Suomalaisia Amerikan Jalkapalloa Pelaamassa - Small College Notebook: Finns are a fine fit with Chabot College football team

Small college notebook: Finns are a fine fit with Chabot College football team

By Matt Schwab
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 09/13/2011 06:34:41 PM PDT

Updated: 09/13/2011 10:38:10 PM PDT

The Finns are in at Chabot College.

The Gladiators football team has four starters who hail from Finland, a country more known for its passion for hockey and ski jumping.

Chabot's Finlanders are offensive linemen Carl-Johan Backlund and Simo Kulmavita, quarterback Janne "J" Lehtinen and linebacker/safety Max Ehlert.

Lehtinen, a sophomore, tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass in Chabot's season-opening 49-6 win over West Valley of Saratoga last week. Ehlert, a freshman, forced a safety in a game dominated by Chabot's strong, but thin, defense.

"Great young men," Chabot coach Danny Calcagno said of his Finnish imports. "Hardworking, good academically."

Ehlert said the whole Finland-to-Chabot football migration started from a glowing endorsement. Former Reedley College and Texas Tech quarterback Robert Johnson said positive things about junior college life to the locals while he was playing for Finland's Catania Elephants.

Lehtinen came to Chabot first. He enjoyed spring ball in 2010 and the lifestyle, and then shared the good news back home.

"He told me I should just pack my stuff and come over, and so I did," Ehlert said.

Now Ehlert raves of the "welcoming" nature of his new friends and the surprising ease of the transition. Predictably, Chabot's Finns are all good on skates, although at 6-foot-5 and 312 pounds Kulmavita may need some pretty thick ice.

"It's funny. All of us, when we grew up, played hockey," Ehlert said. "Most of us played it for about 10 years, so hockey is definitely a big sport over there. Football is more of a growing sport. They haven't played for that long yet. They have an amateur league and there's not too many people watching or playing. It's more a hobby kind of league."

The Gladiators, it turns out, are well-traveled overall and culturally diverse. They have seven players from Louisiana, six of Samoan descent, five from Hawaii, four from Florida, three from Hope, Ill., three from Texas, two from Nevada, one from Anchorage, Alaska, and another from Washington.

Defensive lineman Felix Ntwa is originally from Austria.

Closer to home, five Gladiators cut their football teeth at Dublin High.

Calcagno would prefer to lean more heavily on local talent, but after losing some key recruits to other Bay Area schools, he made a tactical move to widen his reach.

Calcagno said Lehtinen knows California well and his father even works in Walnut Creek.

Moreover, Calcagno has been impressed by all the Finlanders' maturity.

"They don't miss weightlifting, they watch film and work their butts off," he said.