First part of EHF Open Master Coach and Licensing Course concluded

Even a three times EHF Champions League winner still goes to school: Alfred Gislason, who coached the EHF Champions League winners SC Magdeburg (2002) and nowadays sits on the bench of THW Kiel (winners in 2010 and 2012), was the most prominent participant of the EHF RINCK Convention Open Master Coach and Licensing Course.

On the fringes of the EHF EURO 2014, 42 coaches met in Silkeborg, Denmark, for the first of three course modules – 25 came from eleven European Federations, who have signed the RINCK Convention, and 17 guests even from Japan, Egypt and Qatar.

The second module will be held in Hungary in June, followed by the final module on the fringes of the Women’s 2014 EHF EURO in Hungary/Croatia in December.

The agenda of the eight-day long first module in Silkeborg - supported and co-organised by local handball club Bjerringbro/Silkeborg – was a wide range of what's handball coaching is about, presented by experienced EHF lecturers and experts.

Organised by the European Handball Federation and the EHF Competence Academy & Network, the course is an integral part of the newly implemented EHF coaches’ licensing system.

All coaches, who take part in all three modules, will not only be certified as 'EHF Master Coach' (a lifetime award) but also with the new EHF Pro Licenses, which is valid until 2016 and then has to be renewed.

In future, all teams and federations taking part in EHF competitions (European Cup competitions, EHF Champions League, EHF EURO events and qualification for EURO events and qualification for YAC competitions) need to have a coach, who was certified with an EHF Coaching License or the EHF Pro License.

"The education of coaches is a highly important task for the EHF, and balancing the licensing system on European level apart from the national licensing systems will improve handball in future," said Jerzy Eliasz, Chairman of the EHF Methods Commission.

"We are proud on such a high number of participants and the high level of the course," he added.

Alfred Gislason appreciated the atmosphere in Silkeborg: "It was very interesting for me to see, to learn and to discuss methods of other coaches and to exchange ideas," the Icelandic concluded.

Main lecturers in this course were Peter Kovacs (Hungary), Paul Landure (France), Marko Sibila (Slovenia) and Branislav Pokrajac (Serbia).

"To implement those Master Coach Courses is a great idea as with those courses the level of coach all over Europe will increase," Pokrajac said.

Aside a huge list of theoretical tasks the practical work was also very much in the focus.

"We covered all major elements of handball in theory and practice. Thanks to the direct connection with the EHF EURO, we could analyse matches we had attended with the course participants in terms of those tasks we had worked on the day before," said Kovacs.

"All participants were highly keen on learning. So after every lecture they came to ask the presenters to learn even more."

Asked about the participation of Alfred Gislason, Kovacs said: "Alfred is a role model for all coaches. By being part of this course he shows his great interest in lifelong learning and education."

And it was not only about attack, defence and goalkeeping, but also elements of psychology were discussed.

Johan Ingi Gunnarsson, Icelandic psychologist and former THW Kiel coach, impressed the participants by mental matters like motivation for players, crisis management in teams and naming individual and team targets.

"After my presentation I could additionally give a lot of individual advices for the coaches.

"They were very interested in those matters – and at the latest now they know know the significance of psychology in team sports," said Gunnarsson.

Another topic was the relationship of coaches and referees, presented by Dragan Nachevski, Chairman of the Technical Refereeing Committee and member of the EHF Competition Commission.