Early success for new coach

It came as a great surprise, in early September, when Norwegian Karl Erik Bøhn was announced as Hungary´s new national team trainer. He´s the first ‘foreign’ national team trainer in the history of Hungary´s Women´s Handball.

The ex-Larvik HK coach only had a few weeks to evaluate the Hungarian players before selecting his squad for the EHF EURO 2012 qualification games. After his appointment, Bøhn was very active, setting-up meetings with first league coaches, and visiting matches and training sessions.

In this interview with eurohandball.com he talks about the first two matches of the qualification phase, his relationship to assistant coach Bea Siti, and his aims for the coming months.

eurohandball.com: Congratulations on the victories in the first two rounds. What are your reflections on these matches, especially the one against Belarus, where your team struggled in the first half before finally celebrating victory?

Karl Erik Bøhn: I think we had an easy game against Azerbaijan, as they´re not a strong opponent, but it was a nice match for our warm-up in the EHF EURO qualification. Indeed we had some problems in the early part of the game against Belarus, but then in the second half we have played a very solid phase which was enough for victory. In the two games we´ve collected the maximum of four points, and therefore I´m satisfied.

eurohandball.com: The players were positively surprised by your training methods, optimism and charisma. Can you tell us something about this?

Karl Erik Bøhn: Actually, it´s nothing extraordinary. It´s just my personality as I´m a born optimist. I don´t like negative things in general, I always think positive! We had a good get together with the players for the first training sessions, and the work, so far, is going very well.

eurohandball.com: How is the collaboration with Bea Siti, your assistant coach going?

Karl Erik Bøhn: Bea is a wonderful person who as a player has played several finals at world events and won the biggest club tournament, the EHF Champions League. I didn´t know her in person before, but when we first met, we just ‘clicked’, and I´ve learned so much from her this week, it´s unbelievable! She has a very broad knowledge of Hungarian players, so she´s an amazing help to me.

eurohandball.com: With Bea Siti you speak English, but is your lack of Hungarian language knowledge a communication problem from the players´ side?

Karl Erik Bøhn: I think it won´t be a problem long-term, as the language of handball isn´t a difficult one in which to communicate, or understand. Next time we’ll surely see some progress on both sides.

eurohandball.com: Since you became NT coach, you´ve visited several clubs, watched training sessions, and talked to players and coaching staff. What is your relationship now with the clubs, and is this system something you´d like to continue in the future?

Karl Erik Bøhn: Absolutely, we´ll continue with this in the future. Right now I´ve a solid relationship with the clubs that provide the national team players and I´ll occasionally visit clubs in the next few months as well. Győr, where I live now, is a good base, as their club team provides many players for the NT.

eurohandball.com: Soon, you´re going to have a meeting with the club trainers. What´s on the agenda for this get together?

Karl Erik Bøhn: Yes, this seminar is soon to take place. I´ve invited the club coaches and I will present to them my concept for training and physical preparation. I´ll then look for their personal ideas and advice for comparison, and to work on.

eurohandball.com: What are your personal plans with the National Team? Where do you see Hungary in a year from now?

Karl Erik Bøhn: We´ll have a tournament in Romania in November, where I´ll certainly test a few more players. Prior to the EHF EURO 2012, I´d like to see my team qualified for the Netherlands, making great progress in playing handball, and being ready to beat any opponents at continental events!

Further Information

Find more information on the Women's EHF EURO 2012 Qualification HERE.

View more detailed information on the event on the Official EHF EURO 2012 Website.
www.ehf-euro.com/NED2012/

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www.facebook.com/NED2012