Jyväskylän seudun Jaguaarit

01.12.2009

Jyväskylän Jaguaarit on nimennyt amerikkalaissyntyisen Benjamin Jensenin tulevan kauden päävalmentajakseen.

Jensen on aiemmin toiminut Jaguaarien A- ja B-junioreiden valmentajana viiden kauden ajan. Lisäksi hän on kuulunut Suomen alle 19-vuotiaiden maajoukkueen valmennukseen vuodesta 2007 lähtien, ja aiemmin tänä vuonna hänet nimettiin joukkueen päävalmentajaksi. Marraskuun alussa Jensen sai myös kansainvälistä tunnustusta kun hänet nimettiin alle 19-vuotiaiden Muun maailman joukkueen valmennusryhmään. Joukkue kohtaa USA:n alle 19-vuotiaiden maajoukkueen ensi tammikuussa.

Jensenin pelaajaura alkoi kun hän pelasi Logan high schoolissa. Samassa joukkueessa pelasi mm. NFL-joukkue Washington Redskinsin nykyinen sisempi laitahyökkääjä Chris Cooley. Tämän jälkeen hänen opintonsa jatkuivat Utah Statessa. Suomeen ja Jyväskylään Jensen muutti 2003 ja aloitti opinnot Jyväskylän Liikuntatieteellisessä tiedekunnassa. Jaguaareissa hän on pelannut viiden vuoden ajan puolustuksen takakentällä ja potkaisijana.

”Jaguaarit on todella kaivannut pitkäjänteisempää ratkaisua valmennukseen. On vaikea alkaa rakentaa joukkuetta, kun seuraavan vuoden valmennuksesta ei ole tietoa. Kuukausi sitten istuimme hallituksen kanssa alas ja päädyimme heidän ehdotuksestaan tähän ratkaisuun”, kertoo tuore päävalmentaja.

Seuran hallitus on erittäin tyytyväinen, että valmentajaksi saatiin henkilö, joka tuntee seuran toimintatavat ja pelaajat entisestään, ja omaa tehtävässä tarvittavan vahvan ammattitaidon. Jensen tietää tarkkaan joukkueen nykyisen tilan ja omaa näkemystä miten harjoittelua tulee kehittää.

”Harjoitukset tulevat olemaan tarkemmin rakennettuja ja kurinalaisempia viime vuosiin verrattuna. Niiden sisältö tulee aina olemaan ennalta minuutintarkkaan suunniteltu harjoitteiden ja niiden keston osalta. Keskitymme enemmän erikoisjoukkuepelaamiseen. Aikaisempina vuosina kun olemme harjoitelleet sitä osa-aluetta vain kerran viikossa”, Jensen linjaa tulevia muutoksia.

Jensen kertoo saaneensa eniten vaikutteita valmennusfilosofiaansa entiseltä high school-valmentajaltaan Mike Favarolta, sekä Jaguaarien entisiltä valmentajilta Thomas Smytheltä ja Ronald Dilksiltä.

”Favero on todellinen nero hyökkäyksen puolella. Hänen viisi viimeistä pelinrakentajaansa ovat päässeet pelaamaan yliopistoihin. Smythe puolestaan on saavuttanut jo valmentajalegendan aseman Euroopan tasolla, ja toi Jaguaareihinkin aivan uudenlaiset toimintatavat. Huutamisen sijaan hän antoi pelaajille rakentavaa kritiikkiä kaikessa rauhassa. Dilks taas ei ollut kovinkaan kaksinen kommunikoimaan ihmisten kanssa, mutta veti kovimpia harjoituksia joihin olen pelaajana ottanut osaa”, Jensen kertoo ja jatkaa:
”Tulen varmasti pyrkimään paljon samaan kuin Smythe. Harjoituksemme ovat kestoiltaan vain puolitoista tuntia pitkiä, joten intensiteetti ja ennalta suunnittelu ovat äärimmäisen tärkeitä asioita. Tulemme kuitenkin ottamaan kontaktia paljon enemmän kuin Smythen aikana. Olen taustaltani puolustuksen pelaaja, ja kunnon taklaukset ja kontakti ovat mielestäni pelin suola. Pelillisesti tulemme luottamaan blitseihin ja aluepuolustamiseen puolustuksessa. Hyökkäyksessä jatkamme pääsääntöisesti yhdellä keskushyökkääjällä, ja pyrimme entistä enemmän sekoittamaan vastustajien puolustuksia ennen aloitussyöttöä tapahtuvalla laitahyökkääjän liikkeellä.”

Jensen odottaa tulevien muutoksien parantavan eritoten harjoitusaktiivisuutta ja harjoitusten tehokkuutta.

”On tärkeää muistaa, että pelaajat maksavat omasta harrastuksestaan. Toiminnan tulee siis olla heille mielekästä. Tärkeintä on, että kaikilla on hauskaa ja siinä samassa kehitymme yhdessä paremmiksi pelaajiksi. Meillä on ringissä paljon nuoria pelaajia, joiden kehitystä tulee olemaan ilo katsella. Lisäksi joukkueesta löytyy vahva ydin veteraanipelaajia, jotka pystyvät auttamaan nuoria kehittymään. Tavoitteemme on olla kilpailukykyinen joukkue kauden jokaisessa ottelussa. Toivottavasti se riittää play off-paikan lunastamiseen. Emme aseta yltiö-optimistisia tavoitteita, mutta uskon, että pystymme taistelemaan voitosta tasapäisesti liigan muiden joukkueiden kanssa”, Jensen vastaa kysyttäessä tavoitteista ja odotuksista.

Jensen jatkaa tulevalla kaudella myös Jaguaarien A-junioreiden ja Suomen 19-vuotiaiden maajoukkueen päävalmentajana. A-nuorten sarja pelataan kuitenkin keväällä ennen miesten kauden alkua ja nuorten PM-kisat syksyllä kauden jälkeen, joten nuo tehtävät eivät tule haittaamaan Jensenin toimimista Jaguaarien miesten valmennuksessa. Samalla päättyy näillä näkymin myös Jensenin pelaajaura, sillä mies ripustaa hartiasuojansa naulaan voidakseen keskittyä täysipainoisesti valmentamiseen.

Kuva: Mikko Kontto

Jensenin haastattelu täydellisenä englanniksi

You are named as a new HC of Jyväskylä Jaguaarit for upcoming season. Tell little bit about the process, when did you start to consider coaching men's team, when Jaguaarit asked you to coach and how long it took you to decide etc.

It has really slowly built up, since coaching the juniors for the last 5 seasons I have had a lot of meetings with the board and it had been mentioned that hopefully in the future the team could find a coach in Finland and not have to pay for one to come all the way from the United States. In the 5 seasons I have played for the Jaguaarit we have had American coaches 3 of those seasons. We would have loved to bring our coach Thomas Smythe back for another season, but he had coaching obligations with his high school team. The team has also really needed a long term coaching solution, its difficult to build a team when there is a lot of uncertainty about who will be coaching the next season. In a meeting about a month ago with the board about practice times and plans for the upcoming season they asked if I was interested in the job, which I said yes, and it was more or less official a few weeks after that.

Earlier you have been coaching also some of the Jaguaarit junior-teams. Are you going to concentrate now only on men's team or continue also with juniors?

I have been coaching both the A,B junior teams but now I will focus only on the A juniors along with the mens team. At the moment we have a ton of great young talent, and close to half the mens team will be A juniors, so it makes sense to coach them and it should also be good to get the offensive and defensive systems working in A juniors before the mens season. Its not a conflicting problem since the A juniors season is before the mens.

You also played few games last season. Do you now focus 100% on coaching, or is there a chance that we see you wearing pads next summer?

You will not see me wearing pads next summer. I ended up playing half the season last year since my summer job fell through and I had a lot more spare time than I had planned on, and also the team was really short handed last season since we lost 16 starters from the previous season. I don’t think its really possible to be a player/coach, too many things are happening on the field that you cannot see if your playing.

What are the main things that you think you can bring to Jaguaarit as a headcoach / What are your priority goals with Jaguaarit team / What will be different after you take charge?

I have learned a lot from the two American coaches we have brought over in the last 5 seasons (Ron Dilks, Thomas Smythe). The juniors know my coaching and practice style well, so it should be a fairly smooth transition to the mens team hopefully. The practices will have a lot more structure and discipline compared to the recent years. I always come with a practice plan of what drills we are running that day, what order, and for how long each drill will be. We will also focus more on special teams, including them in every practice instead of trying to go through them on Fridays practices like in the past. I think our goal as a team is to be competitive in every game, and hopefully we can work our way into a playoff spot. We are not setting non realistic goals, we will not be Maple League Champions next season, but we feel we can compete with most the teams in the league.

You have also been named to coaching staff of U-19 Team World, that plays against team USA in January. What is your role there and what kind of expectations do you have about that project?

I feel very honored to represent Finland working with the Junior World Team staff. I have never coached a down of football on US soil, so it should be a fun new experience for me. I will be working as a graduate assistant, more specifically working with the defensive backfield. The DB coach is from Japan, so it should be interesting to work with someone from such a different cultural background. I really hope to learn as much as I can from working with the World Team coaching staff, since many of the coaches have been coaching for 15-20 years and also have some professional experience. The main goal of the trip is to bring back anything that can be beneficial to the development of junior jenkkifutis in Finland. I’m not going to lie either, it will be great to go from -10 C (Finland) to +20 C (Miami) in late January.

You have worked with Finland's U-19 national team 2007-2009. What about next season?

Last season was my first year as head coach of the Finnish U19 National Team. I will continue that position next season as well. The team has the Nordic Junior Championships which will be held in Finland this year and is around September/October after the maple league season is over. We have 2 camps scheduled throughout the year which do not conflict with the maple league since many of the coaching staff also work with maple league teams. I really enjoy working with the U19 national team, it’s a very unique coaching opportunity and it has allowed me to travel to Denmark, Norway, and Spain for tournaments. I have worked with a lot of great coaches and players.

In 2006 you participated to NFLE-team Berlin Thunder's camp. Tell a little bit about that experience.

I got an email about a possibility to be a walk on coach for the Berlin Thunder NFL Europe team. It looked interesting and a great opportunity to learn from professional coaches and athletes. It was a very long and intense week, but worth every minute of it. I stayed in a hostel which was about 1 hour by public transit from the practice facilities so my days started at 6 am, and usually ended around 11 or 12 at night arriving back at the hostel. I was the special teams coach of the Junior National Team at that time and spent a lot of time with the Thunder´s special teams coach Wanja Muller. The most valuable things I took from the week with the Thunder were the meetings and film sessions. I think that is an area that is really lacking in Finland (at least with Jaguars).

You have also spent some time with your former high school coach Mike Faveron, and your offencive-system that you have used with Jaguaarit juniors, has alot similarities with Thomas Smythe's offence. What kind of influence those two have had on you as a coach and how do you see the game?

Coach Favaro is a real offensive mind. The last 5 quarterbacks that have played for him all moved on to play football at the college level. He has spent time with Urban Meyer (Florida), Gary Crowton (LSU), and Gary Pattersen (TCU) to name a few. In the early 2000´s he was using the so called “spread” offense with the dual threat QB well before everyone switched to the system. Im more of a defensive guy, so anything I can learn from him watching films or studying x´s and o´s is a real plus. Coach Smythe is a well established coaching legend in Europe. He brought a style of coaching to Jyväskylä that had never been seen before. Instead of yelling and screaming at players, he took a real laid back approach and the team responded extremely well (2 bronze medals). He also is an offensive guru, and I learned a lot from watching our offense during the time he was with us. I tried my hardest to bribe him with rounds of golf at Perunka and home cooked meals from my mother in law to come back to Finland, but naturally his new coaching job in the states could not allow him to come back. Coach Smythe really breathed new life into the program here in Jyväskylä. My offensive system with the juniors had some similarities to what coach Smythe did, but I don’t feel your much of a coach if you cant contribute your own ideas to your coaching schemes, as in not just copying what you have seen before. That’s why I love the game of football, so many different systems really make the game exciting to watch.

Is there some other figures, that have had big impact on you?

My father has always been my personal hero, but as far as coaching I think being able to work with so many great coaches on the Junior National Team staff over the past three years has been a real honor. Probably the coaches who have had the most influence on me are for sure Coach Favaro, Coach Smythe, and even Ronald Dilks from back in the day. Dilks was not great with people, but he ran the toughest practices I have every participated in as a player.

How would you define your coaching philosophy?

I’m not big on yelling at players, I think constructive criticism is much more effective for the players. I have really tried to take a page from Coach Smythe´s practice philosophy since it was so effective with us in the past. We have very short (1.5 hour) practices, but very intense and planned down to the last minute. I will have a lot more contact compared to Smythe. I absolutely love big collisions, coming from a defensive playing and coaching background that’s a part of the game that is just pure beauty for me. On the defensive side of the ball we run an attacking zone blitz scheme, while on offense we are similar to most the other teams, single back shot gun with a lot of motion and just try to create space for our players.

What do you expect from Jaguaarit team?

I just expect the guys to buy into the system that we run and attend practices as often as possible. I know from experience that if the practices are well run, players will show up. The most important thing is that the guys have fun and become better players in the process. They pay their own way and play the game because they love it, so what’s the point of paying for something your not enjoying?

Where Jaguaarit stand a year ahead from this moment?

We have a lot of great young players contributing to the team. If I remember correctly we had 10 juniors playing with the mens team last year, and probably close to 12-15 will contribute this year. We are really excited about the talent we have here and I am looking forward to watching their development. We still have a great core of veteran players who can really help the younger players develop.