Line Jørgensen: “Hard work and willpower brought me to where I am”

“When I started my handball career, I benefited from being tall and left-handed. Those qualities in combination is certainly not a disadvantage in handball.

Apart from that, hard work and the will to come back from my injuries have brought me to where I am today - and well, there has probably also been a bit of talent involved,” Line Jørgensen ends the last sentence with a laugh.

The 28-year-old Danish international is in no doubt that her will to always train and work hard has played an important role in elevating her to international handball, which makes her a perfect fit as a role model in ‘Handball Inspires Generations’, a campaign which features several top players and aims to show and empower female leadership and competence as well as inspire future players.

Having started handball at the age of 3 in Hvidovre IF, in the suburbs of Copenhagen, her senior career brought her to Danish top clubs GOG and FC Midtjylland as well as to CSM Bucuresti, with whom she won the Women’s EHF Champions League in 2016 in the Romanian club´s maiden campaign.

With the Danish national team, her greatest achievement was being captain of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2013 World Championship in Serbia, Denmark’s only medal in women’s handball in the past 14 years.

These days, she sees her role in the national team a bit differently than those five years ago.

“I see myself as a bit of supplementary player.

“When I am asked to play, I do so and obviously try my very best and fulfil my role. I am always ready to enter the court and serve the team the best way I can,” says the experienced right back, who has had her share of injuries in her career.

The will is essential

Her worst and longest injury break was when a complicated broken hand sidelined her for most of the 2016/17 season.

“When I was injured, it has always been essential for me to work as hard as possible to get back on court and get back to my former level, and my experience is that there is always something you can do.

“When I was out for 10 months with that broken hand, for instance, I realised that I could not train handball, but then I could practice other kinds of physical training to keep me going and to make it easier for me to come back.

“This is also what I try to teach young players in the sports school, where I work as a physiotherapist alongside playing handball.

“I may say to them: ´You may have a twisted ankle right now, but that does not mean everything is over. You still have many years in front of you as a handball player, and what is important right now is what you can do to get back on court, not what you cannot do’.

“Personally, I got my first injury when I was 18, and that was when I started to learn how to work to get over it and come out the other side.” she explains.

Happy to be back home

While she sees herself as some kind of supplementary player in the national team, there is no doubt Jørgensen is a key player for her club team.

This summer, she left CSM Bucuresti to join Team Esbjerg in her Danish homeland.

Here, she can take her part of the credit for Esbjerg sitting second in the Danish league at present.

“I am very happy with the change.

“I had three really good years in CSM, but this spring, I felt it was time to return home, and I feel good in Esbjerg.

“It is a great team and a great club, and the teams as well as the entire staff around the team are really competent and professional, so it is a real pleasure to be here,” she says.

No matter how she sees her role in the national team, there is no doubt that her experience will come in useful to national coach Klavs Bruun Jørgensen at the upcoming EHF EURO 2018 in France.

“There is no doubt that missing Stine Jørgensen to injury will be a handicap to us, but then, other players will simply have to take over and I think we still have a great team.

“Anyway, I can guarantee you that we will do our utmost to win every match we play in France,” she says ahead of the tournament, where she and her teammates face Sweden, Serbia and Poland in Group A in Nantes.

The best is yet to come

Right now, the right back is not quite at her peak physically, as she recently returned from an illness, which ruled her out of action at the Golden League in Denmark last month.

“I will catch up with that no doubt, but apart from that, I do not think I have reached the peak of my career yet.

“I feel I can still improve in almost all aspects of my play and my plan is to reach my peak at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“That is my long-term goal. It is important to have goals in your career and in life,” concludes Line Jørgensen.