Kuortane OTC is one of the 11 sport institutes in Finland founded in 1949. It is a non-profit private foundation. Kuortane OTC main operating areas are high performance training in sports, centre of excellence in sports education and leisure time activities and company sports and wellbeing.

Kuortane OTC`s main national partners are the Finnish Ministry of Education and Sports, the Finnish Olympic Committee, the Finnish Research Centre for Olympic Sports KIHU, National Sports federations, sport clubs and individual athletes/coaches. Main international partners are the Association of Sport Performance Centres, the International Association of Athletics Federation IAAF, European Athletics Association EAA, United World Wrestling UWW, International Shooting Sport Federation ISSF, European Tenpin Bowling Federation ETBF, Umeå University School of Sport Sciences Sweden.

Kuortane OTC has a strategic partnership with seven national sport federation that are athletics, volleyball, ice hockey, wrestling, archery, bowling and artistic gymnastic. In these sports Kuortane OTC has the tradition for knowledge/knowhow, supporting services (such as medical, recovery, science based analyses) and world-class facilities. Kuortane OTC`s working frame consists of organizing training camps, competitions and tournaments, sport academy functions including dual career programs (e.g. sports high school), arranging coach education programs and organizing coaching seminars and conferences.

Kuortane OTC key figures:

  • 118 000 total overnight stays/year 2018
  • 200 athletes training on daily basis
  • 80 staff members
  • 27 coaches
  • 30 degree program students, coaching and sport leadership
  • 7 main sports (strategic partnership with the national sports federation)
  • 20 other sports

Kuortane OTC and ESC2 project

Since 1980’s OTC Kuortane has had a growing role as a Training Centre in Olympic sports at elite level. Due the strong connections to the Finnish Sports Science, University of Jyväskylä and Research Institute for Olympic Sports, OTC Kuortane have had big role in developing training processes, applying knowledge and creating support in biomechanics, physiotherapy, exercise physiology and psychology etc. for Track & Field, (especially throwing events), Wrestling and Volleyball. In recent years, the same model has reached also to Women’s Ice Hockey, Artistic Gymnastics and Bowling through the athletes who train, live or have a training camp at OTC Kuortane facilities.

OTC Kuortane have had big role in measuring and collecting data on individual athletes’ physical abilities and building up framework for athletes’ progress follow up in several sports. Through the years OTC Kuortane has developed a database called the K-Lab for monitoring the athletes’ physical growth from youth phase to the elite level as well as for constructing the criteria for each sports at different ages.

As recognition for that, OTC has had special assignment from Ministry of Education and the NOC to develop speed- and strength training in all Finnish Sports. This scientific and evidence based approach together with experience on training processes on elite level is a foundation for OTC Kuortane to share knowledge on athletes’ individual variability for Strength & Conditioning coaches. For four decades OTC Kuortane has organized an International Strength Training Seminar every two years for having world-class scientists and coaches as a lectures.

Skills: Individualization of training, biomechanics, physiology, sport specific testing, sport
psychology, elite sport managers, life coaching.