Few clubs in European hockey can match the consistency of Tappara Tampere.

With 20 Finnish championships in total and 13 in the Liiga era, Tappara stands as the most successful club in Finnish ice hockey history. Their recent run of Liiga titles further underlines that success.

But behind the results is something more sustainable than short-term performance - a clearly defined culture, built on structure, accountability, and long-term development.

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A Clear Structure, Shared Across the Club

At Tappara, success starts with clarity. The club operates with a shared framework across all teams, ensuring that expectations, responsibilities, and daily processes are aligned from youth level to the professional team.

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I think it's a core value for us that we're a club-led and club-directed organization, that every team has their own responsibilities and actions.
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- Kimmo Vähä-Ruohola, Director of Player Development

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This structure allows the club to define what good looks like - and hold people accountable to it. Rather than relying on individual approaches, Tappara has built a consistent way of working across the entire organization.

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The visibility of that pathway is just as important. For young players, seeing others progress through the system reinforces belief in the process.

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I think that's a big thing for the junior players that they can see the players who have come all the way from the youth level, through the junior level and then to the pro team.
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- Miika Vanhatalo, Head Coach, Tappara U18

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One Platform, One Way of Working

To support this structure, Tappara uses XPS Network as a central platform to connect planning, communication, and development across all teams.

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We need to have platforms like XPS where we build the standards and ways how the club is led and what is done in each age group.
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- Kimmo Vähä-Ruohola, Director of Player Development

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By bringing everything into one place, the club ensures that every team operates with the same foundation - while still allowing flexibility within each group. This creates a shared language across coaches, players, and staff.

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For the performance department, this centralization is especially valuable. With multiple data sources involved in daily work, having a single platform becomes essential.

Through API integrations, Tappara can bring in data from systems such as Garmin and Firstbeat directly into XPS, creating one unified overview of player load, testing, and monitoring.

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We can combine physical testing data and training load monitoring data in the same place, show the reports to the players and discuss with coaching staff.
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- Marko Haverinen, Head of Performance

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Having all data in one system makes it easier to communicate insights and support daily decision-making. It allows staff to quickly access relevant information, align across departments, and build a clearer picture of each player’s status.

This shared overview helps ensure that decisions are consistent, informed, and based on a complete understanding of both performance and workload.

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Supporting Coaches and Player Development

For coaches, XPS simplifies the day-to-day work and allows them to focus on what matters most - developing players.

Instead of relying on scattered notes and materials, everything from drills to session plans is stored and easily accessible.

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Earlier I used only sheets of paper and notebooks and stuff like that. Now I have all my drills drawn down in XPS, so I just think about what we need to practice, and I get those drills in collections.
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- Miika Vanhatalo, Head Coach, Tappara U18

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This consistency also supports collaboration across the organization, where coaches share ideas and build on each other’s work.

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At the same time, it creates a better environment for part-time coaches or parent coaches, who play an important role in the organization, bringing valuable engagement and supporting the daily activities around the teams.

By having everything prepared for them in advance, the club ensures they can contribute effectively without the added pressure of planning, allowing them to focus fully on coaching and being present with the players.

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We have parent coaches, and with everything prepared for them in XPS by our full-time staff, they don’t have to worry about planning, but they can focus fully on coaching.
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- Jukka-Pekka Leppänen, Head of Coaching U15-U18

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For players, access to information becomes a key part of development. They can track progress, review test results, and build a clearer understanding of their own performance over time. This creates a more structured and transparent development environment, where expectations are clear and progress is visible.

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The coach uploads our test results, and I can track how I’ve improved over time. It’s really important and helpful for my development.
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- Tomaš Kohút, Defender, Tappara U18

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This visibility supports both motivation and individualization, with training adapted to each player’s needs. By giving players direct access to their data and feedback, they become more engaged in their own development and better understand what is expected of them.

It also creates a shared reference point between players and staff, making conversations around performance more concrete and easier to follow up on over time.

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Individual development is also supported through structured IDPs (Individual Development Plans), where players set goals and reflect on their progress over time. By documenting conversations and objectives in one place, both players and coaches can follow development more consistently.

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We put our one-on-one conversations with the players in XPS as well. After games, they set goals and can go back and check what they’ve written and follow their progress.
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- Miika Vanhatalo, Head Coach, Tappara U18

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Connecting Players, Staff, and Parents

One of the key strengths of Tappara’s system is how it connects everyone involved in the player journey - not just coaches and staff, but also players and parents. By bringing everything into one platform, the club creates clarity, reduces friction, and ensures that everyone is working with the same information.

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For players, having a clear overview of schedules, training, and expectations helps build strong daily habits and routines. With everything accessible in the XPS mobile app, they can better prepare for both on-ice and off-ice activities, manage their time around school, and arrive ready for each session. It also gives them a clearer understanding of what is coming next, reducing uncertainty and allowing them to focus fully on their development.

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The XPS app helps me stay on time and be prepared. When you know what’s coming in training, it’s easier to plan around school and pack everything in advance.
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- Jimi Saarinen, Forward, Tappara U16

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For parents, it provides transparency and removes the uncertainty that often comes with busy schedules and constant communication. They can follow trainings, games, and schedules on a daily and weekly basis, and when the team travels, all the trip details are available. 

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Before we had XPS, there were dozens of WhatsApp group chats and it felt quite chaotic. Now everything is in one place in XPS - it’s one tool, one application.
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- Laura-Maria Saarinen, Jimi's mother, Tappara Parents

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By replacing fragmented communication channels with one shared system, Tappara ensures that everyone - players, staff, and parents - stays aligned, informed, and connected.

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A Culture That Goes Beyond Hockey

While Tappara’s results speak for themselves, the club’s philosophy goes beyond performance alone.

The focus is on developing well-rounded individuals - players who grow not only as athletes, but also as people.

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We focus on developing players as people and athletes. It’s not just about creating professionals - we care about the individual first, whether that leads to a career in hockey or not.
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- Kimmo Vähä-Ruohola, Director of Player Development

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This approach is especially important at younger ages, where enjoyment, general athleticism, and long-term engagement in sport are prioritized.

As players progress, the demands increase - but the foundation remains the same: a structured environment, a shared culture, and a commitment to continuous development.

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Tappara’s success is not built on one factor alone. It is the result of a connected system - where structure supports culture, and where everyone works toward the same goal.

With XPS Network as a central part of that system, the club has created an environment where development is clear, communication is seamless, and success becomes something that can be built - year after year.