Studying alongside sport – TPS floorball goalkeeper studied for a degree

Oskari Fälden has been playing floorball since he was four years old. When it came time to think about higher education options after high school, Turku University of Applied Sciences seemed like a natural choice.

Text and photo: Siiri Welling

A relaxed and good-humoured young man arrives at the Kupittaa ballpark. There’s a reason for his good mood, as Fälden is about to graduate as a bachelor of business administrator.

“I’m still waiting for the thesis to be reviewed, but hopefully that’s it”, says Fälden.

Fälden’s studies at Turku University of Applied Sciences have lasted five years, but the reason for the delay is simple: the first year break was due to military service, after which Fälden’s sporting background has influenced the pace of his studies. Since 2018, he has played as a goalkeeper for TPS in the F-league of floorball, which has posed its own challenges in terms of balancing training, games and studies. Flexibility in terms of studies has been important.

“There are many training sessions per week, but they are usually focused on either morning or afternoon sessions. Lectures or group work could then be done well during the day. Sometimes, of course, you have had to leave early in the afternoon for away games, so you may have missed the afternoon lectures. But then I have simply messaged the teacher and independently checked with my classmates to see what was covered in the lectures. I don’t feel I’ve missed much and I think I’ve done quite well”, says Fälden.

There were more lectures and school assignments in the early part of the studies than in the later part. But Fälden has tried to concentrate his studies in the autumn, as the games have taken time away from his studies in the spring.

He has also benefited from the optional studies at the Turku Region Sports Academy, which is open to athletes. Each athlete can choose to take up to thirty credits of optional studies to support their sporting career and development as an athlete. Student athletes can choose between two courses in sports coaching and one course in well-being. For Fälden, the sports academy studies gave him the freedom to train and helped him to accumulate the credits required for his degree.

Projects and group work

Many of Fälden’s teammates are also currently studying or have previously studied at Turku University of Applied Sciences alongside their sporting careers. Their experiences have been good too.

“It has also given me a lot of peer support, as my friends have understood what studying at Turku University of Applied Sciences is like. And then we’ve talked about the studies a lot”, laughs Fälden.

Sales training offers the opportunity to work in many different roles in the future. I could have completed the training more quickly, but for me, the slower pace has allowed me to play, and that’s where I’ve moved on.

The studies in sales have consisted of lectures, but have also included a lot of group work and various projects. In the first year, Fälden was involved in a project workshop and later in an innovation project. For Fälden, solving practical problems with fellow students was instructive.

“In general, there are a lot of different projects in working life, so I think it’s good to get to know them. Working on projects was efficient, and actually freed up some time in my calendar for other things.

The teaching has been interesting and the teachers have been professional. Sales training has been broad and eye-opening.

“Sales training offers the opportunity to work in many different roles in the future. I could have completed the training more quickly, but for me, the slower pace has allowed me to play, and that’s where I’ve developed a lot.”

Although there has been a lot of training and sport, Fälden has not found his everyday life too stressful, combining his studies with floorball.

“If there is one thing that stresses me out, it has usually been the upcoming game, for example. School has actually been a good counterbalance to that. You can also have a lot of control over your studies, so if the deadline for an essay is on a Tuesday, you write it on a Tuesday. It’s different with games, there are a lot of variables and so it’s perhaps more stressful. But I haven’t had any complaints about my studies”, says Fälden with a chuckle.

The article was published on 24.10.2024 on the previous turkuamk.fi website.