国士舘大学新体操部

■Expedition to Finland 2018: Day One

On Six gymnasts and I (Coach Yamada) are going to take part in the "Turku Gymnaestrada" held in Turku, Finland from June 3-12, 2018, and give workshops there.

Coach Yamada and gymnasts.

We flew to Finland!

On June 3rd, we met at Narita International Airport, left Japan at 22:20 and got to Doha, Qatar eleven hours later.
 

At Doha International Airport

We had a four-and-a-half-hour layover in Doha and finally arrived at Helsinki International Airport, Finland after a five-hour flight. To enter the country, our gymnasts had to go through immigration control, but it was not easy for them at all. The hardest part was that they had to answer the questions asked by immigration officers in simple English. They could vaguely understand what the officers were asking, but they couldn’t convey what they wanted to say in English, which is typical for Japanese tourists. Anyways, it took another hour and a half to go through immigration control, collect our luggage, and get out of the airport.

We took the bus for Kisakallio.

Our contact from the Finnish Gymnastics Federation had been waiting for us at the gate wondering what had happened to us, but we finally departed the airport together. Then we drove about an hour to Kisakallio, a town in a suburban area, which was the final destination of our 24-hour trip after leaving Japan!

We had some unexpected accidents in our recent expeditions such as engine trouble, so we were relieved to safely arrive at our destination without incident this time. However, we had no time to just sit and relax. As soon as we dropped off our luggage in the villa we were going to stay in, we changed our clothes to perform.

There was an “Orienteering” summer camp on this day, where kids run through the woods to collect stamps. This camp was so big that 1,800 children participated in it, and we were supposed to perform at its opening ceremony. It was only an hour and a half after we arrived, and moreover, the wind was blowing hard outside, and the place was not large enough to perform Men’s RG. However, the gymnasts did their best, and we were happy to see the children who watched our performance seemed to be surprised and satisfied.
 

Performance outside!

With Finnish gymnasts

We practiced after our performance for a while and went back to our villa. Finnish gymnasts (in their 50s-60s) took us to a traditional-style sauna and Jacuzzi and treated us to a barbecue.
 

The villa we stayed in.

In the Jacuzzi outside!

Days are long in this season in Finland, and it is still light out until midnight. Our long day ended with fantastic scenery we cannot see in Japan. It is impossible to learn all about Finland during this short trip, but we’d like to see as much as we can to make the most of this opportunity.