Successful ‘Respect Your Talent’ activities at women's 17 events

‘Respect Your Talent’, a new EHF project aimed at fostering the development of young and talented female handball players on and off the court, has come to an end for this summer.

After the launch of the project in Györ at the Women’s 19 EHF EURO and two equally successful events at W19 EHF Championships in Lithuania and Bulgaria, the project continued at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO in Slovenia and W17 EHF Championships in Italy and Georgia.

During each event, 40 players were selected to attend the ‘RYT Activity Day’ where they got a chance to meet with the project ambassador. Spanish national team player Nerea Pena met with talents in Slovenia, the EHF Champions League winner Anja Althaus travelled to Georgia and Swedish centre back Johanna Ahlm was in Italy.

“I think this is a really good project. I wish I was 17 now to have even more possibilities like they have now to become an even better player. Women’s handball has really developed, maybe not as much as men’s but we have a lot of potential”, said Johanna Ahlm.

Equipping talents with useful skills

The aim of the workshops with the project ambassadors is to inspire young and talented players for a career in professional handball but also to show them how important education is and that they shouldn’t neglect that part of their life.

“Workshops like these are very important because a lot of us young players get to know that we have a life after our handball career because not everyone earns enough to live solely from handball. That’s why Nerea Pena stressed that we need to focus on our studies as well”, said Norwegian player Mina Pauline Gregersen at the workshop in Celje, Slovenia.

Besides education, the selected players are also given useful tips about dealing with media which often stresses young players who are not used to giving interviews.

“It’s a very interesting project and gave me some very important messages. I think it’s important to train young talents for the future when they become professional handball players. I’m very happy to be a part of this project and I hope to grow more and more in the future”, said Italian national team player Bevelyn Eghianruwa.

‘Respect Your Talent’ project continues in 2020

The first summer of ‘Respect Your Talent’ is finished. However, the project will continue in 2020 at the Men’s 18 and 20 EHF EUROs and EHF Championships.

The EHF also plans to organise a special training camp in 2020 for the All-star Team players selected this summer during Women’s 19 and 17 events.  The ‘Respect Your Talent toolkit’ will also be developed and published in the meantime. The toolkit will be a guide for the talents covering topics like dual careers, communication with media, use of social networks, anti-doping and fair play.