From junior to senior stars: Norway and Switzerland’s transition success

EHF Experts for coaching and talent development Bent Dahl, currently head coach of the Czechia women’s team and Romanian club SCM Ramnicu Valcea, after previously coaching the Norwegian junior team, and Daniel Birkelund, who has worked on handball development with the Norwegian Handball Federation for some time, both have long-term experience in developing talents such as the current golden generation. 

The Norwegian federation implemented a 10-year plan for all players, male and female, from the ages of 15 to 25, around 20 years ago.

“Mainly we wanted to avoid this drop at the age of 18 or 19,” says Dahl. In contrast to the youth academies in the Netherlands and Switzerland, Norway focus on decentralised talent programmes in schools.

“Veronica Kristiansen, for example, was four years at the school I had worked, she learnt to train like a professional already at the age of 15. This was a quite big load, but she was eager to learn and this intense training finally helped her to make it through the youth and junior teams to the women’s team,” Dahl says,

For Dahl, one important point is to educate the players to motivate themselves to train and develop, taking responsibility for their career from the start.

“This decide yourself or self-learning process is one of the main elements in our youth programme,” he says.

Daniel Birkelund calls it the “culture of responsibility”, adding: “Players are educated to know that is their job to develop, not only wait for what the coaches tell them. The staff only offer those tools they can use.” 

His perfect example is the final of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, when Norway were down by eight goals against France in the first half, but after an incredible comeback took the trophy, winning 29:22.

“After the match, our head coach Thorir Hergeirsson was asked what he said in the break — and his answer says it all: ‘I came a bit later into the locker room, and the players had already decided what to do and sorted out the problems.’

“This is our culture. Players do not wait for the coaches, but take responsibility on their own. And this mentality, they have learnt from the start of their career,” Birkelund continues.

“Our players and coaches never panic, but stay focused in a positive way to find the right solutions. And when you have won titles before, you have a stronger belief. Our plan B is always to make plan A better, and go back to basics when you are under pressure.”

Birkelund says continuity in coaching is Norway’s biggest success factor.

“In the last 30 years we only had three women’s national team coaches and we implemented an excellent culture for young players through this. Our constant focus is not on the past and present, but always on the future generations. 

“When top stars quit playing for the national team, we have set up and integrated the next generation already. And it is never a transition of a whole team, but only some players. The new ones play in the system for many years, have trained with the A-team or were part of our B national team — a great pool for those players who did not manage to transfer immediately into the A team,” he says.

“They are all well-prepared to step in, as they have been in the environment of the women’s team for a long time. This process takes from one to four years, and it always includes the transfer of knowledge from the experienced players to the young ones. And of course, it is great to use idols such as Katrine Lunde, Stine Oftedal or Nora Mørk as role models for the recruitment of young players who have the dream to become like them.”

Dahl adds that the general framework in Norway is also key for a successful transition.

“It is always important to create a good environment where the young players enjoy working for their dream, which creates happiness, joy and many positive moments. But on the other side, we need to be realistic how many players will finally make it to the women’s national team,” says Dahl.

For him, the general approach in Norway is much bigger.

“Our educational system is not only based on handball, but the holistic development of the players for their lives. The system will guide you and offers you many choices for your career. And they learn the importance of team spirit.”

Dahl agrees with Birkelund that continuity is vital.

“All coaches follow the same line in the Norwegian federation, regardless if they coach 14-year-old girls or the senior national teams. We count on continuity and a constant communication between all coaches. We challenge each other and knowing you will not get fired if you do not win a medal at a YAC event, it makes the coaches feel safe. Top nations such as Norway, Denmark, France or Sweden have this long-term strategy with long-term coaches in senior and youth levels — and the success is visible.”

This focus on development, in contrast to looking only at results, is also very relevant for Birkelund.

“Of course we want to win big matches, but this is not the main part of our talent programme, as we mainly concentrate on the individual development of every single player,” he says.

To educate a wider range of players, all age groups have more than the regular number of players, and all of them get the opportunity of playing major tournaments.

“In a four-year cycle with European and world championships, all players play only three tournaments at the most. More players get international experience and we have more players in our system,” says Dahl.

“You can easily point out the best player of an age group, but sometimes you need others for your future plans, and when the range is wider, the selection is easier.”

Another key in Norway is the extended coaching staff.

“Sometimes we have more staff than players at tournaments,” says Dahl.

Norway was one of the pioneers in taking care of mental health, and this is becoming more and more important in its youth programme.

“Young players are under constant pressure, we try everything to avoid this stress for them or we enable them to deal with this pressure,” says Dahl.

Birkelund also underlines the system of experts in Norway.

“Whether we talk about physical, tactical or mental training, the number of experts is huge around the teams, in all age categories. And all those experts are connected to guide the talents on their way to become a top player,” he adds.

“In the end, it is all about the close communication of schools, the clubs and the national teams. Our programme is focused on the women’s team, but also to develop the players for the Norwegian league was another core aspect, as they can become either professional players there or combine semi-professional handball with studies and jobs.

“After building those talents, we need to take care that they remain with handball. We give the players the tools to become a top player, and they have to use them for their career,” says Dahl. 

Switzerland’s academy structure

The Netherlands and Switzerland have taken a different path to secure a successful transition from YAC teams to senior, through centralised academies. The Swiss Handball Federation now hopes to reap the benefits as hosts of the Women’s EHF EURO with a rejuvenated team, into which many former academy players have been integrated in the last years.

“To success through performance,” is the motto of the Concordia Handball Academy, which was founded in 2020. The location is right next to OYM (‘On Your Marks’) — the competence centre for high performance athletes and research in the city of Cham. The connection to OYM is very important, as the academy players can use all infrastructure and support like specialised athletic training facilities, health and nutrition management and the scientific research alongside their handball lessons in their own training hall.

“It was our vision to bring Swiss players closer to the top of the world,” says Simona Cavallari, former head of the academy. “By implementing this academy, we were pioneers in Swiss team sport, none of the other federations had an academy like this.”

As there are no professional clubs and professional players in Swiss woman’s handball, it was the idea to bring the biggest talents together in this academy to combine handball and school on a professional level.

“The Dutch academy in Papendal was our role model. We were in close contact with the Dutch federation when we planned and started this academy,” says the former head of sport for the Swiss federation, Ingo Meckes.

A total of 13 to 14 players live with guest families in Cham. They train together and have their school lessons in the academy. They stay from Monday to Friday afternoon in the academy then they return to their clubs, have their final training sessions before their respective matches, play with their clubs and return to the academy again after the weekend.

The age of the academy players is between 14 and 20; they are either finishing school or have already started an apprenticeship. The academy supports plans for the combination of high performance sport and jobs. Alongside the infrastructure and the concept, the main cornerstones are to have professional and experienced coaches and club support.

“Without the support of the clubs you cannot do a project like this, but from the first days of planning the clubs were involved and fully support the academy,” says Meckes.

The first head coach of the academy in 2020 was Dane Martin Albertsen, who was already coaching the Swiss women’s national team. By having professional coaching in all aspects — technique, athletics and individual development — the Swiss female youth and junior teams improved and began to qualify for major events. By 2022, the first academy players like Nuria Bucher had made their way to the women’s national team, which then sensationally booked a ticket for their very first Women’s EHF EURO. 

Unfortunately for the academy and the national team, Albertsen left Switzerland in the summer of 2023. Norwegian Knut Ove Joa took over the women’s national team, while young Swiss coach Manuel Schellmann is the new head coach of both the academy and the under-20 team, which had also been coached by Albertsen and which includes many academy players.

“The development of Swiss women’s handball is incredible and impressive, I am sure that this academy will create more and more top players. Those players and their way to the top are in the focus of our work,” says Schellmann, who will be assisted by former national team player Karin Weigelt.   

In the summer of 2024, Switzerland took their very first title in women’s handball, winning the final of the under-16 European Open against Germany 34:31. Expect many of those players to feature in the senior team in the future.

Photos © Anze Malvorh / kolektiff images, Catalin Margarit / PinPhoto, Christoffer Andersen / NTB