Player, referee, coach: The many lives of Turo Virta

Turo Virta smiled mischievously when we ran into him by chance in the ice rink in Fondo a few days ago. He knew that no one would have expected him here at the Italian national team's training camp. But anyone who knows Turo Virta will have guessed it: the man with blonde hair and an icy look has once again taken a new path.

The first path in his sporting life took him straight from his parents' house in Tampere to the largest ice rinks in Finland. First in his hometown, then in Hyvinkää just outside Helsinki, Virta grew up to become a professional ice hockey player. After three years in the second highest Finnish league, he moved from the Baltic Sea town of Kokkola to Neumarkt, 2005 kilometers south, in 2.000. The defender completed his first Serie B season there. A two-year adventure in Germany followed before he returned via the Brenner for love. After stints in Torre Pellice, Merano and Kaltern, he settled in Neumarkt, where he hung up his skates on the much-quoted nail in the spring of 2012 after 461 professional games.

Customers all over the world Turo Virta finally married his Miriam eight years ago and has now long since become at home in the Neumarkt district of Vill. And there he built a career after his career: The former ice hockey player works as an independent personal coach, fitness trainer and nutritionist. The language talent now does most of his coaching online and teaches sports people around the world. He swapped the ice surface and skates for a workout mat, resistance bands and computer screen.

Turo Virta has been whistling internationally for years. © private

Although, that's not entirely true. Because the fastest team sport in the world never really let go of him. Shortly after retiring, he took his skates off again, put on a striped jersey, wrapped the whistle around his finger and began refereeing youth games. A rapid rise followed: from junior referee to IHL linesman, then to head referee, then on to the AlpsHL and finally – just six years after his referee debut – he made the jump to what was then the EBEL. “That was an absolute highlight.” Turo Virta about the Bozen-Pustertal derby Last year, the Finn led, among other things, the derby between Bolzano and Pustertal in the Eiswelle. “That was an absolute highlight. It was really busy and at times it was deafeningly loud in the hall,” recalled Virta. But the ICE is now over. “It was very demanding both physically and in terms of time.” But he wants to continue to referee in the Alps Hockey League – if time permits.

The national team is calling Because Virta has very little time. Also because his new job keeps him on the go. And that's why he was in Fondo in the Non Valley this week, where the Blue Team started the new season. For the first time, Virta worked as a fitness coach for an entire sports team, combining his two passions: athletics and ice hockey. He was hired by the Italian association as an athletic trainer and is supposed to make the cracks agile, stronger and livelier, especially now after the summer break. “Basically it’s about preparing the players for the rigors of the winter while minimizing the risk of injury,” he explained.

Under the direction of head coach Mike Keenan, 21 selected players completed a five-day training camp in Fondo until Friday. When asked how the players' fitness was after the long summer break, Virta replied: "You can tell who was busy in their free time and who was a little less so. But the boys are all fit. These are professionals who know exactly what and how much they need to do to stay in shape.”

While Virta spoke these sentences, his gaze kept moving from the stands in the PalaSmeraldo down to the ice, where his protégés were doing light ice training, and from there up to the clock under the roof of the hall. “It’s all precisely planned out – for me too. Downstairs in the fitness room I prepare the next exercises. Then we'll go to the hotel, from where I'll give several online courses later. “I can’t neglect my other customers,” he said, and moments later he quickly disappeared towards the catacombs. Virta also shuttled between several lives that day.

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Player, referee, coach: The many lives of Turo Virta

Turo Virta is a Finnish ice hockey export that has long since become at home in South Tyrol. He spent almost half of his 41 years here - and during this time he packed several careers into it. The last one has just begun.

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