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Great Britain mens squad make good progressby Huw Goodwin - GB handball (U11059556) 02 November 2009   Hi, I'm Huw, a member of the British Handball Association's World Class Development Programme. We certainly earned the respect of the opposing players and hopefully next time we will have learned from these experiences Having GB camps about 6-8 weeks apart splits up your training nicely into manageable blocks of time. It helps to focus your attention and set good realistic goals. My recent training has all been geared towards the latest camp, which took place last week.The camp started in Wolverhampton, for three days of preparation, before we flew out to Luxembourg for a four-nation tournament against Luxembourg, Belgium, and Bulgaria. I had been training well prior to the camp, and was optimistic about showing how much I had improved. We only get to see our head coach at these camps and so it is always important to be performing well during these short windows of opportunity. Unfortunately, the head coach was not present at the Wolverhampton stage of the camp and this was extremely disappointing. In fairness to the boys, we still got on with it, and managed to have a couple of days of good training. However, it was not the best start to the camp. Personally, I was disappointed because it further reduced the time for me to prove myself. Then onto Luxembourg. We only had tactical training sessions before each match, so it was all about performance. Our first match was against Luxembourg, a nation who I’d lost to by over 15 goals, when playing for England two years ago. We started the match well and fought extremely hard. The match swung back and forth with both teams taking it in turns to take the lead. Unfortunately, luck (and experience) were not on our side and we eventually drew the match 32-32. The reaction to this result for us was one of disappointment, because we could have easily won the match. However, the fact that in two years we had pretty much turned round a 15-goal deficit, was a huge victory and shows just how far we have already come. Indeed, the Luxembourg press the next day ran the match report with the headline: “Luxembourg begin tournament with big embarrassment” - an indication of what they had been expecting from us and also how highly British handball is viewed on the continent! Using this negative press, and other comments that we had overheard coming from the Belgian camp we approached the next match against Belgium with renewed vigour and purpose. The match was a similar one to the previous day, with the scoreline going in our favour and then swinging back in favour of the Belgians. They were a stronger opposition, and in fact, have had respectable results against top international sides before. As the game went on, our lack of experience and dealing with pressure situations perhaps told a little bit, and we eventually lost the match 25-23. The mood was similar to the previous day. It had been a game that we had fought hard and one which we could have possibly won on another day. So to lose was disappointing, but just like the previous day, we had been in contention the whole match and had shown great skill and resilience. Overall, the tournament results on paper did not seem to reflect how good a camp we had actually had We have improved massively and could now hold our heads high with results like these. We certainly earned the respect of the opposing players and hopefully next time we will have learned from these experiences and turn the good performances into victories.The final day saw us play against Mulhouse, a French professional club team, after Bulgaria pulled out of the tournament due to financial difficulties. We made several changes to the team, and many of the boys were carrying knocks from a long hard week of training and playing. Our French opponents were well drilled and defended extremely effectively. Our performance and lack of fight showed in the result and we were down 26-21 at the end of the match. Overall, the tournament results on paper did not seem to reflect how good a camp we had actually had. The mood amongst the squad was completely different to previous camps. The off-court uncertainties and financial difficulties that have plagued us since January had seemed to be finally put behind us. There was definitely a more positive feeling around the squad. The fight and determination that we showed in the two international matches and the technical and tactical improvement that was clearly apparent was testament to the hard work that all the boys have been putting in at their clubs. We now need to get the British people, press, and key stakeholders behind us as well. We need to show people the direction we are going in and for them to join us on the journey. We have a busy period over Christmas – lots of competition of various levels. Then we have our World Championship qualifiers in the middle of January. A lot more hard work needs to be done between now and then, but we now know our benchmark. On a personal note, the camp was a disappointment for me. I did not get much time on court and was extremely dejected by the end of the camp, with regards my own place in the squad. However, I need to take it as another learning point, and step up the training and fight even harder to earn my place at the next GB camp. Until then, feel free to write in comments. I will actually try and reply to them this time - unless they are about me needing to have a shave, which I will simply ignore while continuing to look cool! Take care, Huw Latest 10 commentsRead members' comments or add your own
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lesdyxic (U1276624) posted 5 Weeks Ago krautbeckerfan, some members of this GB team played against both Gummersbach and Kiel this year in the Bundesliga, indeed some of our players faced Karabatic twice in 6 weeks, and the GB squad put in very creditable performances against both a Bundesliga team and Montpelier, not 'little continental teams'. But I recognise you are being encouraging in your comments, and you're correct, it is a mountain that we in the sport climb.
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kaiserbilhelm33 (U13820291) posted 5 Weeks Ago I'm just waiting until there's some handball on Eurosport again, haven't seen any for a while?
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Pantverdant (U3175434) posted 4 Weeks Ago Huw,suggest you keep your articles
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Nasri_is_a_LEGEND (U13924177) posted 4 Weeks Ago ye im was very interested in getting into this sport i recently made the article about handball being a fast and competivtive but the main problem when introducing the sport to people in this country is that they found it quite hard to get grips with it but personally i think handball will be one of the upcoming sports in the uk obvoisouly like someone mentioned that handball in the uk is way way behind the handball in europe but however i think it would be a good sport for everyone to play and get involved with and ive been playing quite a few times its very good sport to get into
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TheGoldenBicep (U14122428) posted 2 Weeks Ago I think That The french guy Terry henry would be a good signing.
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artisticUncleRichard (U14227472) posted 2 Weeks Ago I remember thinking handball looked like great fun at the Atlanta, or possibly Barcelona, Games. Recently I tried to find somewhere to play locally to Bishop's Stortford (I could travel to London or Cambridge at a pinch) but couldn't find anywhere. Does anyone know of a group I might play with? I'm 32, 6 foot 2, male and slightly overweight and rather unfit, but hopefully that can change!
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lesdyxic (U1276624) posted 2 Weeks Ago There are good teams in both Cambridge and London, (more than one), if you go on englandhandball.com you will find the club section.
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artisticUncleRichard (U14227472) posted 2 Weeks Ago Thanks for such a quick reply, lesdyxic. That's the information I somehow missed on my last trawl of the web (a hole in my net? Anyone?). It's great to know there are several handball clubs close-ish and that there seems to be quite a concentration in North London, close to where I am. I'll be making a point of going along to Cambridge and at least two London clubs.
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mikeandsouth (U1572337) posted 2 Weeks Ago Thanks for that blog, it was really interesting. I'm a firm believer that University Athletic Unions are key breeding grounds for top level athletes, especially those in fringe/minority sports. When people go to uni, they'll give new stuff a try. People flouris initially because they are enjoying the work hard play hard mentality that uni sports clubs have, train hard in the gym/on the field/court/water and then get drunk together at socials. Comment on this article |
