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Aisti Sport operations handbook

Introduction

The Aisti Sport club's own operations handbook has been created as a handbook-format package describing the club's work comprehensively, but as a compact whole. The operations handbook was created in February 2020 by the board of the time and was last updated in August 2026. The operations handbook gives a good account of the club's activities as a whole, its principles, its vision, and club work both on the field and in the office. In the handbook you will find the opportunities the club offers along with role responsibilities. The operations handbook is not the last word, however; it evolves along with the club's development and activity.

What is Aisti Sport?

Aisti Sport ry is a Vantaa-based sports club founded on 4 August 2017, whose guiding principle is to develop sport and physical activity for visually impaired people while advancing inclusion between disabled and non-disabled people. At Aisti Sport you can take up goalball, blind hockey, blind football, showdown or blind tennis, bring your child along to the Aisti Play sports club or the Aisti Games ball sports club, take part as a volunteer official at the events we run in a great many different roles, get training to become a coach, kit manager, instructor or sports referee, and generally take part in or contribute to the club's community. Working with Aisti Sport and the club's stakeholders, you can also try and discover new sports at taster events, or be more active at the national camps Aisti runs. In our growing club, the opportunities keep growing too.

History

Aisti Sport ry was founded on 4 August 2017 by its founding members Aleksi Aittola, Jani Tuuri, Markus Tihumäki, Miika Honkanen and Ville Montonen. In the preceding 2016–2017 season the founding members had represented the Lahti goalball club Näpäjä ry in the goalball Championship League. The Aisti Sport founding members who had represented Näpäjä all lived in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and a need to develop activity had already been felt in the region. At the same time, training conditions for goalball were deteriorating significantly in the metropolitan area, as the long-standing cooperation with what was then Keskuspuisto Vocational College was coming to an end. The need to develop training opportunities was therefore significant for the sport's continuity. Näpäjä ry's board unanimously decided to release the current Aisti Sport founding members who had represented the club from its activities, in order to make it possible for them to found Aisti Sport ry. For that reason Aisti's story traces its roots in part back to Näpäjä ry, and mutual respect still exists between the clubs.

When Aisti Sport ry was founded, the founding members had a vision of making the work into comprehensive club activity in the future, with a new kind of approach. The summer of 2017 launched a major project, working on official matters and creating for the association its rules and legal capacity as a registered association, among other things. In addition, the aim was to create a distinctive, modern visual identity for the club through its name, theme colours and logos, in which the sharpest-eyed may indeed find deeper meanings.

The association's rules were created to underpin the idea of creating encounters between visually impaired and non-disabled people, in order to develop inclusion — a sense of belonging — between these groups of people. The original purpose of the activity became to develop the disability sport of goalball, through which that sense of belonging is advanced. Since then, as the club has grown, the rules were last updated in autumn 2025, and the current purpose is to develop sport and physical activity for visually impaired people while advancing inclusion in society, and to promote its members' health and wellbeing through an inclusive environment.

By 2026 Aisti Sport has developed into a multi-sport club offering several sports on a regular basis, and was the first organisation to bring blind hockey and blind tennis, among others, to Finland to be taken up. Aisti Sport has worked to create new opportunities to take part and has spread awareness of the wide range of possibilities for being active, whatever a person's visual impairment. The club has received several honours. The greatest of these is being awarded the Uno trophy in the Sports Club of the Year category at the national Sports Gala held in January 2026. Aisti Sport is the Sports Club of the Year 2025. In addition, Aisti Sport ry has achieved Star Club status as a mark of quality in both adult and children's and youth goalball.

The club's vision

In 2031 Aisti Sport ry is a multi-sport club offering sport and physical activity that is more equal and that builds a sense of belonging, and that spreads expert knowledge nationwide about the opportunities in sport and physical activity for visually impaired people. Aisti Sport's profile is national, and the club's brand is recognised for quality club work in national sporting circles and among the groups it works with. The club runs sport taster sessions and events that create new opportunities to take part and to be active in sport. Aisti Sport delivers professional instruction and coaching in several sports adapted for visually impaired athletes, in which visually impaired and non-disabled participants alike can develop together, from first try right up to the international elite.

Ethical principles, the club's values and recognition

In the club everyone has the chance to grow as an equal human being, from small child right through to later adulthood. A participant or contributor can take part entirely at their own level, whatever their sight or physical condition, starting at any stage of life. The club takes a participant's individual needs into account as far as it possibly can. At Aisti Sport the aim is to develop every participant into an active person who takes others into account and who respects and develops themselves. Activity is delivered constructively in a positive, open and honest atmosphere, in which everyone taking part encourages the others onward.

The club thanks and recognises its members, contributors, instructors, participants and partners each year, particularly at Aisti's annual party each summer. Invited to the annual party are the club's members and the most active contributors, who have played a significant part in the success and development of the club's work.

Our awards

Aisti Person of the Year

The Aisti Person of the Year has, across the board, been an exemplary individual who creates spirit in the Aisti community. They have developed and enabled the community's activity through their own efforts and hard work. Through what they do, the Aisti Person of the Year has brought joy, motivation and development to the people around them in the club's community. They respect the club's values, which are equality, encouragement, positivity, honesty, and an open and cheerful attitude.

The Aisti Person of the Year is chosen by Aisti Sport ry's community, who vote for the most fitting person. The Aisti Person of the Year can hold any role in the club: participant, coach, instructor, kit manager, board member or other volunteer contributor.

Recipients

  • 2026 – Valo Heinonen
  • 2025 – Jouni Viitamäki
  • 2024 – Anniina Latikka
  • 2023 – Henriikka Toivola
  • 2022 – Azra Tayyebi
  • 2021 – Miika Honkanen
  • 2020 – Markus Tihumäki

Volunteer of the Year

The Volunteer of the Year has given selflessly of their time for the good of Aisti Sport ry's community. They have acted in an exemplary way and of their own will, to make the community's activity possible. Through their volunteering, the Volunteer of the Year has created a good spirit at events, where participants have been able to enjoy quality activity and organisation thanks to the volunteers. The Volunteer of the Year has been self-directed, flexible and an extremely valuable person behind the scenes, possibly far from the limelight, fame and glory. The volunteer has done their voluntary work to help individuals and the community, expecting as their reward only the good feeling that comes from volunteering.

The Volunteer of the Year is chosen by Aisti Sport ry's board. Through the Volunteer of the Year honour, Aisti wants to show great appreciation and thanks to a volunteer. Without voluntary work, activity that develops is not possible at any club.

Recipients

  • 2026 – Juuso Somerkivi
  • 2025 – Satu Lintala
  • 2024 – Petrus Vilhunen
  • 2023 – Irma Piironen and Kari Honkanen
  • 2022 – Jukka Pulkkinen
  • 2021 – Maija Huitu
  • 2020 – Antti Rusi

Most Improved of the Year

Most Improved of the Year is an award for an individual who, at their own level, has developed themselves in an exemplary way over the year. The Most Improved of the Year has done sustained, focused work to move forward. They have taken leaps upward and have been determined in what they do. Behind the hard work and effort has been the will, the joy and the motivation to develop. The Most Improved of the Year can hold any role in the Aisti community: participant, coach, instructor, official, member of the administration or other contributor.

The Most Improved of the Year is chosen by Aisti Sport ry's board. Through the Most Improved of the Year honour, Aisti wants to recognise a hard-working, motivated person who has earned their development through their own efforts.

Recipients

  • 2026 – Jasmin Mikkola
  • 2025 – Annika Laine
  • 2024 – Konsta Kuorikoski
  • 2023 – Carmen Pekkarinen
  • 2022 – Henriikka Toivola
  • 2021 – Juuso Utriainen
  • 2020 – Anniina Latikka

Values

Aisti Sport operates in accordance with the following values:

  • Equality
  • Encouragement
  • Positivity
  • Honesty
  • An open and cheerful attitude

The action plan and the goals of our work

Our action plan sets out the goals of our work and describes them. You will always find the content in our most recent action plan.

The club's organisation and the roles of those responsible

The association's board

2026–2027

Markus Tihumäki (chair), Antti Latikka (vice-chair), Samuli Harjunen (secretary), Arttu Cowell, Jasmin Mikkola, Miika Honkanen, Miina Grönroos

2025–2026

Markus Tihumäki (chair), Antti Latikka (vice-chair), Samuli Harjunen (secretary), Jouni Viitamäki, Miika Honkanen, Jasmin Mikkola (deputy member), Miina Grönroos (deputy member)

2024–2025

Miika Honkanen (chair), Markus Tihumäki (vice-chair), Samuli Harjunen (secretary), Jouni Viitamäki, Antti Latikka, Anniina Latikka (deputy member), Ville Montonen (deputy member)

2023–2024

Miika Honkanen (chair), Markus Tihumäki (vice-chair), Henriikka Toivola (secretary), Raisa Kuusela, Krister Linnas, Jouni Viitamäki (deputy member), Antti Latikka (deputy member)

2022–2023

Miika Honkanen (chair), Markus Tihumäki (vice-chair), Henriikka Toivola (secretary), Ville Montonen (member), Azra Tayyebi (member), Krister Linnas (deputy member), Leo Hintsanen (deputy member)

2021–2022

Miika Honkanen (chair), Markus Tihumäki (vice-chair),, Henriikka Toivola (secretary), Ville Montonen (member), Azra Tayyebi (member)

2020–2021 Miika Honkanen (chair), Ville Montonen (vice-chair), Markus Tihumäki (secretary), Azra Tayyebi (member), Henriikka Toivola (member)

2019–2020 Miika Honkanen (chair), Ville Montonen (vice-chair), Markus Tihumäki (secretary), Azra Tayyebi (member), Jani Tuuri (member)

2018–2019 Miika Honkanen (chair), Ville Montonen (vice-chair), Markus Tihumäki (secretary), Jani Tuuri (member), Jenni Tuuri (member)

2017–2018 Miika Honkanen (chair), Jani Tuuri (vice-chair), Markus Tihumäki (secretary), Aleksi Aittola (member), Ville Montonen (member)

The board's duties

All board members

  • Carry out the decisions of the club's meeting
  • Choose the necessary working groups, their chairs and the sport leads
  • Convene and prepare the club's meeting
  • Be responsible for the club's finances
  • Maintain the list of members
  • Prepare the club's financial statements, annual report, action plan and budget for approval by the annual general meeting
  • Take care of the club's communications
  • Approve and expel members, and decide on disciplinary measures concerning members
  • Choose and dismiss the club's paid officials, and agree their benefits
  • Decide on the granting of the club's awards and on nominations for other honourable mentions and awards
  • Take any other measures that the club's interest requires
  • Hand over the accounts to the operations auditors or the auditors for review at least one month before the annual general meeting
  • And, in addition, creating club spirit

Chair

  • leads the club
  • knows the legislation relating to running a club
  • has primary responsibility for the strategy and action plans and for monitoring them
  • convenes the board and draws up the agendas together with the secretary
  • prepares and submits project applications / funding bids, or makes sure they are made, together with the board
  • prepares applications for activity grants, subsidies and other such funding, or makes sure they are made, together with the board
  • draws up the board's action plan and budget together with the board and the bookkeeper
  • draws up the board's annual reports together with the board
  • makes cooperation and sponsorship agreements together with the club's contact person where there is one
  • keeps in touch with the federation, sports organisations and associations, the city, companies, communities, stakeholders and the media, as well as with the club's own membership, together with the club's communications officer
  • makes employment contracts and is ultimately responsible for paying wages
  • takes care of the club's PR
  • is a visible representative of the club

Vice-chair

  • knows the legislation relating to running a club
  • carries out the chair's duties when the chair is unable to
  • keeps in touch with the municipality, companies, communities and stakeholders, as well as with the club's own membership, together with the chair and the club's communications officer

Secretary

  • knows the legislation relating to running a club
  • draws up the agendas for meetings together with the chair
  • prepares and writes the minutes of meetings and sees to their retention
  • draws up the board's action plan and budget together with the chair, the board and the bookkeeper
  • draws up the board's annual reports together with the chair and the board
  • brings together the action plans and the budget for the club as a whole
  • brings together the annual reports for the club as a whole
  • draws up the annual returns and statistics together with the chair
  • keeps in touch with the municipality, companies, communities and stakeholders, as well as with the club's own membership, together with the chair

You can read the association's official written rules on the association's rules page.

Coaches, instructors and those responsible

Aisti Games and Aisti Play

Anniina Tihumäki, instructor

Goalball

Miika Honkanen, sport coordinator

Blind hockey

Antti Latikka, sport coordinator

Blind football

Ronja Pahaoja, sport coordinator

Showdown

Jouni Viitamäki, sport coordinator

Blind tennis

Satu Saarimaa, sport coordinator

Goalball tournament events

Miika Honkanen, tournament director

Volunteer recruitment for events

Markus Tihumäki, volunteering lead

The club's communications and marketing

Markus Tihumäki, communications officer and marketing lead Henriikka Toivola, marketing and photography

Partnerships

Markus Tihumäki, principal contact

The club's online shop

Samuli Harjunen, online shop maintenance

Markus Tihumäki, content production

Invoicing and ledgers

Anniina Tihumäki, invoicing

Website

Markus Tihumäki, content producer: development and maintenance Samuli Harjunen, technical work: visual build and coding

Accounting

The club has external paid accounting from Cintoia Oy.

Memberships

Antti Latikka, contact person for membership matters

Harassment contact

Jouni Viitamäki, harassment contact person

Jasmin Mikkola, harassment contact person

All of the club's contact details can be found on the contact page.

Practical operating principles

Game and team rules

Aisti Sport's aim is to offer a safe, equal, accessible and encouraging environment to everyone taking part. Our activities are built on community, respect, the joy of being active, and the chance to take part and develop as yourself.

Every member of a team matters. We commit to shared rules, agreed ways of working and schedules, and we encourage one another.

Team selections take into account how actively someone trains, their commitment to the activity, the team's shared goals, the level of competition, and the club's values and operating principles. Decisions are made as openly, evenhandedly and respectfully as possible.

Read our game and team rules in more detail on our own game and team rules at Aisti Sport page. Have a look at our club's safe space principles too. You can read about our teams on our goalball teams page.

Training and opportunities to take part

You can join Aisti Sport in any role at all. The opportunities to progress as a coach and as a participant are on our coaching approach and player pathway page.

Aisti Games

Aisti Games is a programme launched in autumn 2021, aimed primarily at visually impaired children and young people of primary and lower secondary school age. It was originally a project supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The purpose of the programme, which has gone from project to permanent activity, is to develop opportunities for visually impaired children and young people to take up sport. You will find more information about it on our Aisti Games page.

Aisti Play

The Aisti Play sports clubs are designed for children and young people of different ages. You will find the current season registrations, pricing and fuller details of the sports club on our Aisti Play page. See also the player pathway.

Goalball, blind hockey, blind football, showdown and blind tennis

In our activities we train across several sports. Our sessions are low-threshold activity that anyone can join, whatever their age, skill level or sight. What we do supports new participants and encourages people to come along. You can read more about our sports on the sport pages in the top menu.

Volunteer officials at events

Each year we look for volunteer officials for the events we run. The greatest need is at the annual goalball tournaments, where a volunteer official's duties are:

  • Goal judge
  • Minutes keeper
  • Game clock operator
  • Livestream operator
  • DJ and announcer
  • Social media officer
  • First aid lead

We need several people for each role and we recruit interested people ahead of every event. If the volunteer official roles interest you, you can contact our volunteering lead directly, whom you will find on the contact page. A volunteer official's work is immeasurably valuable and makes it possible to organise a successful event. We will also write participants a reference for the work they have done, if they would like one.

Working groups and roles of responsibility

Supporting the development of Aisti Sport's work are working groups under the board, one for each sport. In addition, every sport and activity has a named person responsible for it, the sport coordinator. The club is glad to find new people who want to join in developing it. You can register your interest in the working groups, in roles of responsibility, or in voluntary work developing the club generally, with the chair of the board or with other members.

Finances

Aisti Sport ry does not seek profit or return for those involved through its activity, but aims to achieve enough financial room for manoeuvre to maintain and develop what it does.

The club funds its work through, among other things, the city's sports activity grants, donations and fundraising. Fundraising in the club includes selling Aisti Sport clothing products and booked professional coaching in our sports — goalball demos for companies or schools, for example. In addition, the club receives funds from organising events, for example from entry and canteen income at the domestic goalball leagues. Membership and training season fees play a significant part in ensuring financial viability. Aisti Sport also raises financial support through corporate sponsorship partnerships.

The club uses the funds it receives for things like acquiring equipment, improving conditions, employing instructors and supporting participation generally. Having good equipment and conditions ensures quality club activity. The club continuously uses funds to develop its work. In addition, the club always aims to set training fees for its members at the most affordable viable level.

Aisti Sport ry's membership fees

  • Full member 25€/operating season
  • Supporting member 50€/operating season
  • Junior member 0€/operating season

Members always get a 10% discount on fundraising products and training fees. You will always find the training fees on our sport pages. Read more about membership and joining on our membership page, where you can also apply to become a member. You can also ask more about fees from the club's chair, the contact person for membership matters, or by email at .

Privacy policy at Aisti Sport ry

Aisti Sport ry collects and retains data to the extent needed in order to run its events and activities. The privacy policy is, as a rule, always mentioned on the forms the club uses to collect data. You can read the content in more detail in the Aisti Sport privacy policy.