Goalkeeper about to Graduate
Roope Paunio is a professional footballer in Espoon Honka’s league team, and he will graduate from Haukilahti General Upper Secondary School this spring. His studies have had to become more flexible since he became a professional, but according to Roope, taking initiative and being prepared have helped him do well at school.
Roope began playing football when he was four, and Honka’s systematic training has made him the player that he is today. As the highlights of his career as an athlete so far, Roope mentions Honka’s first victory in the Finnish B Juniors Championships, his first international match playing for a junior team and his debut in Finland’s premier football division, Veikkausliiga. He is a modern player who tends to control the ball with his feet a lot and likes to take part in the game from the goal. One of his strengths is undoubtedly his ability to read the game, in addition to which he often served as the captain when he was younger, which taught him leadership skills.
Roope admits that outside the field he tends to be a bit quiet when meeting new people, but in familiar company he is humorous and chatty. And with age, he has become bolder at talking openly. In the past, his other hobbies included playing the drums and breakdancing, while currently his active lifestyle involves racket sports, such as badminton, padel and tennis, which counterbalance football. Roope emphasises the importance of hard work, kindness and an equal opportunity for everyone to achieve personal development, as long as they are willing to put in the effort. Cheerfulness and kindness are strongly present in his way of discussing even the more difficult topics.
How to combine studies and sports?
Haukilahti General Upper Secondary School has been providing good conditions for success, allowing flexibility in the studies where necessary. Roope will complete his studies in four years: he did his first two years highly efficiently, but the other two have been slightly less demanding, which has enabled him to play for his representative team. He has been able to study remotely, and additional time has been given to him for completing his assignments. Everything has gone without a hitch, because he has been proactive in managing his affairs and agreeing on any dispensations. In his final report, Roope will receive grades in health education, English, advanced mathematics, psychology, and mother tongue and literature. He is interested in studying psychology in the future, perhaps focusing on sports psychology for example, but at the moment football and his budding career as a professional player are, without question, taking priority.
What does a footballer’s daily life look like? Roope trains roughly ten times a week – four times football and the rest at the gym as complementary training. In addition to that, he typically has a game every weekend. Being a young player in an experienced team is different from the past, when he was the team captain. Most of his life revolves around football, and he has also been asked to coach goalkeepers. Roope’s plan is to have a good and stable professional career abroad. However, his fanciful childhood dreams of playing for a big team, such as Manchester United, have changed to prioritising elements that better suit his style of playing: finding a team that fits his style, allows him to demonstrate his strengths and take advantage of his personal football philosophy. Moreover, Roope feels that being true to his own style and values will be important when it comes to any future partners. He would like to work with partners that genuinely put sports and athletes first.
Text by Oona Uusitalo, Laurea amk.
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