As Finns work out more, companies have overtaken sports clubs as service providers.

Individual sports have rapidly increased in popularity in Finland. In addition to gyms, running trails have attracted tens of thousands of new runners in just four years.

“I have been running and attending running events just for fun for almost ten years. Now I have a seven-month-old daughter at home, so these are my first runs in a while,” says Paula Kujansivu, who is enjoying a run in the Central Park of Helsinki.

Baseball is one of the world’s most popular team games, but it marches on as a fringe sport in Finland.

“Baseball in Finland? Surely you mean the Finnish variant, pesäpallo?” No siree, Bob. The US national pastime has found a permanent footing on our shores, and there has been a baseball season in Finland every summer since the early 1980s. Without a blip on my radar screen, many point out. Indeed, countless are the victims of stealth, the quintessential sneakiness in the fake throws, base-running dekes, checked swings and feinted tags. Conversely, a transparent fact is that in 2010, a total of 45 top-level games will be played in the Finnish regular season, stretching from early May until mid-August, followed by the play-offs where the championship team will emerge by the onset of September.

The International Ice Hockey Federation’s flagship competition aims to offer sixteen days of riveting action.

Hot on the heels of a fascinating Olympic tournament, the 2010 Ice Hockey World Championships will commence on 7 May in what promises to be yet another enthralling competition. Germany will act as host with the cities of Gelsenkirchen, Cologne and Mannheim chosen for the event.

During its 74-year history the tournament has been held in Germany six times, but this year they are aiming for something special. Gelsenkirchen’s Veltins-Arena is scheduled to host the opening game, and ...

For the beauty of its scenery and outing opportunities the Vantaanjoki area must be one of Greater Helsinki’s best-kept secrets.

When Derek Stewart, 61, a Kiwi by birth but a Helsinki fixture since 1976, wants to feel free, breathe fresh air, and enjoy nature or simply contemplate life he puts on his walking shoes (Masai Barefoot Technology with rounded bottoms) and heads for one of his favourite walking routes: the track beside the river Vantaanjoki. The locals appreciate it, walking their dogs, Nordic walking, jogging, or cycling along it, and it’s a good place for kayaking. For those who do not live anywhere near the river, however, it might turn out to be a real oasis of wilderness, a break from the urban hustle and bustle.

Former European boxing champion Amin Asikainen, 34, will make a comeback to fight the thirtieth match of his professional career in Kirkkonummi on Tuesday 11 May.

The match to be held in Varuboden Arena will be Amin Asikainen’s first since September last year when he lost the middleweights’ European championship match to Matthew Macklin by technical knockout. Since his September defeat Asikainen has been out of the spotlight but has continued training steadily as before, in the precise manner his manager has said he will “never quit.”

Finland’s domestic football league has not always been the most entertaining sporting series, but a host of big names will be looking to change that in 2010.

THE CONTENDERS for the league title may be the same but if Finland’s football journalists are to be believed the balance of power has shifted since 2009. Last spring all eyes were on HJK who were expected to sweep all before them as 30-somethings Aki Riihilahti and Valeri Popovitch looked for one last glorious title.

Physical education teachers claim that students are not getting enough exercise.

SPORTS clubs and schools should significantly increase co-operation so that sports-playing youths don’t come under unreasonable pressure in their everyday lives. This is the opinion of Sami Kalaja, a teacher of physical education and health from Jyväskylä. To this end he recommends regular meetings and an electronic communications system which would show the sports player’s camps, practices and the school’s P.E. classes.

This latest instalment of our series on migrants’ sporting opportunities takes a look at a club in Eastern Helsinki that has welcomed migrants into its ranks as the local community has changed.

The sport clubs that deal with migrants in Finland can be roughly divided into three groups. Those that are established and run by migrants to meet a definite need among migrants themselves, those that are involved in elite competition and therefore make efforts to utilise all available talent, and long-established clubs that have reacted to changing demographics by welcoming migrants into the fold.

Cycling to work and back every day does more than keep you fit, spare the environment and clear your head. It can also be fun.

Elina Needham is a part-time bike commuter in Helsinki. In the summer, she rides along one particular route to her work at a translation company’s office in Sörnäinen. She feels sorry for the motorists stuck in morning traffic jams as she pedals by on the adjacent cycle path. After all, it is she who benefits from a fresh wake-up on her early commute, which provides light physical exercise and gets her blood flowing, coupled with inspiring glimpses of forest life in Laajasalo, residential areas...

It all began when the City of Oulu employed Sakari Orava as a sports doctor.

THE VIDEO clip shows how footballer David Beckham was injured. It looks harmless: Beckham receives the ball and prepares to cross it forward.

“A typical situation. The Achilles tendon is stretched and if it is strained or inflamed, it ruptures or tears. This happens most often in badminton,” explains orthopaedic surgeon Sakari Orava.

In his office, Orava demonstrates how the Achilles tendon snaps. The weight is on the back foot with the heel on the ground, and at the same time the body jerks forward slightly.