Jumppatytöt, who charmed on stage, is trying to change the coaching culture of team gymnastics in a healthier direction

At the Olympic Stadium The Jumping Girls exhibition, based on the play of the same name that ran for two years, will open on Friday in the Sports Museum Tahto. Jump jobs have become a great success.

“Next week we have our hundredth show”, Katariina Havukainen, Inkeri Hyvönen and Ella Lahdenmäki hug.

And not just anywhere, but on the big stage of the National Theatre. The event is at the same time a fantastic opportunity for the show to enter foreign stages. So far Jumppattyttö has been shown in Estonia and Latvia, but there will be more places to visit in the future.

The Finns’ concept of combining sport and culture in an emotional way has aroused interest around the world.

“22 curators from different countries are coming to the National Theatre,” the trio says.

Jumping girls behind is an acting trio with a team gymnastics background. In carrying out the exhibition, they got a history researcher to strengthen their working group Blue Selin.

According to Hyvönen, the authors have hit on a wonderful topic that touches a large number of people.

“Thinking about one’s own body relationship is familiar to enthusiasts of other sports as well.”

Especially in the beginning, a large part of the audience were former “jumpers”, that is, people who enjoyed gymnastics or competed in the sport.

“The attraction of the show is largely in the fact that we, as creators, are in exactly the same process as the viewers,” says Havukainen.

The goal has been to find out how the childhood hobby has permanently shaped the authors’ identity.

“And to go through how the gymnastics background is still visible in us.”

ConiferousHyvönen and Lahdenmäki are experienced actors, but they have never received the same flood of feedback from their performances as Jumppatytötö.

“We get a flood of long emails, often stating that all men should see this show.”

According to the trio, the sport has been underappreciated in the male sports world.

Gymnastics has filled their whole lives and now it is presented to all the people on stage. Many childhood and teenage experiences have been painful. Therefore, working on the show has been quite a therapy process for the trio at the same time.

As experienced experts, they can give advice to parents of gymnasts, for example, if they see a child crying after practice.

“We encourage parents to ask the child more often how things are going,” advises Lahdenmäki.

The child’s bad feeling cannot be attributed to the fact that the movements that cause pain and suffering “belong to the sport”.

Trio hopes that the coaching culture will change and believe that the trend has already started.

“We have received messages from young gymnastics coaches asking how they should coach.”

Well how?

“We should think about how the power exercised by adults over children is realized in sports,” says Havukainen.

A child’s life is unique, so coaches and parents have a big ethical responsibility for it. Adults’ ambitions should not define the content of children’s hobbies.

“We encourage coaches and parents to have open communication and reflection,” says the trio.

“We don’t blame anyone and we ourselves are part of this matter and responsible for our children.”

Jumppatytöt wants to emphasize one thing in team gymnastics.

“The human price that is paid for our world championships at the moment is too high, if athletes have back surgeries in their thirties or seven-year-olds have stress fractures in their spines.”