AWhen Alfred Gislason began working as the nationwide handball coach three years in the past, the bar was set very excessive. Uwe Schwenker, vice-president of the German Handball Federation (DHB), known as him a “coach with a distinction”. Gislason needs to be somebody who can enhance nationwide gamers, generally impress the umpire and umpire, and switch numerous big-game experiences into sound judgment in situational teaching.
Then got here the pandemic. Gislason was in demand not as a handball trainer, however as a disaster supervisor. Therefore, the earlier efficiency in the three tournaments held below his management was marked with an asterisk – the legend then mentioned that there have been exceptions for common and weak locations. However, DHB had been additional away from the semi-finals they needed below Gislason than their predecessor Prokop. Ghislason’s status was broken.
Before and through the World Cup in Poland and Sweden, the 63-year-old Icelander was solely allowed to coach handball. Instructor, system developer. Look: He finds a language that his younger, however largely inexperienced gamers can perceive at the worldwide stage. He creates a handball that everybody feels comfy with. And Juri Knorr and Julian Köster imagine in two 22-year-old guys who are usually not solely the current, but additionally the way forward for German handball.
Ease, staff spirit, pleasure of enjoying: handball followers loved all this throughout 5 video games. Not solely did the group emerge in Bratislava a yr in the past with fluid assaults from all positions, but additionally Gislason’s braveness to belief the proper listener mixed to kind a cohesive complete. Gislason needed to reinvent himself in some areas.
A higher focus on life, a little bit of swagger and the realization that you may ship with refreshing performances was sufficient to make the complete construction of the nationwide staff look lighter and fewer deadly than in earlier tournaments. This might be an even bigger achievement than reaching the semi-finals. Yuri Knorr exhibits the new enjoyable of handball.
Ghislason and the Germans missed the semi-finals this time as nicely. Against Norway and France, there was a scarcity of particular person class and width in the squad – how wouldn’t it be when the gamers from Leipzig, Melsungen and Erlangen met the professionals from Barcelona, Kiel and Kielce in the backfield? Every coach has his limits.
The selection could also be bigger for a house EM after a yr. This time, Hendrik Pekeler, Timo Kastenin, Fabian Wiede and Julius Kühn play in weak positions. If they be part of, Gislason might kind an thrilling staff round Juri Knorr, Johannes Golla, Julian Koster and Andreas Wolff, who will certainly be thought-about for medals at the finish of January 2024. After this event, he will certainly proceed as a nationwide coach.
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