We got a chance to talk to Eric Clifton, an entrepreneur currently working with his fifth startup, Orison. Clifton spent a big part of his career working in the residential building and housing business. For example he has worked with energy related technology with regards to buildings, utility and land development. He also started a net zero energy factory for housing companies that were addressing the needs for houses for the people that lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina and in Greensburg, Kansas.
Viveca Hess came to the United States from Sweden when she was 19 years old. She studied and obtained a BA in political science with a minor in Law and Society at UCSD. Fascinated with legal discourse after auditing several law classes she continued on to law school focusing on security regulation and transactional law. Following graduation she worked with the San Diego County Water Authority legal department where she supported general counsel in complex litigation related to water rights and policy.
Working at a public agency is quite different from the private sector, Viveca explains. A public agency does not have the pressure of billable hours because the clients are known. This difference became clear to her when she later began working for an estate planning and transactional law firm. The part she enjoyed most then, and now, is engaging clients, building long-term relationships and trust. After nearly 30 years in business the firm where Viveca worked - along with so many others - hit a depression in a downward economy of 2008. Because this firm had no marketing materials or visibility, Viveca at this point initiated and took on the challenge of creating, implementing and managing marketing materials, online platforms and a very purpose-driven marketing map for the firm. With no formal marketing training offered in law school, Viveca hit a learning curve that was steep, while intriguing. Enamored with the new parameters of creative space, content, design and the psychology of online engagement, Viveca's shift away from law began, and a new passion entered. Emma Henrikson, a Swedish National Golf Team player combines her golfing career with studies in Finance at San Diego State University (SDSU). We got the chance to meet her and talk a little about how it is to be a professional golfer and a Swede in San Diego. Emma was just 4 years old when she started playing golf with her family. Her brothers inspired her the most but the interest really took off when she began competing. What she likes about the sport is that it is an individual sport and her performance is all up to herself. She also likes that she can be outdoors and practice all day surrounded by beautiful nature, which is perfect here in San Diego. In high school, she was selected for the future girls national team (up and coming girls national team). It was encouraging to me. Those who were in the “real” girls national team could go to a lot of camps and competitions and it was a spur for me to become even better. After two years as the President of Swedish American Chamber Commerce (SACC) in San Diego, Jimmie Berggren is now leaving his position to focus on other projects. We sat down to talk about his time as President and what he is going to focus on in the future. Jimmie is originally from Helsingborg, Sweden, but came to San Diego early 2013 to establish himself there. During the first year he worked with strategic planning for a small boutique consulting firm that focuses on solving challenges arising from cultural differences within business processes, such as outsourcing, M&A’s or entering a new market. There he met Andreas Fried, the former President at SACC San Diego. Andreas got Jimmie involved as a board member for about six months before he handed over the position as President. Jimmie felt that this was a great opportunity and challenge and saw the need for change within the chamber. ”If I see something that needs to be fixed or improved, especially in the case of an organization, I can not help trying to do just that. So when I got the chance, there was no question about it.” From left: Jesper Hofstedt, Jimmie Berggren, Hicham Larhnimi, Kevin Dai Hicham Larhnimi came to San Francisco six years ago on a tennis scholarship and combined this with marketing and communication studies. He later moved to Miami were he currently serve as the Vice President and General Manager of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce Fort Lauderdale & Palm Beach (SACC-SFL). However, after almost two years at the Chamber he is now resigning to focus on his own projects. Luckily we got a chance to meet him when he came to visit us at our office in San Diego. Together we had an interesting conversation about Florida, SACC-SFL, and his own future projects.
With a strong Swedish presence in the south Florida area, SACC Fort Lauderdale & Palm Beach serve as a center for the Swedish community with a total of 200 members. This makes them one of the biggest Swedish American Chambers of Commerce. Florida attracts many Swedish start-ups because of the great climate, low taxes and the growing start-up scene in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. All this makes the area a perfect spot for Swedish businesses. Other than start-ups SACC-SFL is focusing on the maritime industry, which has a strong foothold in Florida. Filip Syta was a Management Associate at SACC San Diego during the Spring of 2011. After his internship he got a job at the software giant Google. However, after two years Syta decided to leave the corporate world to pursue his passion of writing novels, and his debut literary novel The Show tells you why. The book is a satirical, true, and unsavory tale revealing the savagery behind the glamour of Silicon Valley.
We had the pleasure to talk to Mr Syta about his debut novel and what inspired him to write the book. Read the interview below. Mary Walshok is an author, educator, researcher and an associate Vice Chancellor at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). She is an industrial sociologist and has published six books and over 100 articles and reports on regional innovation, the role of research institutions in regional economies and workforce development. As if this was not enough, Walshok is also an international member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), and much more! A very impressive resume, indeed. She also happens to be part of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce San Diego’s Advisory Board.
In October Walshok was not only invited to Stockholm to receive a gold medal from Crown Prince Daniel, but also to London’s Buckingham Palace at the invitation of Prince Andrew . Prince Andrew is patron of the Northern Ireland Science Park, where Walshok is a member. After her first two stops in Europe Walshok continued on to Muscat, Oman, where Walshok interacted with the Sultan of Oman as a member of his technology and innovation advisory board. Talk about royal treatment! San Diego has a big Swedish Community and there are many Swedish success stories to be told. One of them is about Johan Engman, owner of four restaurants. Mr. Engman moved to San Diego with his mother as a sixteen-year-old and was working as a dish washer during his high school years. At 25 years old he had the idea to open his own restaurant, and two years later in 2008 it became reality. Mr. Engman opened his first restaurant Fig Tree Café in Pacific Beach and now there is one in Hillcrest and in Liberty Station as well. Some years later he opened his fourth restaurant, but this time under the name Breakfast Republic. SACC San Diego got the opportunity to get a word with the Swedish entrepreneur and talk about his business, San Diego and of course Sweden.
One core service of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego is to help our member companies find trainees and interns. During the last four years SACC San Diego has helped one of our corporate members, Anametrix, host Swedish trainees with great results.
SACC San Diego met up with this years Anametrix trainees Per an Carl to ask them some questions about their traineeship and their perspective on the American business life. The Swedish music export phenomenon is much more than ABBA, Roxette and The Cardigans. SACC SD managed to get a word with the world famous Swedish DJ and music producer Adrian Lux, who openly talked about his career, his view on Swedish DJ’s success in the world and what career he would have pursued if he didn’t have music.
Prinz Adrian Johannes Hynne, better known as Adrian Lux, is a 28-year-old Swedish Grammy nominated (2011) disk jockey and music producer. His biggest chart success is “Teenage Crime” released in 2010. Since then, Adrian Lux has released his debut album (2012), collaborated with many of the most prominent DJs and toured all around the world with his unique techno/house sound. Welcome to sunny San Diego Adrian! How are you? Thank you very much! I’m great, it’s hard to feel bad when in San Diego. This is the definition of good life, right? When did you decide that you wanted to work with music full-time? I actually took that decision quite recently. It’s basically just now that I have decided to really take a hold of my life and give this a shot. Music has always been a big part of my life, but it has never been something I thought I would do for a living. Just as many other house producers, I’m actually a bit nerdy. Sometime when I was a kid I stopped playing computer games and started playing with music production programs instead. It was basically the same thing, you stay up all night playing with different settings and sounds, you talk to other friends online who are doing the same thing… What do you think you would do if you didn’t continue with your music? I would actually like to be a marine biologist! Haha! Unfortunately I never had the grades for it though… but I am very fascinated by the ocean and stuff. But then when I was 16, I started taking music a bit more seriously. I produced more music and played at different clubs around Stockholm. And from there it has really just accelerated. And then there was that song ”Teenage crime”…. Haha yeah. Teenage crime was a huge success. I did have some limited success before that with a more pop-dance sound – but Teenage Crime was on a whole other level. It was an over-night experience. The success continued for some time, but then I felt that it died out a little over a month or so – and I thought ”OK, that was that.” but then it took fire again and just continued to grow over a 4 year period. It was crazy. And now you are in San Diego, just one of many stops on your upcoming tour. Do you notice any difference in playing in the US compared to back home in Sweden? A few years back when I was touring Sweden and the US, there was a huge difference! I still believe one of the reasons for Sweden to produce that many great and world known DJ’s is that it’s ridiculously hard to get Swedish people to dance. You have to be really good in order for the stiff Swedes to let go, dance and just surrender themselves to the music. It maybe not be the ONLY reason, but still… My experience is that Americans go out to have fun, to dance and to go all in, which you can clearly tell from the stage. I love when the crowd is just getting in their zones and go bananas, rather than staring at the DJ and jump around when the drop comes. What are your plans for the future? San Diego is actually the start of a new tour for me. After this I’m going to San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Minneapolis… any some other cool places. That is going to be a lot of fun. Other than that I will be spending a lot of time in a studio in Los Angeles to produce new music that will be released next year. But first you have a concert at Bassment in downtown San Diego. Maybe not the biggest club on your tour, but still. What are your expectations for the night? I have actually played at Bassment a few times now and I love the place. The low roof and the great crowd make a very tight sound. I think I will try a lot of my newly produced music and give the audience a good show! I always want to leave a mark and give the crowd something different – something new. We will just have to wait and see if that is a wise choice – maybe I will be working down at the grocery store pretty soon! Haha. Thank you very much for meeting us Adrian and good luck on your tour and future career. We will make sure to bring a big group of Swedish people to the concert tomorrow night! Thank you for having me! I’m looking forward to it. How awesome wouldn’t it be if we could fill Bassment with only Swedish people?? That would be crazy. I know that there is a strong Swedish community here in San Diego, it must be a blast to live here. It sure is. Welcome back any time! Thanks, I definitely will. Written by Truls Olterman Interview conducted by Adrian Millen Alexander Wallin, Founder and CEO of Investing Platform SprinkleBit, is one of the speakers at Scandinavian Gamification on June 13th. We took a brief chat with Alex before the big day.
How would you describe SprinkleBit? Founded in 2011, SprinkleBit is the only social investing platform designed to empower investors through social leverage. Additionally, we offer an innovative platform that leverages the collective financial wisdom of the crowd to empower and simplify your investments, as well as top-notch interactive finance and investing education for both novice and experienced investors. How does SprinkleBit use Gamification? Investing on your own has a large entry barrier. By gamifying the experience with our stock simulator, our competitions, and SprinkleBucks, we are optimizing the interaction and conversion rate of our current and future clients while making investing more approachable. What will you speak about at the event? I will be going over how gamification is bringing us back to basics, how to learn by doing, and finally, how to lower entry barriers through gamification. How do you see Gamification develop in the future? Gamification will enter into new markets to optimize interactions and conversion rates. What makes gamification interesting for you? It’s as simple as a basic stimulus for positive behavior, yet powerful enough to make your current and future customers behave the way you want. How does it feel to be one of the speakers along with Rovio and Microsoft at this event? The Scandinavian countries have always been good with innovation and this is proof. Why do you think Scandinavia is prominent in Gamification? Our early adoption of the internet made it easy for us to be in the forefront of gamification. Following Swedish Indie Rock Band “The Sounds” concert at House of Blues in San Diego with new Album “The Weekend”, SACC San Diego got the opportunity to speak with guitarist Jesper Anderberg. It turned into a pleasant little conversation about passion, therapy & friendship.
How would you describe The Sounds? We are a band that has been in the business for a long time. We are outmost a live band that does not abide to what you should do and should not do in the music business. We have gone independent for most parts of our career and prefer to go our own way in creating our indie rock music. Where are you most popular in the world? We have a big fan base so we have plenty of fans all over the world. I would say that we are especially big in Mexico, Finland and in California. We have been on about 20 tours in the U.S and about the same amount in Europe and in Australia. How come that you are bigger abroad than back home in Sweden? We are popular in Sweden too, but we have not spent that much time there. The Swedish market is pretty small compared to the international scene, and we like to go on tours. As I said, we are first and foremost a live band and we can attract a bigger audience worldwide. I think measuring a bands greatness has changed compared to what it used to be. It used to be about selling records, nowadays it is more about selling out concerts and being able to go on tours. How do you think bands greatness should be measured? That is a tough question. Music is about believing in yourself, creating something for yourself and for others. For me music is therapy. As long as you are happy with your music you should keep doing your thing and not care so much about what anyone else thinks. We are lucky to have a dedicated fan base. The Sounds has been a band since 1999 – what makes you stick together as a band? Most of us have known each other since school and we are both business associates and friends. That can be tough some times, but it also makes it more fun in the long run. Fredrik and I for example live only 50 meters from each other at home. Because of our friendship maybe we have not been as effective as we would have been otherwise, but in the long run it has given us inspiration to keep going and keep creating new music. You are currently out on tour with your new album “The Weekend”.How would you describe your new record in comparison with your previous records? Our last record was more electronic. This record is more band oriented and more similar to our second and third record. It is a summary of our career until this point. We like to keep coming up with new sounds and try new things even though it might not always be appreciated by our fans, it is essential for our future to keep being creative and explore new things. What bands or artist do you take influences from? It varies. Mostly we get inspiration from a lot of older music, but also new bands that we encounter on our tours. Some of the supporting acts we have had during the years have been really good influences for example. Maja Ivarsson, your lead singer, is the focus of attention for the band. How is standing in the background of her? It is only natural for us at this point. She is in focus on stage whereas the rest of us are more in focus in the studio and when it comes to doing interviews for example. It is nothing that we think about really, it is natural in this type of business. How long will the Sounds keep on playing? There is no end in sight. As long as we feel inspired we will keep on playing. Music is our passion and something that we would like to keep doing forever. Johan Ernst Nilson started his career as an explorer and motivational speaker 20 years ago. He is one of the world’s leading explorers and his dream is to motivate people to follow their dreams and inspire them to reach their goals. Johan is one of the keynote speakers at Green Connections this year and the focus of his inspirational talk will be on his personal stand on climate related issues through his carbon-neutral expeditions, which has given him the title Environmental Explorer. We are very much looking forward to having Johan here at Green Connections!
For how long have you been an explorer? I started 20 years ago. I celebrate the 20th anniversary as an explorer the 1st of May 2014. You and others call yourself an ”Environmental Explorer” what does it mean? First of all I think it’s something that should be the basic in everything you do. You should think of the environment in everything you do, it shouldn’t be anything strange or different. The options to take and decisions you make, has to be environmental options or decisions. I started a few years ago in 1997 and that year I started to do expeditions to the polar regions with the Swedish Polar Research Institute and I started doing interviews with professors in Glaciology. This is when I understood the severeness of the environmental problems in glaciology. This made me ask people, especially TV stations, if they were interested in interviews and films from an environmental perspective, but no one were interested. Around that time environmental issues weren’t as trendy as they are today. Then it just said ”boom” and everybody was suddenly interested in the environment, as if there wasn’t a problem before! That was pretty awkward to experience, in just two years everything turned 100 percent environmental. The year I started as an explorer, 1997, could be described as a war between me and the media; I brought up the question of the environmental but nobody was interested in listening. In order to make a change I started to do my expeditions climate neutral: I did expeditions to the Northern Passage and worked with Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel to do films about climate change. Your interest for animals and nature is strong, has it always been like this? I think it started when I was down in Antarctica where my interest in climate change grew, because of the big differences between Sweden and Antarctica. Throughout my life I have also been interested in the beauty of nature. What is, in your opinion, the most important aspect of your job? First of all I think that a lot of people are skeptical to what I do since I’m not a scientist or a politician, and that’s true. I’m not a scientist and I can’t proof any figures like a scientist can do, and I can’t change anything in the terms of politics. But I’m a window, meaning that I go to places where no one else goes. I go to areas where most scientists never reach, and I go places and meet cultures that most politicians will never know. If I can work through the knowledge of a the scientist, the power of the media, and the reason of a politician, maybe we can together help getting people to open up their eyes for the problems that we all face. Tell me about your latest expedition. Well, the latest one was a short one but it was really powerful. It was a guy in a wheelchair that I helped up to the summit of Sweden. He wasn’t really sure that it would be possible, and he was lacking motivation so I told him that I’ll help him through it. We did the expedition in three days and we actually reached the summit of Sweden. Before that I did my Pole-to-Pole expedition which was a 18 months and a 525 days long expedition from the North Pole to the South Pole. What inspires you? People who are swimming against the tide. People who are doing the impossible possible, people who have been living with the mantra ”this is not possible and you can’t do it” and then they do it anyway. That’s inspiring. How do you view Sweden vs USA’s commitment to the environment? Do you have any experience? Sweden is really in the front of studies and scientific research in climate change, I think that USA has a lot to learn from us. For example president Obama has just been to Sweden to discuss these matters. I think we can learn a lot from each other, that’s a lot of things we in Sweden can learn from the USA too. So I think a collaboration is always the best, team building and working together. What’s your relationship with San Diego? I used to live in LA for two years so I went to San Diego a lot. I have a good friend who’s living there, Deepak Chopra. I go there often to meet him to discuss motivation, inspiration, and determination. What is the next challenge? The next big one coming up is actually working with motivation and dreams for children in school all over Sweden. I do a tour around Sweden in terms of lectures. After that I’ll do a lecture on motivation and environment in Russia, with the prime minister of Russia. Then I’ll do three expeditions to Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, with different groups. And I’m also doing a trip to the amazon in May and after that I’m going to swim in the channel between France and England in September next year. You talk a lot about dreams, what are your dreams and goals? I think that my dreams are helping other people find their dreams, I think that reaching a goal and a dream in life is not the hard part. The complicated part is to know what your dream is since a lot of people keep running around saying I want this and I want that, but they forget to focus on one thing. That’s the most difficult part today, because we have so many things to choose from. Through my lectures I want to give people a wake-up call, I want to plant a seed that might grow into a flower. I want to help people find their dreams in life. What is your motivation strategy? How do you motivate yourself? I think that people don’t really believe they can do things in life. It’s a big difference between goals and dreams, goals are reachable and something that’s not to far away, is not a too big of an effort either. So a goal is something you go for, a dream on the other hand is something that ”other people” do. A dream is something that isn’t really achievable, so you talk about the dream as if it’s something you would never do but you would love to do it. When I was younger I had goals and I wanted to do them, and now I have dreams. Dreams are like goals but they’re further away. So the strategy is to believe that everything is possible, the impossible just takes more time. Impossible becomes possible by doing. For example, for many years ago it was impossible to run faster than 10 seconds in one hundred meters, and why would anyone even try? It’s impossible! But then somebody tried and it worked, he moved the line for what is possible. If you would show an iPhone in the 13th Century people would probably burn you alive while saying that you’re a wizard because this is impossible, but now it’s possible. So never say that anything is impossible, it’s just because we don’t know how to do it. Tor ” The Hammer ” Troéng is a Swedish MMA fighter, who before his UFC match in Brazil is gearing up here in San Diego. He has a degree in Engineering Physics and is employed as a research assistant at the University of Umeå. We took the opportunity to meet Tor and asked him how researchers and fight life goes together.
How come you started with MMA? I have been doing martial arts all my life. When they started an MMA club in my hometown, it felt natural to start with MMA. It was new and I wanted to try it – you can say I got hooked. For how long have you been fighting? I was 16 when I started, so that will make it 14 years. What is the fascination with the sport? It is like with any sport anywhere; it’s competing and trying to be the best. It is really all about the 15 minutes standing in the ring man to man. I am training three to four months for just that moment and the excitement is that you should perform in such a short time. That’s where the big allure lies for me. Do you feel like you have a good handle on your opponent for the game in Brazil in September, Rafael Natal? Yes, it feels good, we have done much research and it feels like I have the situation under control. I’ve learned about his strengths and what he does well. He kicks a lot but is not as clean in his technique, but he is also dangerous on the ground. How have you combined MMA and a career as a researcher? It works really well and really is the perfect arrangement for me. I could not find a better job that allows me to combine my MMA training with it. When I was still in school, it was a little bit tougher to combine sports and Engineering Physics studies. At the same time, I worked alongside in order to save up for my training trips. I could go part time, but not in the same way as now. Now it works fine, I have a job where I have a lot of freedom. Sometimes I do some projects with others and then there is more planning needed. I have an understanding boss and luckily, he is an MMA fan. What is your best feature as an athlete? I never give up. I have the will, I want to be the best and I want to train hard. From where do you think you got that quality? Good question, it feels natural after a while. I have always liked challenges and I like to push myself to reach the top. As a kid, I really was not spoiled by my parents and I always had to take me to the training myself. I think I’ve learned that hard work pays off. What is your long-term goal? It is to get the belt in the UFC. That is my only goal. And then to keep it, of course. What do you think of your chances then? Grasping onto the belt is the goal, and will be as long as I develop as a fighter. I am 30 years now and I will fight as long as my body will let me do, and that I still think it is fun to exercise. Right now, I feel motivated and every year I feel stronger. Do you ever reflect on that you are fighting against another human? No, you get use to it; you see it more as a sport. I have of course full understanding for those who are not accustomed to it. It feels like a pretty injury prone sport? I would not say that. It is not so many severe damages in MMA, like knee injuries. Mostly, it is bruises and external injuries that will heal in a couple of days. In this sport, there are two people facing each other and there is not much that can go wrong. Sometimes it happens, though. For instance, I broke my nose once. How is the combination of researching and fighting? Is it a conscious choice? It is highly unconsciously actually, I have not thought about it very much. For me, it always feels natural to do two things I like to do. I have tried studying something else too, but I never thought it was fun. When I started studying, I felt that math and physics are interesting subjects and something I want to continue with, together with MMA of course. Is it a coincidence that many Swedish fighters are here in San Diego? I think San Diego is the perfect city for Swedish people; the weather is great, all year round, it is ”laid-back”, and not “too American”. Then there are many good gyms here, including Alliance, which is a good gym that most people go to. How much do you travel? It is between three and four months per year that I am away from my home in Umeå. Do you have time to enjoy any of the travel as well? Yeah, I think you can. It is not really as if you are going on a holiday, but it is still nice. A fun piece of fighting is travelling, and it is especially nice to change environment. There is only one negative thing with it, and that is that you cannot be with your family. What do you think of San Diego? I enjoy the environment here, it is near the sea and the weather is nice. This is actually my third time here. What is your favorite area? Last time we were here we stayed at Coronado. It is a really nice and beautiful area – definitely one of my favorite areas here in San Diego. Would you be willing to stay in the U.S.? I would rather live in Sweden but it is a great place to visit. Even though Sweden is dark and cold, there is something special about Swedish summers. But I will definitely come back to San Diego, preparing for my upcoming fights. Swedish American Chamber of Commerce San Diego had the opportunity to meet Viktor Fasth, a Swedish ice hockey goalkeeper that plays for Anaheim Ducks in the National Hockey League (NHL). Viktor was born 1982 in Norrbotten, in a city called Kalix in Sweden’s northernmost parts. Viktor played for the Stockholm team ‘AIK’ in Elitserien, the highest hockey division in Sweden, from 2010 to 2012 where he received the Honken Trophy award both years. Honken Trophy award was given to Viktor twice as he was elected the best ice hockey goalkeeper in Elitserien two years in the row. Viktors impressive save percentage during his time in Elitserien was 92,45% in the season 2010-2011 and 93,14% in the season 2011-2012. Viktor debuted in NHL on January 26, 2013. Fasth founded an early success in the NHL, starting the season 8-0-0 – the best start by a goalkeeper in the regular season as a starter since Ray Emery of the Ottawa Senators won his first nine games between the end of 2002-03 and the beginning of the 2003-04 season. How old were you when you started playing hockey? I was five years old. Was hockey popular in Kalix, where you grew up? Bandy has always been very popular in Kalix, so it wasn’t that common to play hockey. My dad was very involved in hockey, it felt natural for me. Did you play any other sports besides hockey when you grew up? I played soccer until I was fourteen years old. Then I participated in a Swedish tournament, called “TV-Pucken,” which is a hockey tournament for different district teams in Sweden. After that tournament I decided that I wanted to play hockey. When did you figure out that you wanted to be a ice hockey goalkeeper? Did you play other positions before? I played many positions at first but when I was 12 or 13 years old, I decided that I wanted to become a goalkeeper. I was thrilled by the role that a goalkeeper has, that you make a big difference and the fact that it only is a thin line between being a rescuer and a scapegoat. It was on of the reasons, and the other reason was that I thought that they had cool helmets. Is the helmet still important to you? Absolutely, it’s very special to me. David Gunnarson, an artist from Sweden, designs my helmet. He’s very good and he knows exactly how to picture and capture what I want on my helmet. He’s amazing. You’ve been very successful in your carrier. You went from Elitserien, the highest hockey division in Sweden, to NHL in only three years. How has that journey been?
It has definitely been an interesting and fun journey. I have dreamed about this my whole life. I feel amazing to be where I am today. Is there a big difference between AIK the team you played for in Sweden and Anaheim when it comes to the hockey atmosphere? It’s definitely a big difference. People are more competitive here in Anaheim compare to Sweden. In Sweden, you sign your contract with your club and you’re set. Here, they put more pressure on you to perform well. Do you think Anaheim is a “hockey city”? I think people are very positive when it comes to hockey, especially since Los Angeles became champions last year. Now the crowds are amazing and almost all of our games have been sold out. I think that speaks for itself. You started to play in NHL when you were a bit over the average age. Do you think there would be a big difference if you were to play at a younger age? There’s definitely a difference. Of course I would have loved it if I started to play in NHL when I was eighteen. But at the same time, I’m very happy that I started playing in my later years. I know what it takes now. I think it’s a great advantage to experience what I’ve experienced when it comes to trusting my way of playing and feeling comfortable with what I do. I think that it is harder to trust your play and feel comfortable with what you do when you are younger. What made you succeed in 2009? For the last three years, I have had the opportunity to work with a really good goalkeeping coach. He has helped me develop and become better and better every day. His name is Stefan and he is the goalkeeper coach for AIK. Together we looked into my way of playing, changed it a bit and focused on details. It really made a difference and that made me want to work harder and realize that you never should be satisfied and never stop to endeavor to become better. How many hours per day do you practice? I’m in the rink daily, approximately from 8am until 2 pm. It depends on my schedule. What advise would you like to give to young hockey players? Practice, practice. And never give up! It is never to late to become a better player and reach your dreams. If you work hard and put in effort, you will become a better hockey player. It is only you that define your own boundaries. You have to keep on practicing and developing if you want to succeed. |