Loke: It is all about planning

It caused distress in Norwegian handball back in July when Heidi Loke announced that she was taking a break of indefinite duration from the national team.

Practical reasons made the 31-year-old line player from Women´s EHF Champions League winners Györ Audi ETO KC say no to national coach Throrir Hergeirsson, at least for a while.

On top of goalkeeper Katrine Lunde’s pregnancy, this was bad news for the Norwegian hopes ahead of the EHF EURO 2014 in December.

So much bigger was the joy in Norway this week, as Heidi Loke announced that she is already available for the national team again, three months after announcing her break.

It was too hard for her to just watch the team playing without being part of it, she admits in this exclusive interview.

However, she also admits that with a son who recently started in school, it has taken lot of planning to make handball at top level and a family life function together.

eurohandball.com: What made you change your decision about the national team so relatively soon after having announced your break?

Heidi Loke: It was simply too hard for me to watch the team playing the Golden League in Denmark recently. It was too hard to only watch the games on TV.

So, as I have been able to make the practical things in my daily life work, I made myself available to the team again.

My fiancé and my family are really a great help when it comes to taking care of my son Alexander, who goes to school here in Hungary.

eurohandball.com: Was it these practical problems, which made you decide to take a break this summer?

Heidi Loke: I would not call them problems, but I had some difficulties making it all function together. At that point I could simply not see how I would manage to be away with the national team for as long as it takes with a European championship. However, as I said, my fiancé and family have been very willing to help, so it all works out.

eurohandball.com: Is it difficult in general to maintain a handball career at the top level when you have children?

Heidi Loke: It is obviously a challenge, especially as I live in Hungary and most of my family is in Norway. Before my son started in school, I could take him to Norway and have my family there take care of him, while I was away with the national team. That is not possible now that he is going to school. I cannot just take him out of school, because I am going somewhere to play handball. This means that I rely a lot on my fiancé to make it work.

eurohandball.com: Has your early comeback also something to do with the fact that Norway are going to play their matches at the EHF EURO in Hungary where you live and play?

Heidi Loke: Of course, if will be great for me to play for Norway here in Hungary.

Obviously, it would be even cooler, if we were going to play on my home ground in Györ. Then I could get up in the morning, drive my son to school, and in the evening I could drive to the hall and play the matches! (laughing)

However, it will also be great to play in Debrecen. That is a four-hour drive away, and my son is going to visit me there, so I am really looking forward to that.

eurohandball.com: In Norway, the general opinion is that your comeback is a great boost to the team. How do you expect your team to do at the EHF EURO?

Heidi Loke: I am pretty sure we will do well. Of course, we are missing Katrine Lunde, but Kari Aalvik Grimsbø and Silje Solberg have done very well in her absence, so I am not all that worried about the goalkeeper position.

I think we have a lot of young players with a lot of hunger to do well, and we also still have enough of more experienced players, so in general I find that we have a fine combination of youth and experience, but it may take some time to play together as a team.

eurohandball.com: With the 134 internationals you have played already, you can probably fall into the team again pretty easily?

Heidi Loke: Absolutely. I know all the players, and I was at a training camp with the team as late as July this year. So in fact, it is only the Golden League in October that I have missed. I know my teammates and the way the team plays, so there will no problems for me in that respect.

eurohandball.com: Which teams do you see as favourites at the EHF EURO? Are Norway among them?

Heidi Loke: I definitely hope that we can get far at the tournament, but there are many good teams in women’s handball at the moment, more than ever, I think.

In my opinion Denmark have a very interesting team. Montenegro may also have a say and the Netherlands have also impressed me lately with a very exciting team, and as I said, I hope for Norway to also be among the top teams.

eurohandball.com: You are also in a busy period with your club team Györ at the moment, playing the group matches of the Women’s EHF Champions League. You are double champions in the competition. How do you see your chances this season?

Heidi Loke: We are obviously also missing Katrine (Lunde) in the club, but we still have Orsolya Herr and we now have Jelena Grubisic who is also a great goalkeeper. Furthermore, we have some exciting new players, so I think we still have a very strong team which can reach the FINAL4. That is our goal at first.

eurohandball.com: Is it easy to motivate yourself after winning the tournament two years in a row?

Heidi Loke: Yes, that is very easy for us. Winning the Champions League three years in a row with the same team would just be so great?

eurohandball.com: Who will be your greatest rivals?

Heidi Loke: There are many, I think. Buducnost are probably among the favourites again, and Vardar will also be a dangerous contender. Larvik, in my opinion, have a stronger team than they had last year and will also challenge.

However, there is still a long way to go and for us I think it is crucial for us not to think further ahead than the next game. If you are only focused on the FINAL4, you may not reach it at all.