After the allegations of psychological violence in women’s handball, the German Handball Federation (DHB) has appointed the first people to its announced expert commission.
The DHB Presidium appointed Carmen Borggrefe, Christian Pfeiffer and Benny Barth as experts “who should focus on what happened and, above all, give impetus for improved prevention”. The association announced this on Saturday morning.
“All of handball has to face the fundamental process, but it’s also about lessons for future action,” said DHB President Andreas Michelmann: “We are responsible for the players entrusted to us, but we also have to clearly see where we need help need to meet the demands placed on us. That’s why we act. With the people who have now been appointed, we have gained top executives in their respective fields.”
Borggrefe heads the “Sports Sociology and Management” department at the Institute for Sports and Human Movement Sciences at the University of Stuttgart and is a member of the DHB’s Science Network. As a former director of the Lower Saxony Criminological Research Institute and former Lower Saxony Minister of Justice, Pfeiffer is to examine criminal law relevance. Barth brings “psychological competence into the team”.
According to the DHB, the commission is to be supplemented “with a representative for those affected by athletes in Germany and a specialist advisor”, and the committee is to start its work “soon after the European Championships for women (November 4th to 20th) at the beginning of December”.