Before every game at the European Handball Championships, do the players from the two teams give each other something? What is it and what is it about?
The handshake between the teams that meet is part of good form at every major sporting event and should therefore not be missing at the European Handball Championship currently taking place in Germany.
But the tournament isn’t just about handshakes. Before every game, the players also seem to exchange something. What is it about? After the opening game against Switzerland, some players gave information on the ARD microphone.
Little memories of different kinds
“We have a little badge with the DHB symbol,” explains left winger Rune Dahmke. Right winger Timo Kastening also explains the reason for the exchange. It is simply a small souvenir of the other nation.
The souvenir doesn’t always have to be a pin. “I think we got a cookie from the Swiss now,” says Dahmke with a laugh. If Christoph Steinert had his way, it could have been a different sweet. “I would have liked to have had chocolate from the Swiss,” he says. Dahmke is even more pragmatic: “Two points on the tray, perhaps.”
Apparently Dahmke doesn’t always put away the actual souvenirs very carefully. “Somehow they disappear into the jackets at some point,” he says. According to Kastening, however, not every player is like that. “Some people keep it, some give it away to friends,” he said.