01.10.2013, 12:39
A moment with ... Laszlo Nagy

INTERVIEW: Veszprém captain and superstar Laszo Nagy speaks in depth about his early sporting life, his move to Barcelona, the Hungary/Spain debate and life off the court

A moment with ... Laszlo Nagy

Laszlo Nagy strolls easily through the doors of the Veszprém Arena to meet me. He dips his head, as you have to do, when you are 2 metres and 7 centimetres tall. He walks with the calmness of a man who is where he should be and smiles easily to the young fans and security guards. I like to think he reserved the widest smile for me, knowing that we have about 40 minutes before he is due into the dressing room.

We find a quiet corner of the stadium and begin our chat.

“2m07cm Only!”

That’s what he says and then goes on to say that he once turned down the option to go to America to play basketball. Always one of the tallest in his class, at the age of twelve he was just about 2m tall. He felt he was too young to go at the time. His father, a pro basketball player would ask him how many basketball training he had done that week. “4” would be the young boys answer and his father would say perfect.

Slowly however, the bug of handball was biting the young boy. The lure of the atmosphere of handball, and the pull of his home town club of Szeged and also the European stature of Veszprém were starting to change the boy’s mind.

“4 basketball sessions and 1 handball” was slowly changing to more and more handball and eventually the international youth handball tournaments completely turned his head.

“Any regrets” I ask him and he says sometimes his wife asks why he chose handball above what he could be earning in the NBA, but he says it’s a private joke between them.



“I never wanted to play in Veszprém”

This was the thought of a young Laszlo. Having been bred in the handball school of Pick Szeged, it never crossed his mind to play for bitter rivals Veszprem, but when the chance arrived; “Veszprém presented a good project,” and knowing that his former teammate Ortega would be the coach, he left the metropolis of Barcelona for Hungary once more.

“You have to live it to understand it”

The motto of Barcelona is “Mes que un club” (more than a club) and Laszlo, of course, when he travelled there in his late teen’s had heard it but didn’t really understand it. He says you must be inside to fully understand it. “You have to believe it”.

He tells us how he was chosen to become captain of Barcelona and exactly what that meant at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in 2011.

“I heard the same”

Laszlo lifts the lid on his “Will he, won’t he” take Spanish citizenship, and on his original decision to leave the Hungarian national team and finally return. He also sheds light on whether there was any political involvement in bringing him back to play in Veszprém with the Olympic Games in London looming.

“I love speed”

He lives close to Lake Balaton now, but there is no sailing for him. Speed boats are his dream and he hopes one day he will own one. He is a very humble guy, who still runs his handball camps for kids. He won’t have just the use of his name at the camps, no; he is involved every minute of every day.

“I just want the kids to feel that there is a big handball star among them”

You get the feeling, he wants them to feel the same passion he felt at that young age, as his heart yearned for the atmosphere of the handball arena and the fun the sport brought him. Perhaps in some small way, that, above all finances brought him back to Hungary.

He is a star. You know you are dealing with a star when they arrive at the precise time and make no requests of what you can or cannot ask. But he is a humble star, whose life after handball won’t lead him directly to coach, but a career in TV might be nice.

“You are the best”, he says. High praise, coming from the number 19, I’m just not as good looking as Laszlo.

Listen to the entire interview with Lazlo here.

TEXT: Tom Ó Brannagáin, ehfTV commentator