About Us
Mika Pennanen
Mika Pennanen is the owner and CEO of Spine Performance Oy. He describes himself as a self-taught existential philosopher with a strong Stoic background.
Mika implements Spine Performance’s ideology in his own life and constantly engages in self-development through reading and studying, for example. At the end of this page, you will find Mika’s recommended reading list. Everything that Mika teaches is based on written, researched and substantiated information gathered from a number of sources.
Mika still does coaching at specific skill camps, but he also gives lectures to coaches, athletes and athletes’ families on various topics. In addition, he works as a public speaker in self-development and stress management, for example.
Mika has won several Finnish, Nordic, European and world championships in competitive cheerleading, partner stunts, diving and acrobatic jumps. He also works as a stress management coach®.
Spine Performance
Spine Performance was initially created because Mika wanted to share his competitive cheerleading skills with others. The company’s activities have grown over the years and they are being developed constantly.
The activities have shifted from competitive cheerleading camps to promoting overall wellbeing. Good sports skills alone are not enough to achieve the best possible performance. Athletes must be seen not only as athletes, but as people who have lives outside of sports as well.
In order for someone to become a good athlete, they also need to focus on their overall wellbeing. To that end, in addition to sports skills, Spine Performance’s coaching ideology teaches athletes to focus on healthy habits, make the right choices to achieve their desired goals, and manage psychological stress.
Our Values
Spine Performance encourages continuous learning and development. It is essential that participants come with an open mind and attitude. You can ask the coaches anything, challenge them, and present your opinions to them. Challenges are the spice of life and you can always do and learn something new. Learning helps you evolve and thereby also contributes to changing the scene.
We encourage our employees to develop and train themselves based on their own interests. We strive to maintain an open atmosphere by providing all our employees with the opportunity to participate in the development of Spine; anyone, regardless of their position, may criticise, propose, or question any of Spine’s methods and plans, and express their opinions directly and openly. Openness is encouraged and rewarded; mistakes are not to be feared, but learned from. We encourage and teach our trainees to take initiative and to analyse and evaluate their actions independently. At the same time, we encourage interaction between coaches and trainees, and urge trainees to challenge their coaches’ views and instructions. Real learning and development require compassion.
In Spine’s teaching philosophy, everything is explained. Everything is done for a reason and actions are clarified and explained as comprehensibly as possible to make sure that information gets transferred effectively.
All Spine Performance’s activities are carried out based on high and undeniable quality, professionalism, long-term commitment, certainty and reliability.
Quality is the soul of Spine Performance’s operations and also what the company’s reputation is based on. Training, competence, skill, customer service and communication are always kept at the best possible level and they are also being developed constantly. Quality must be reflected in both the company’s external and internal operations, including and especially in the company’s results. Our clients’ top-level expertise, skills, competition results, comprehensive wellbeing and positive attitude and relationship with life and Spine Performance function as the best advertisement for the company’s expertise and at the same time serve as undeniable proof of Spine’s professionalism.
Failures or bad days should not discourage you, but you should learn from them and grow even stronger.
The most important thing is that our clients know exactly what they will get from Spine Performance and Spine must exceed those expectations.
The core ideas of Spine Performance are goal orientation, determination and commitment.
Goals cannot be achieved without action and commitment. Spine Performance aims to constantly do everything in it power to develop its activities, make sure that its employees feel comfortable and that its clients want to continue cooperating with Spine.
The company’s employees must commit to developing themselves, building the company according to its values and goals and to offering the best they can to clients.
Commitment and progressiveness, together with high quality, constitute the cornerstones of Spine Performance’s coaching philosophy, which the company also aims to instil in its clients. Spine guarantees development and safe learning, but also requires its clients to be persistent and take responsibility for their own actions. In general, nothing will change if things remain only at the level of talk or thought, and no concrete work is done to achieve a goal.
Spine Performance strives to act responsibly and in a way that leads to mutual, earned respect. We do not assume that our clients will automatically respect us, but we know that respect must be earned. We are active, responsible, friendly, just, honest and we act fairly and in accordance with good practice. Our aim is to serve as an example and role model as coaches, athletes, as a company, as well as in all our other roles.
In short, we apply the idea ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.
Spine Performance is a very low-hierarchy organisation, which means that everyone is on the same level, regardless of their job; everyone is heard, and there is an expectation and hope that everyone will contribute to the development of the company and openly share their thoughts and opinions. An employee’s job or role does not determine their worth in the company. The idea is to maintain a stimulating, positively conflicting, challenging and friendly atmosphere where everyone feels important and at home. Communication and feedback are kept as direct and honest as possible in all directions; for example, employees have the opportunity to contact the ‘management level’ by phone, regardless of the issue. Appreciation and achievements are earned through actions and the right attitude, regardless of your background.
Clients, or trainees, are seen as equals, just like our employees, and they are never treated as incompetent or in any way inferior or weak. Their views and feedback are carefully registered and dealt with if necessary. One can and should learn from everyone. Cooperation with our clients does not end when the paid training ends, but we encourage free-form cooperation and communication. We strive to create long-term partnerships and client relationships that benefit both our clients and the company, also in terms of wellbeing, beyond a purely business point of view. Feedback in both directions must be honest and open.
Reading list
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.