Interview with Pasi
Aho, co-owner of Fun-Sports
News: How long has Fun-Sports existed as a
company and why did the founder start a company in the minigolf
industry?
PA :Well, the company has existed since
1991 but regarding the reasons I had to ask the founder, Gerhard Zimmermann,
who said: "Winning a lot of national and international titles in minigolf I was
simply infected by this great sport and I also saw the high potential of
minigolf as a leisure activity to have fun. So the company was named
FUN-SPORTS. My feelings for minigolf were quite enormous, so much so that I
decided to change from my former profession as a pharmacist to start up a
minigolf business and to give some of these values back, which I was allowed to
get during my time as player and head coach in different
countries."
News: What product ranges do you
offer?
PA :We offer different kinds of minigolf
courses and other games which complete the product mix at a minigolf course. We
also offer minigolf equipment for competitive players, hobby players and course
owners who need to equip their courses - so we are there for anyone playing
minigolf!
 News :
Do you produce and sell your own products only, or do you also distribute other
brands?
PA :We are not producing anything directly in
Bamberg, but we have close partners in miniaturegolf, feltgolf and
adventuregolf course production as well as in ball production, so we can
influence the details just like we want. We distribute only our own house brand
and products of 3D-Minigolf, for whom we are the worldwide general
distributor.
News: Why should I buy a
minigolf course or other products from your company?
PA :We believe to have good quality for fair prices and good service
from the very first contact all the way to the after sales-service. Our course
customers are very satisfied and seem to appreciate especially the good
installation work from the first day all the way to the small details on the
last installation day. It looks like there is more than one best company on the
market. ;-)
News :Gerhard Zimmermann,
founder and still owner of Fun-Sports was a successful player. You are still
playing and coaching. Does this influence your work in the company in a
positive way?
PA :Yes, I believe so. Due to active
playing and coaching I can keep up the contact with the sport and minigolf in
general and believe to understand well what kind of things and details make a
good course and what is going on on the equipment front. I am an open-minded
person who still after more than 20 years in the game wants to learn more about
everything in minigolf.
News :Youth
officer.....understands young people... trends....how does Fun-Sports support
the idea of getting new players on the courses?
PA
:We are supporting many clubs, projects and even federations with special
offers when it comes to providing equipment. We are always open to requests for
this kind of ideas as long as they are realistic. But I always say that the new
players can be found only on the grass-root level in the clubs and so for the
past five years we have organised a minigolf school on one of our own courses
during the summer holidays. It still is great fun to spend those days with the
kids on the course in the middle of all that regular work! With them you really
see how much fun minigolf can be!
News : Sponsoring. Why?
How?
PA :Since me and Gerd are both involved in the
work of the WMF and each of us additionally in one national federation - one
big and one small - we of course understand the signifigance of sponsoring and
are willing to support the sport, because it has given us both so much in our
lives. Sponsoring today is not only giving money. Bigger sports understood this
a long time ago. Sometimes I have the feeling that minigolf still has space for
improvement. Sponsoring is more of a co-operation today, where both parts need
to profit from it. The minigolf industry and its contacts are the key to
spreading minigolf worldwide. So it would be advisable for the WMF to handle
minigolf companies not only as sponsoring bodies, but as partners with a common
goal and to listen to their input and cooperation offers.
News :. How do you see the future of
minigolf sport?
PA :Minigolf sport today is much more
than what it was 20 or even 10 years ago. It is about finding new players,
clubs and also going to new countries. At the same time it is about keeping the
old players. To find the balance between these is not easy. There are so many
more possibilities today, but taking advantage of them requires a great amount
of work, because there are also more challenges. Those people, clubs and
federations who actively participate in the sport spend great amounts of time
and money for it. They must also receive quality in exchange for their input,
not only quantity. It makes for example no sense to just organise a tournament
somewhere, if the framework around it is not good and the requirements and
needs of the participants cannot be met.
News: Thank you for that
Interview!
Interview by Willy Bauer
Photos by
Fun-Sports
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