Hockey, beach, candies and training camps
This time of year Europe’s world of handball is split in three not exactly equal parts.
Some clubs have already gone back to work and are practising in more or less traditional manner. Several players are still enjoying their holidays before going back to training in a few days. And a few are already in full-on handball mode – but not taking care of themselves yet.
This is what happened on the various social media channels of the EHF Champions League stars last week.
Beach, paintball and effort masks...
German clubs have been making a point in having unorthodox preparations this season. Flensburg-Handewitt, for example, flew to Sweden for their traditional pre-season beach handball tournament. And while both SG teams met in the final, the most surprising thing of the weekend was, for sure, spotting defender Tobias Karlsson keeping the net of his own side.
A little bit further south, THW Kiel have decided to stay home for now. But that doesn’t stop Niklas Landin from jumping like crazy while posing for photographs at the same time.
German champions Rhein-Neckar Löwen have decided to try about every sport but handball this week. Mikael Appelgren played rink hockey, Andy Schmid nearly drowned in a river while Patrick Groetzki played bowling with teammates and fans.
Not resting on their laurels
Women’s sides have not been resting on their laurels, either. Most of the top teams went back to training this week. While in Rostov a meet-and-greet was enjoyed by both players and fans, in Bucarest CSM had fun playing paintball, even though the picture looks quite scary.
Looking quite seriously
Back to the men. In Veszprém things are looking quite serious already, as new French recruit William Accambray displayed on his social networks. Wearing a breathing mask, he seems to have fun no matter what.
But the Hungarian side’s new coach, Ljubomir Vranjes, knows how hard a preparation can be, and he has brought with him some things to make it a little bit easier...
Enjoying some holidays… teaching handball
Among the players who are still enjoying some holidays, a few have decided to set up their own handball camp. And it seems like the idea knows no frontiers, as Thierry Omeyer as well as Polish players Michal Jurecki and Mateusz Jachlewski taught a few of their tricks to children.
And while Omeyer and the Kielce boys are starting up slowly, new Celje line player Igor Anic has made up his mind. He’s going to enjoy every single moment of rest he can get before moving to Slovenia. And, let's be honest, we’re all a bit jealous now.
TEXT:
Kevin Domas / ew