Juhani Pikkarainen realized at a later age how to practice – “I have the responsibility in the end”

“Life it’s unfair in that way that less training is enough for some people and not for others.”

That’s what he says Juhani Pikkarainenwho is now waiting for his national team debut at the age of 26. Pikkarainen was invited to Huuhkaji for the first time in October and has been part of the national team this week as well.

On Sunday, Finland will face Greece in the Nations League in a match where there is no longer a bet. It would be a perfect opportunity for the coaching team to test Pikkarainen’s abilities in the starting line-up.

In recent years, central defenders in the national team have regularly debuted at a later age. I look at the age of 26, Arttu Hoskonen at the age of 25, Robert Ivanov At the age of 24 and Daniel O’Shaughnessy At the age of 21, but he didn’t debut in competitive games until four years later. They are all examples of players who developed at a later age.

Pikkarainen is also like that.

“I was always an easygoing guy. I quickly gained height, but not width,” he says.

In the Veikkausliiga, Pikkarainen has played at a good level for the last three years. The past season was the best of these, when he played a big role in the silver team Ilves of Tampere.

There is a reason why development only started to rise in recent years.

In a hurry the choice of sport was natural in a football family, when father Tommi Pikkarainen worked as a football coach. As a child, Juhani Pikkarainen also played badminton and won the youth Finnish championships in the sport. However, he liked football more.

“My father never stressed that I should become a soccer player, and he didn’t force me to train. We probably had a pretty healthy attitude towards football. You can be grateful for that.”

At the age of 16, Pikkarainen was playing in the B-junior championship series at TPS, when he unexpectedly received an invitation from the reserve to his first junior national matches.

In the national match against Hungary, Pikkarainen had to start on the bench, but an injury to another player opened up a place in the starting line-up.

After that game, the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg invited Pikkarainen to a week’s test camp. He calls that experience surreal.

“They offered a three-year contract. Everything happened pretty quickly. A few weeks before, I had only been playing football. Then came the offer to move abroad with a professional contract. It was quite a shock.”

Pikkarainen says that he took the biggest development steps of his career in his first year in Austria. He repeats the same story that almost everyone who has moved abroad has told about the hardness and pace of training compared to their home country.

“It was an eye-opening experience, how hard training should be. It was like a different world compared to TPS.”

Pikkarainen says he noticed his development quickly. He got to live the everyday life of a top professional in a world-class environment and in hard training.

”

“I was content just to be involved.”

Afterwards Pikkarai’s only regret is that he could have taken even more advantage of the opportunities.

“Maybe I didn’t realize it until later in life. I’ve realized that it wouldn’t have been enough for me to do the same as everyone else out there. If I wanted to be even better, I should have used even more of those opportunities.”

He says he could have used even more help from a physical trainer and physical therapists.

“I’ve always had others to catch up to when it comes to fitness. For example, in basic strength and mobility and explosiveness. Of course, we practiced a lot of things then and I improved a lot. But I could have developed a few percent more when it was possible.”

“I was content just to be involved. The routine was so professional that that alone was enough for many. But maybe that wasn’t enough for me. Maybe you can’t think about it when you’re young, but you just go with the flow.”

After the first year in Austria, Pikkarainen played on loan in the third and second league levels in cooperation clubs in Salzburg.

There was no place in Salzburg’s reserve team when the Brazilian central defender, who currently plays in the English Premier League, was ahead. It partly tells about the fierceness of the competition.

After three years, Pikkarainen tried to continue in Austria at another league level in Innsbruck. That move fell through when the club was in financial trouble and there was no playing time. After six months, it was time to return to Finland.

Pikkarainen first played in the Veikkausliiga season in KPV and then in TPS. Both seasons were a bit difficult for him, and with TPS he was relegated from the Veikkausliiga.

“At that point, I hadn’t realized how much more I had to invest in physical fitness. I was too weak and frail for men’s games as a central defender.”

“I’ve had the motivation to train, but maybe I lacked the understanding that I should invest properly in that aspect if I want to succeed.”

”

“I want to leave myself, then there is also motivation.”

Of them Pikkarainen has changed a lot since the years. He has ten kilos more weight. The speed and power characteristics have also improved a lot.

The wake-up call came after TPS dropped to the second league level. At the age of 22, Pikkarainen started thinking about what he really wanted from football.

“At that point I realized that I had to stick my neck in the mud to work.”

He did basic strength training with a physical trainer: explosive strength exercises, upper body and middle body strength exercises, and leg strength. The amounts were much larger than before.

Additional motivation for strength training came when Pikkarainen realized how much the increase in strength levels helped on the field. When he invested more in the life of a professional athlete, the difference from before was clearly noticeable.

“Ultimately, I have the responsibility. I don’t blame anyone else for it, that someone else should have fried me. I want to leave myself, then there is also motivation.”

From TPS, Pikkarainen moved to Vaasa Palloseura, and that’s when his talents began to be seen by all Veikkausliiga followers. The skilled passer was able to participate in a lot of quarterbacking and make decisive passes. In defense, he got to use his strength in the main game.

“Self-confidence grew in a healthy way when I realized that I could manage. When I realized that I am really a good player in this series, it fueled more successes. The development curve has continued up to this point.”

After two seasons in Vaasa, a move to Ilves was ahead. Pikkarainen says that everything has gone better in Tampere than he could have imagined.

And he doesn’t think he played his best games at the age of 26 yet. National team mates Hoskonen and Ivanov are good examples that a career can develop much later in life.

”

“It pays to be honest with yourself.”

Se maybe he is a little sad that he didn’t realize to invest more in physical training when he was younger, even though the motivation was there.

“It pays to be honest with yourself about what you want and what you are willing to do for it. If you want to get to the top, you have to recognize what needs to be done. And then you have to be honest with yourself that you are ready to do the work.”

“I bet there are quite a few people who regret putting everything on the line. Hardly anyone regrets that they did things as well as possible and worked as much as possible to make their dream come true.”

The Nations League match between Finland and Greece at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday at 19:00. YLE TV2 will show the match.