Long break at the European Handball Championships – the balancing act for the German team

First the euphoric start of the European Championship, then three days of idleness. Unusual for a handball tournament – and a balancing act for the German team: relax or tense up?

Goalkeeper David Späth speaks at the press conference on Friday (January 12, 2024). “quite a lot of free time”, which you already have. Darts, card games, afternoon naps, table tennis – these are the main activities with which the national players pass their time outside of training.

“Luxury” of the long break before North Macedonia

On Thursday, the team arrived in Berlin after the opening win against Switzerland in Düsseldorf and initially worked on this game. Most people say that the big preparation for North Macedonia is only now beginning. The three day break, which will no longer be the case during the tournament, makes it possible to take advantage of this “luxury”.

Only on Sunday (here from 8.45 p.m. in the audio stream) will national coach Alfred Gislason’s team play against North Macedonia – after that the timing will be tight and, assuming they advance to the main round, there will only be one day of rest between the games.

The World record game in Düsseldorf still resonates

This is perhaps the last opportunity to be able to “provide real training impulses” again, as goalkeeping coach Mattias Andersson calls it – and a welcome opportunity for regeneration in view of what could be a very long and intensive tournament. Even if Späth admits, “That you want to continue immediately. The break is of course still good. But sometimes your head takes precedence over your body.”

The euphoria from the Düsseldorf game in particular is still a topic everywhere this Friday. In the questions from the journalists, but also in the answers from the players. “It was something really special,” says experienced left winger Rune Dahmke. “I’ve never experienced anything like that, even though I’ve been there for a few years. This is definitely something that will always be kept in mind.” And his colleagues’ answers also resonate: This January 10th will resonate.

Kastening: “I don’t really care”

But is it an advantage or a disadvantage that this drastic experience occurred at the beginning of the tournament? Is it good that the players can now process it a bit and enjoy it briefly, or would it have been better if they could have continued riding this wave? Is there a risk of a voltage drop?

Difficult questions that right winger Timo Kastening brushes aside. “You can always decide after the next game whether the break was too short or too long.”

Tense vs. relax

The body can rest for a short time, which of course makes everyone happy, and the head can also relax a little – but please not too much. The team is still young, many players have little or no tournament experience. It helps that the coaching team has seen and experienced pretty much everything.

Alfred Gislason, Mattias Andersson and Co. know every emotion and every thought that the players could possibly have and will pay close attention to every detail in the training and daily schedule in order to ensure the right balance between relaxation and distraction on the one hand and tension and competition mode on the other.

The national coach explained in the recently released ARD documentary how he works in such situations: “You always fight against your team. You fight for them, but also against them. Never let up, never give in – especially when things are going well.” So it’s quite possible that the looseness in the training sessions in the next few days will soon be over.