Stopping shots with bare legs

If you go back far enough in the handball history, it was not unusual to see goalkeepers playing in shorts. As a matter fact, you can still see a lot of black and white photos from the sixties, where almost all goalkeepers were wearing shorts, just like the players in the field.

These days, however, tracksuits have replaced the shorts by the shot-stoppers, and a goalkeeper wearing shorts in a match is an extremely rare sight.

Former Norwegian international Terese Pedersen has been one recent exception to that rule. Swedish international Filippa Idéhn is another. The 22 year old goalkeeper from IK Sävehof appears in shorts in each and every match – be in the Swedish league Elitserien or in the EHF Champions League.

“I simply find shorts nicer than wearing long trousers. I feel that I can move more freely that way, so several years ago I decided to drop the trousers and play in shorts,” Filippa Idéhn told ehfCL.com.

One might think that being hit by a hard short on a bare leg would hurt more than through trousers, and that is probably also the reason, why tracksuit is the far more popular outfit by goalkeepers these days. It does not bother Idéhn a lot, though.

“I only wear shorts in matches, while I keep the tracksuit on in training, and I have not really felt much of a difference. It is the first year I play the Champions League, but I have not really noticed any difference there either,” said Idéhn who joined Sävehof from Spårvägen before this season.

Sunday she and her team-mates will be facing Norwegian neighbours Larvik HK in the Champions League. In that match she will be guarding the goal in shorts again, and she is quite optimistic in spite of the fact that her team has not got a single point in the tournament yet.

“I think we have improved along the way, and there is always a chance,” as she puts it.