Product development and talent management cannot proceed without strong national federations who also see potential in beach handball. As one of Horváth’s main goals, continuing the already fruitful conversations while creating new ones was understandably important.
“Our plan is to build up beach handball from the bottom and for that you need to provide enough content to the national federations and the coaches. With beach handball, there is a new opportunity for countries where they lack indoor arenas, or the schedule is full. Greece and Italy are among the national federations that understand the advantages. The equipment requirements for beach handball are very low. Goals, balls and lines can be applied at the EHF. I can confidently say that we have the know-how and our guidelines and content are perfect for newcomers in any role. However, we are very open to conversations. We always take the floor at conferences and congresses to show what we can offer. Our current master plan to achieve our goals can be tailor-made because the circumstances may differ.”
Education is key. The EHF Beach Handball Commission is continuously looking for ways to inform national federations, coaches and players about the advantages of beach handball. Examples like the Hungarian Petra Simon and the Costa brothers from Portugal underscore the positive impact of beach handball basics on young players.
“The potential is huge in beach handball. There are studies to show the exact benefits even for an indoor handballer, while the risk of injuries is very low. Therefore, we turned to coaches because, at the end of the day, they will implement beach handball into the youngsters' training and preparation. Not to mention that decision-making and handling pressure happens more often in beach handball, which gives a very important experience to the players. Through the EHF’s RINCK Convention, we provide methodology and educational materials of beach handball to the coaches.”
Overcoming misconceptions about the sport, such as injury concerns, is an ongoing challenge. The chair stresses the need for worthwhile content to convince coaches of the benefits. Mental preparation, tactical acumen and faster thinking are cited as unique advantages offered by beach handball.
“We cannot forget that beach handball prepares the athletes well mentally as there are situations very often during the matches when one’s decision makes a significant difference: last-minute scores or the shoot-outs. In indoor handball it is different. These experiences cannot be tested in practice, the mind does not react in the same way. And this is not the only aspect. Tactics, decision making and defence are additional. Another one is dribbling or rather the lack of dribbling, which also helps the players because on the sand you have to be able to come up with the solution in three steps which forces your head to work faster.”
Acknowledging the success stories of national teams, the chair emphasises the importance of knowledge sharing between indoor and beach handball. The ongoing dialogue contributes to the continuous growth of the sport.
