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| How many chaplains are there like you in Finland? |
I am the only one officially working with the national teams. But we have a lot of chaplains who work on the local level with sports associations and their congregations. I have been in 27 cities in Finland and started this kind of work locally. In the summer we have started training camps for children, aged 10-12, 12-14, 14-17, 17-20 and for adults. Pastors and youth leaders from the congregations and the leaders from the local sports associations make the camp training programs together.
| Do you also have a congregation? |
I am employed by the nine Lutheran congregations in Turku as the hospital chaplain. So, I am working with the sick people, the staff and the families who come to the hospital. Then two months a year with the athletes, I go to the training camps and stay with them through the training season to help them in a spiritual and mental way.
| Does the government or the church pay your salary? |
The church. I am a chaplain at the hospital in Turku, 150 KM west of Helsinki. But, for 60 days a year I lead the pastoral counseling work with the Olympic Team, the National Nordic Ski Team and the National Track and Field Team in the summer.
| How many Olympic Games have you attended over the last 20 years? |
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This is my 9th Olympic game. I've attended both summer and winter Olympic games, and World and European championships. So all together, I've been to 29 main sports events with the national team.
| What is the focus of your work? |
My work is mainly pastoral counseling, to work with the athletes individually and to be with the team as one person who doesn't look at them from a point of achievement, but from a more human point. It has been the wish of the athletes that they would have one person who doesn't choose them to the national team, a person who just sees them as human beings with whom they can just talk about life. And then they want to have a chaplain because they have spiritual needs. They want to pray together. We have been praying together with individual athletes and we have small services together in small groups. During these games we haven't been able to have any big services because our athletes are living at different places. One group is living in the Nagano City Athlete Village, some are in Hakuba at 3 different hotels, one group is in Yamanouchi, and the biathlon members are at Nozawa Onsen. It has been difficult to get everyone together.
| We heard you are giving daily devotions over the radio, it that correct? |
Yes, our radio service asked me to have a morning devotion service everyday from Nagano to be broadcast to Finland via satellite. Last week I had 2 of them. And I have been interviewed over 30 times by the Finnish radio and TV for broadcasts to Finland.
| What was your most impressive counseling experience in Nagano? |
This was the first time we've had a woman's ice hockey team-over 20 women playing ice hockey. I didn't know them before nor did I have a chance to meet them in Finland. It has been a challenge and wonderful time together-the head coach asked me to come to the team meeting together before the games. I told them about my work and I am also a trained sports psychologist, so I helped them a little bit with the sports psychology before the matches.
| What was the effect of your counseling? |
It was very good. They won the bronze medal. (Congratulations!) We had much counseling also with the cross-country skiers. They asked me to pray with them and I said, I won't pray for you to win, but that you may get out of you, all that you have trained for and all the work you have prepared for so that you can have peace in your mind. We won several medals in those events; they have been doing very well.
| Do you have to move from place to place everyday or just stay in Nagano City? |
No, I move a lot. I just arrived from Hakuba. Sometimes I go to Nozawa. The trip is about 1 and a quarter hours long.
| During your 20+ years in this field, what has been rewarding for you? |
The most rewarding thing is that all the sports people in Finland have started to think more and more of the wholeness of well being. That well being isn't just physical health, but well being is social, the mind and spiritual well being. You have your faith and values in life that are important. A lot of top athletes have told the press about their faith and about our work together. Although sport is a nice and important thing, it is not the whole life. Sports is just part of a human being's life. It is more important to grow as a man or woman or human being, so you have something to lean on when you get older and have to leave the tough sports.
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