Basketball in Pyrintö – More than a 100-year-old club

People from toddlers to grandpas and grandmas have the opportunity to enjoy the game of shooting hoops in Tampereen Pyrintö, a multisport club in Tampere, Finland. The more than a 100-year-old club’s basketball section was established in 1941.

The youngest ball players are 1-5-year-old girls and boys in the Little Wolves basketball school, where the children get together to practise ball skills once a week. The purpose of the Little Wolves’ activities is to promote an active, sporty lifestyle for children in a comfortable and safe way.

From the Little Wolves, children move into the Super Micro level (U8/7, WU8/7), where boys and girls play in their own teams twice a week. In the Super Micros, two age groups practise their basketball skills together on the side of playing fun kids’ games.

The little basketball players continue their journey to the Micro level (U10/09, WU10/09). In addition to the game and ball skills, the Micro teams will also learn good manners and sportsmanship both on and off the court. By the time the players are ready for the next level, they will know to always root for their friends, be fair and respect both team mates and the opposing team.

The skills the players learn in the Micros will be further developed in the Mini level (U12/11, WU12/11). In this age group, the game is already becoming rather fast-paced, the players have practices thrice a week and are getting familiar with league games and tournament trips.

After building a good foundation for the game in the Mini level, players move into the C- and B-juniors (U14/13, WU14/13 and U16/15, WU16/15 respectively), both of which have four training sessions every week. B-juniors get to choose between competitive and amateur leagues while the game remains fast and furious in both.

The great pride of Tampereen Pyrintö is its own, well-rounded varsity team operations, into which players can already partially move at the U19 level. As the only team in Finland, Pyrintö has varsity teams in every possible league. The club’s comprehensive basketball academy operations enable players to grow and evolve all the way on to the international basketball courts. Pyrintö is playing its 56th season in men’s Korisliiga, while the Pyrintö women have won the Finnish championship a whopping eight times. The varsity team’s home is Pyynikki Indoor Sports Centre.

Competitive sports aren’t for all, and those men and women, and young men and young women, have the option of playing basketball in their own Pyrintö amateur teams.

Pyrintö also organises a basketball school for adults who are completely new to the game or familiar with it maybe from their own school days or their own children’s hobbies and want to learn proper basketball skills. The basketball school gets together once a week to practise basketball basics, dribbles, drives and throws. After graduating from the basketball school the now-players can start playing basketball in the Pyrintö amateur teams.

Key figures

Established in: 1941

Players: almost 800

Coaches: 80

Men’s championships: 2014, 2011, 2010

Women’s championships: 8

The annual organiser of one of Finland’s biggest and oldest basketball tournament: Delfin Basket Tournament