Kali Pocrnic touched down in Finland just over a month ago, armed with a contract to play for the Helsinki-based Torpan Pojat women’s basketball club.
Like anyone moving from one side of the planet to the other, Pocrnic braced herself to adjust to an unfamiliar culture. In Helsinki, she was facing a different language, environment and basketball team.
But something she couldn’t prepare for? Cooking sausages in the sauna.
“Saunas are huge in Finland,” Pocrnic said. “And we have our own sauna in our apartment.”
While it’s a commonly-believed myth that saunas outnumber cars in Finland, more than three million saunas serving a population of under six million people is certainly an adequate ratio.
Pocrnic’s coach told her and Sarah Gates, her teammate and housemate, that it was a Finnish tradition to cook sausages while lounging in the sauna. They weren’t convinced, so they decided to try it for themselves.
“I was like, ‘is that healthy or is it like I’m going to come out smelling like a sausage?’” Pocrnic said. “So we don’t know if [our] coach is pulling our legs.”
The verdict? Perfectly cooked sausages, hot off the coals of the sauna. They didn’t even smell like sausages, either.
@sarahgates8 a traditional Finnish cooking method…. Apparently #diy #overseas #sauna #saunasausage #finland #professionalathlete #overseas #roomatefun #fyp #cooking #mealprep
“10/10 recommend,” Pocrnic later wrote in an Instagram message.
It doesn’t end there. Life with the basketball team also revolves around the sauna.
“We had our first team get-together outside of practice and basketball, and it was a sauna party,” Pocrnic said. “We get there, we have a team meeting and then we have a few drinks and then we have dinner and then you sauna.”
Although she admitted to never using the sauna at Carleton Athletics, Pocrnic is a now a proud convert. She said it’s on her bucket list this winter to sauna and then jump into the icy-cold Baltic Sea.
“It’s going to be icy, freezing, just like an ice bath.”
Leaving the nest behind
Word of Pocrnic’s hot-and-cold method has made it across the pond, and former teammate Jacqueline Urban said she’s willing to give it a shot.
“We might start [saunaing] now so that we can get on Kali’s level,” Urban said. “Maybe that will help.”
The Ravens might need all the help they can get, as the team said Pocrnic’s absence will be acutely felt entering the upcoming season.
Ravens head coach Dani Sinclair added that the roster cycle of U Sports can be emotionally difficult, as so many players filter in and out of the program in a short few years.
Aside from Pocrnic, Océane Kounkou signed a professional contract with Anagennisi Germasogeias BC in Cyprus for this season.
“It’s part of what university sport is all about,” Sinclair said. “People move on and graduate. It’s with mixed emotions, for sure.”
The transition plan has been in the works for months, and Pocrnic said she thinks her former team will be just fine. She noted the majority of the leadership group still remains intact, adding the incoming rookies will help.
“I believe in them and I can’t wait to watch them play,” Pocrnic said. “It’s going to be so good, but kind of sad.”
Keeping her head in the game
That feeling of sadness doesn’t extend to school, something she can finally say she’s “done with” after graduating with her bachelor of arts in psychology last year.
Since moving onto pro basketball, Pocrnic’s newfound freedom allows her to focus on her passion for the game, undistracted by anything else.
She appears to already be finding her groove in Helsinki. Torpan plays its games at Töölö Sports Hall, the basketball venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics, which lends a unique sense of character and history to their games.
“It’s really, really cool,” Pocrnic said. “There’s pictures all over of the Olympics. It’s a really cool set up, very different.”
While her first month in Finland mostly consisted of practicing and getting acquainted with the city, Pocrnic and Torpan are now getting into game action.
Through her first two games, Pocrnic posted 23 points, three rebounds, and 11 assists playing limited minutes in 93-65 and 104-73 wins.
She said it’s everything she loved about the Ravens, but dialed up a notch. Torpan practices often and takes them seriously. Perhaps most importantly, the 5-foot-3 guard doesn’t stand head-and-shoulders above her competition on the court, both literally and figuratively.
“There’s a lot of really good players and I’m surrounded by people who push me every day and make me better,” Pocrnic said. “That’s the exact same way it was at Carleton too, which I love.”
If there’s anything the Ravens can confirm following Pocrnic’s historic tenure at Carleton, it’s that she’s driven to succeed like few others are.
“She’s going to do so good,” said former teammate Poulin. “She’s such a good person too and everybody’s drawn to her, so I’m not even worried about her over there.”
Sinclair said she shared a unique player-coach relationship with Pocrnic, trusting her star player in any situation, no matter how heated she was or how out of the game the Ravens appeared to be.
“She just comes with a lot to the table as a player, and just works so hard all the time to continue to get better,” Sinclair said. “I think her greatest gift is being able to handle pressure. It’ll take some time to adjust to being in a new country and a new style of play, but she’s so understanding of how to find a way.”
Growing pains
As capable as she is, Pocrnic admitted there is plenty of room for improvement.
“There’s been an adjustment in terms of the system,” she said. “[At] Carleton, we focus so much on defence and those types of strategies, whereas here we haven’t even really talked about defence much. I’m kind of switching my brain. It’s like, ‘hey, think offence first.’”
And then there’s the language barrier.
“Everyone understands English, but not everyone’s comfortable with talking in English,” Pocrnic said. “Sometimes you’re talking to someone and you just get a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ or an ‘I don’t know.’”
That’s why Pocrnic said one of her biggest off-court goals is to learn some Finnish. Thankfully, she has a learning partner in Gates, who has a whole year of experience playing basketball in Finland.
Hurdles and roadblocks are to be expected, but Sinclair was adamant that Pocrnic will be just fine in her new home.
“She’s pretty mentally tough,” Sinclair said. “I think all the great athletes have an ability to brush aside failure. She doesn’t let that get her down. She just moves on. There’s no question that she’s going to be able to do that in that league as well.”
“I’m just really happy for her, because I know that was a goal of hers,” she said. “We know she’ll find her way.”
It’s just a matter of acclimating to the heat of a Finnish sauna.
“A few weeks prior to hearing about this sauna party that we had, Sarah and I were stressing out because it’s like, what if we can’t hang with everyone? What if they stay in for like 30, 40 minutes?”
But even that obstacle has melted away. Such has been the road for Pocrnic’s basketball career.
“It’s just so Scandinavian and funny. I’m totally here for it.”
Featured image provided by Marc Lafleur/Carleton Ravens.
