Antero Lehto has seen a lot of different teams while playing not only in the Korisliiga but also in Italy and Susijeng. He has also captained two teams. In the following, Lehto shares his experiences of developing teams on the way to becoming a great team.

Young team with a touch of experience

We are a reasonably young and inexperienced team, and a couple of us have experience. Everyone is an extremely nice person, and with our coach Greg Gibson, the team works well together: he cares about the players and the players care about the coach and the team.

An American coach is a big advantage for us because he gets the message across to everyone very well. Gibson has lived in Finland for a long time and therefore knows not only the culture of our American reinforcements, but also the Finnish culture. This will certainly reduce misunderstandings.

As captain, I lead by example and keep my humour up

As captain, I try to pay more attention to our players off the field than usual. I try to bring people closer together and I also want to get to know others and their behaviour better. My style is not to give chest-beating speeches, but to use good humour to get the job done. Whenever you are involved in sport, there has to be a safe and fun atmosphere. If everyone is really quiet and nobody says anything, it gets dull after a while. For my part, I'm trying to move the atmosphere forward. Sometimes it gets on my nerves, and sometimes you can show it. 

In sport, captaincy is a lot about leading by example. I'm 37 years old and if I don't practice when my nail is a bit sore, quite a few others will follow suit a bit later. I always try to be a good example.

Sport reveals all our sides - you have to be able to laugh at yourself too

In sport, you see all sides of people, from disappointment to elation. Every one of us athletes is passionate about what we do, and we're all really into it. Everyone has their own goals and beliefs about themselves. Yet everyone should be able to laugh at themselves too. Nobody deliberately does things wrong in training or in matches. We need to create an atmosphere in the team and in the workplace that is tolerant of mistakes.

Language and cultural differences challenge the team

Basketball league teams typically have a majority of Finnish players and four reinforcements from abroad, mostly from North America. Although in principle everyone speaks English and we are one team, often unfortunately the reinforcements practically separate themselves. This can happen even if nobody wants it to. Many of us Finns are insecure with English, and are therefore even quieter than usual.

The young reinforcements are abroad for the first time for a longer period, in a completely unknown place. For them, everyone is a stranger, and they usually already know each other. As a result, they often have a threshold to get to know and find a way to communicate with the quieter Finns. During my career, I have learned to appreciate the value of making a connection outside the field. This also works on the pitch: when things click on the team, good things happen on the pitch.

We played a SmoothTeam simulation to develop team chemistry, during which several reinforcements asked the Finns to speak English without any unnecessary tension. The reinforcements have heard much worse English in their home countries and appreciate that English is spoken. The praise for their language skills was a very positive message, especially for our younger players, and will hopefully lower the threshold to speak English in the future. You can read more about the simulation experience in a separate article.

Nothing is as easy as giving up - and you have to work against it

Towards the end of the corona-stained 2020-21 season, we lost a lot of games, but we played really good basketball and had a very good team spirit. There was only one American player, but we had a lot of fun and we could fight in impossible situations. We created an atmosphere of playing until the end, which is exceptional. What else is not as easy as giving up, but our team never gave up. This is what we have to aim for.

Every joint event builds team chemistry

One year with a team is a very short time. During the season, every event is a unifying factor, and both wins and losses drive the team forward. On the journey together, you get to know each other better and better. 

Whenever you join a new team, there are a lot of new players and it takes time to get to know them. Even though I'm a social person myself, it takes time for me to get to know the team. After that, routines develop and things start to get rolling. Doing things together also helps to develop team chemistry. Sometimes chemistry also develops through disaster, so these can also be unifying factors.

Speech alone is not enough for the team - emotions are involved anyway

Developing team chemistry is essential to not just talking about basketball. Small talk alone is not enough. A team develops if players can also talk about their feelings, for example, when things go in the notebook during training sessions.

On the other hand, in sport, things also come to the fore through publicity. It's good if players can share with each other, for example, how it feels to be criticised in the media or on discussion boards. This can also unite and strengthen a team.

It can be a bit part of being Finnish not to share your own feelings. However, I have seen talkative and quiet people from different cultures. So we can't put it down to Finnishness if we don't discuss things with our teammates. It's part of each of our jobs in the team.

Advice for young people: be brave enough to ask questions and take an interest in people

The most important thing is to be interested in each person as a unique individual. If you ask a few questions and then delve deeper, you can find some really interesting stories, regardless of culture. So life is very much about networking. The basic premise is that you have to be able to be and get along with everyone. And that's where asking questions and showing interest comes in. 

I started over 20 years ago as a youngster in the men's team. Fortunately, young people are more aware nowadays and open up conversations with strangers and people from other cultures more than before. To the young players, I would say: feel free to talk, we older and more experienced people are human too!

Antero Lehto
BC Nokia
Captain

We have also published a separate article on Lehdo's experience with the SmoothTeam simulation. If you want to know more about SmoothTeam simulations, you can find here information for sports teams simulations for sports teams and here for corporate teams.