republic U19 went down in history, you made 32 saves in that game, closing the door on every opponent's shot. Can you tell us about that game? How did you feel immediately afterwards? What did your teammates and staff say at the end of the race?

5 That is a game where I got in the FLOW. That is thing everyone can learn about. (At the moment I'm reading a book about it). I just did my normal routines before the game. I didn't think about it too much. I mostly just played and focused on the game. Trying really really much will not result the best outcome. You can't take it too seriously because then you will be more nervous and the choises you make on the playing field wont be as fluent and fast as they could be. In the game I felt confident and like everything was under my control. I experienced FLOW. It was a statement game for me. My teammates, family, friends and fans supported and congratulated me. A well built network of people is important and it will help also in sports and the performance you are able to put in the field.



6) After under 19 there is the senior national team, do you ever think about it? or do you think it's still early? How much do you train to defend the poles of the senior national team? 

6 Of course it is on the mind but at the moment I am trying to put all of my focus in the rehab. U19 is my nearest big goal.

7) To date, you are the goalkeeper of LNM Liminka, how has your season gone this year? Tell us a little about your team, how many guys are there in your sports club? In which championship will you be entered next year? 

7 Well last season was weird as in the beginning we played really well and were having fun but then it started to fall and we didnt reach our goal... If I had to say one thing that stands out from our team, it is the team spritit! We are like a family. It is something that is hard to recreate. Next season we play in Divari, 2nd highest league in Finland.



8) What are your team's goals next year? And what are your personal goals instead? 

8 Of course we aim at F-Liiga. I personally aim also being in the U19 team and championship.

9) In Finland the F-Liiga was born what do you think?

9 It has its problems. But I have to say that I HATE the fact that people disslike everything new. I guess it is part of being a human. But I hope it succeeds and I'll do my part in bringing more attention to floorball.

10) Let's play the goalkeepers. At 30 seconds from the end, on the result of 2-2, the referee blows a penalty against your team, what do you think on goal? what do you think when the opposing player starts from the midfield with the ball?

10 I go to drink water and look who the shooter is. I think what his move could be. Then I dance to the music a little and say to myself "let's go!".



Thank you very much AKI for your availability, we wish you a lot of champion fortunes, we hope to see you in the final phase of the next world championships, Floorballmania will be present ... We will take a picture. ahahaha.

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