EHF launches project to enforce women’s youth handball

As part of its efforts to develop women’s handball in Europe in general, the European Handball Federation has set up the project “Mentoring of Coaches in Women’s Youth Handball.”

The long-term objective is to propel the EHF EURO and Women’s EHF Champions League competitions to the next level and to develop more female elite players in more countries, and especially to close the gap to the top nations.

The main goal of the new project is to improve the level and motivation of coaches actively involved in women’s youth handball. Only a well-educated coach, a personality with knowledge, personal and ethical standards, can develop and support young players in an appropriate way to success in both handball and life in general.

Recognise talent and ability at an early stage

The project will indirectly support young players to recognise their talent and ability at an early stage. That enables them to reach a higher level of handball, and motivates them to keep playing handball in what is a drop-out period for many young players.

The EHF not only supports the development of coaches who work with young female players, but also encourages the cooperation between federation, clubs and schools.

The target groups in the inaugural project are the member federations of the Women’s YAC ranking between 13^th and 24^th, valid for the Women's EHF EURO 2019, and their coaches working with female players aged between 12 and 18. The initial project will run with a maximum of six federations in the first two years.

During the project, the EHF will provide an EHF lecturer for continuous mentoring of coaches in the form of a ‘coaches’ clinic, to be organised by the member federation during their respective national/regional tournaments for female players between 12 and 18, three times a year over two years, leading up to a total of six sessions.

Each federation has own specific needs

Member federations can apply to the EHF for a lecturer and/or mentoring support, presenting their current situation in women’s handball, especially women’s youth handball, including objectives and plans, as well as their desired coaches’ development programme and project concept (click here for more details).

As each federation has their own specific needs in the area of coach development, the EHF will work closely with the federation to formulate the agreed programme (planning phase) after the project approval by the Executive Committee.

After each course/workshop, the hosting federation and the EHF lecturer will be required to provide the EHF Office with a written report (click here for more details).

In order to evaluate the development and outcome of the project, the EHF will rely on the noted experience of the EHF lecturer and the reports from the national federation.

Federations within the targeted rating and with interest in receiving support within the EHF Women’s Handball Development Programme in 2018 can send the their application (including all necessary information) to the EHF Office - Alenka Cuderman (cuderman@eurohandball.com) by Monday, 7 May 2018 at the latest.