ALAND,
FINLAND - Hanna Salmen, a rising junior at Campbell University, won
her second-straight football (soccer) gold medal last month in the
NatWest Island Games XIII.
A
midfielder/defender, Salmen played in all six matches, starting
five, and was the second-leading scorer with seven goals as Aland
won six contests in as many days. Aland, which is located off the coast
of Finland, outscored its six opponents by a 41-4
differential.
In
the opening match of the group stage, Salmen came off the Aland
bench at half-time and proceeded to score four times in the final
45 minutes of a 20-0 victory over Saaremaa. She then started each of the next
five matches, including a 2-0 victory over Gotland in the
final.
Along
the way, Salmen scored twice in a 6-2 victory over Greenland and
provided one tally in a 4-1 triumph over
Jersey.
The 'Inter-Island' Games
were born in the Isle of Man in 1985, with the intention of
bringing together a number of small islands from different parts of
the world in friendly competition as part of the Isle of Man's Year
of Sport. Since then the Island Games take place every two
years.
The idea of the Games is to provide an opportunity for hundreds of
young sportsmen and women from small island communities, to compete
and enjoy international competition against other islanders with
similar standards of performance. Other benefits of such a unique
festival of sport are the opportunities for cultural exchange and
social interaction with visiting teams, and to establish new
lifelong friendships with fellow
islanders.
The number of Islands participating has grown substantially, and
now 25 Islands are members of the
International Island Games Association. NatWest Island Games XIII -
Åland 2009 was the biggest Games ever, with 3,700
participants.
Ålandis an autonomous,
monolingual Swedish region within Finland. The region has its own flag, postage
stamps and vehicle registration plates. Aland comprises more than 6500
islands, of which 65 are inhabited and has a population of
approximately 27,000 people, some 11,000 of whom live in
Åland's only city, Mariehamn.
Seafaring accounts for
around 40 percent of Åland's gross national product. Aland is known for its unique
archipelago, wind mills, as well as beautifully smooth red rocks
and cliffs.
Interview with Hanna Salmen
(prior to the competition)
Were you confident last
time?
The goal was of course to
win gold and after our first two games I felt pretty confident that
we could do it. Anything less than gold would have been a
disappointment.
Are you confident this
time?
Well we want to keep the
trophy! I believe that we can do it again but we have to take one
game at a time.
Are you favourites this
time?
I think we are ranked as one
of the favourites and as we won last time the other teams certainly
respect us.
What are your
hopes?
My hopes are that we will win but it is hard to know the exact
level of the opposition in a tournament like this, but again,
anything less than gold will be somewhat of a
disappointment.
Has the team changed
much?
The base of the team is the same and everyone has improved
individually since last time. We also have some good new players
that will definitely make an impact. Now we have to put it together
and play with one another.
As champions you are 'the
team to beat', so do you feel the games could be
harder?
Other teams will probably
come out hard try to beat us right from the start. But that is most
just fun - this time we really have to show that we have developed
as a team and that we are as good as, or even better, than before.
Although in this position it is also easy to underestimate the
other teams. We just have to come out and play our game like we
would do against any opponent.
Who will be your main
rivals?
I think it may be Gotland.
The Isle of Man are also probably very anxious to beat us after the
loss against us in the semi-final on
Rhodes.
And finally, your message to
Åland fans...
Come and cheer for us! We need your
support!
Interview by Anna Karlsson
for www.natwestislandgames2009.ax
