Ice X Themes

British handballers star in Germany

Posted by admin under Handball

The arena Hello Essen The move, because it was handball night.

In Germany, the sport is massive inside and draws crowds up to 20,000 for the top of the Bundesliga matches vol.

The sport is fast, rough and high-score, handling and use of capacity and basketball players, small goals similar to five-a-side football.

Fans Essen Bang drums, play horns plastic bugle blast and the intimidation of the opposition of black shirted Gummersbach, and shout to their heroes in scarlet.

But beneath the red-shirted eat six young team not to the United Kingdom - outpatient players who are in Germany to post-crisis in financing national Go.

“Win-win”

In January, the British Handball Association UK Sport grant was increased by over £ 500,000 ($ 730.000) per year.

The BHA is responsible for the preparation of men and women teams for the Olympics in London in 2012, and was forced to make redundancies and close training camp in Aarhus Handball Academy in Denmark.

Players must always play, and that is where the food came in the page has been player of the Bundesliga and losing money, and desperation for some new signings to approve it.

The BHA’s Chief Executive, Paul Goodwin, explains how they came together.

“Everyone was very surprised, but we have been contacted, Essen in December. She told us that they were in administration and were losing their best players. They had learned that we can more our increasingly limited resources, there may be a Win - Win - The situation for us. ”

Two Britons, Chris Mohr and Merlin Braithwaite are half french and bilingual, they can immediately. Other - Ciaran Williams, Chris McDermott, Sebastian Prieto and Dan McMillan - have to learn quickly.

“We could not say no,” said Prieto, who recently worked as a insurance underwriters in London.

“We were invited to go and play, and in my first game, I have results. I was the first player, the result of Britain in the best league in the world. It was very important to me. ”

“And then the games in Berlin, we played to 7300 people, which was incredible.”

Experience

Finally, the goal is to have enough experience to create a page competitive for the Olympics in London 2012.

As host country, Britain is not necessary to describe the team, and are the first matches, with a British team handball.

Men Go Team Manager, Bill Baillie, the game at Essen, and has improved greatly.

“They do not forget this experience,” he says.

“We can see if they remain with the senior members, they have a lot of progress in the short period they are here. You’re here with the best players in the world.”

In such an environment, the British would have been expected to fight. And she on the first.

Gummersbach but against it is to remain competitive, while playing a much higher ranking of the page several times before finally losing 30-40.

Household names

British men are known in Essen. After the game, the swarm of children of the court to collect their autographs.

Williams, only 21 plays from the sport for 16 years, from early childhood in Salford. His parents were both GB handball players.

“It is my dream, as long as I can remember,” he says.

“At school, people dream, that the football or other things, but I wanted to be a handball.”

The short-term future of UK player is uncertain. Restoration of view down to the end of the season, and not by the English is still a new treaty.

But longer term, the players “The objective is London 2012.

“I can not wait,” said Williams.

“The Olympics is not the same, and with the public behind us at home, who knows what we can do.”