Baseball Game (2)

After a baseball practice in the morning, on 14 May evening, we watched a local baseball match in the same field that we used in the morning. The match started at 6 pm, but we already arrived there at 5.40 pm. The game is a Finnish baseball game or Pesäpallo, which is regarded as a national sport in Finland because of its popularity. Pesäpallo is a combination of traditional ball-batting team games and North American baseball.

Pesäpallo and baseball actually have quite many things in common. For example, there are two teams consist of nine players per team. One team tries to score by hitting the ball and running through the bases (three bases plus one home base), the other team tries to defend by catching the ball and putting the runners out.  The game takes place over nine innings and the team with the higher score wins the game. Furthermore, according to game's governing board, the Pesapalloliitto, players are allowed to use approved equipment such as helmets, gloves, and bats to aid in play.

The most important difference between Pesäpallo and baseball is that the ball is pitched vertically which makes it easier to hit and control the power and direction of the ball. This gives a more variety to the game compared to the regular baseball. The fielding team is forced to counter the batter's choices with defensive schemes. Furthermore, unlike in baseball, the manager has an important role to lead his team's offense by giving signals to the players using a multicolored fan. The defensive team is directed by the manager's orders and hand signals by the fielders.

 

  

   

 

Baseball Game (1)

On 14 May 2014, we practice Finnish baseball game which is called Pesäpallo (Finnish pronunciation: [pesæpɑlːo] ) .  If we translate, Pesäpallo literally means nest ball.  The field that we used to practice is located in Leirikatu 24, Lappeenranta near the Prisma or city center. The location can be found here. We gathered at 10:00 am and finished at about 12:00. After about ten minutes of playing, suddenly it was raining pretty heavy. However, we did not lose our spirit just because the fact that it was raining or windy.

We started the practice with some warming up. We make a pair and then throw a ball to each other. One people will throw, and another will catch the ball. After that, Mr. Jari aka our coach taught us how to hit the ball using the bat. Every person will take a turn one after another, and we have about 10 chances to hit the ball. When one person hit the balls, the others will guard and catch the ball.

One by one, we had our chance.Start fr om Vlad, then Chandra, then it came to my turn. For sure, it was difficult at first time, but slowly and sure I managed to hit the ball a couple times. And even though I could only hit as half far as my guy friends did, still I felt proud of myself. At least, I tried my best :)

Me, playing baseball

Prof. Jari, our coach

Vlad

Chandra

Me

Maike

Rohan

Dorine

Vitalii

Nahin

Fisayo

Group photo

  

Ice Hockey Game

To improve our knowledge toward Finnish culture, our professor, Mr. Jari Porras took us to watch an ice hockey game. As you know, ice hockey is very popular among Finns and in fact Finland counts a total of 52,597 registered players, which amounts to 1.0% of its population. Therefore it will be a good opportunity for us to at least watch one of ice hockey match during our stay in Finland.

The match is between the local teams. I did not remember the guest (opponent), but I knew that the host is the Saimaa team from Saimaa University. As LUT students, which its building is literally next to Saimaa building, of course, without any hesitation, we support the Saimaa team. For your information, if you look at the pictures below, the Saimaa team is the ones who wear the bright yellow uniform. In the end, the Saimaa team won the match, and we went home feeling happy for them.