... e se levantam sempre dúvidas em relação às convocatórias, pois todos temos uma opinião acerca de quem deve estar e de quem não deve estar, sobreavaliando os nossos atletas em detrimentos de outros e questionando resultados, que sabendo a realidade das diferenças em confronto (embora os sorteios nos tenham favorecido, principalmente no feminino, onde as Juniores C, terão um apuramento fácil), nunca se colocariam, deixo aqui um artigo excelente do Professor Helmut König, sobre o desenvolvimento dos jovens jogadores de topo:The development of young top handball players
Important elements and areas of influence analysed against the background of the career of Conrad Wilczynski, born 1982, left wing of the Austrian National Team, and professional in Berlin, Germany.“Young top level handball players are not born but made”.
If we subscribe to that notion, several determining factors of the process of development have to be considered. It goes without saying that talent is one of the pre-requisites for any top athlete in any sport. If we compare the various definitions of talent ( “..a marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment”, or “.. natural endowment or ability of a superior quality1”) we will immediately see that talent is a gift, a quality which can be detected at a very early age. The means to achieve this aim is fairly easy. 
To find out if a child ( 4-7 years old ) is talented for handball, one simply has to watch the way it handles a ball in natural surroundings, the way it adapts automatically to variations of tasks and rules set either by the teacher/trainer or its playmates.
To find out if a child ( 4-7 years old ) is talented for handball, one simply has to watch the way it handles a ball in natural surroundings, the way it adapts automatically to variations of tasks and rules set either by the teacher/trainer or its playmates. Talent alone, however, will never, on any account, make a top youth handball player. It must combine itself with other innate qualities such as creativity, game intelligence, and the ability to anticipate movements and actions of other players, or the development of situations. Some, or all, of those qualities discernable in a young player guarantee a good starting point for an international career.
In addition, however, there are several other factors which are absolute “musts” in the development of a young player. These factors are the following:
• educational career and family background,
• quality of the club (structure, international contacts, etc.),
• quality of the training process,
• top level and ambitious trainers,
• continuity of the training process,
• quantity and quality of the individual training units measured by international standards,
• application of up-to-date training methods and incorporation of the latest
findings of sports science,
• accompanying medical and physiotherapeutical services,
• available rehabilitation institutes in case of injuries,
• adequate funding to guarantee various sportive and social activities,
• application of mental and physical relaxation techniques,
• systematic introduction to national teams at the various age levels,
• and, above all, frequent participation in international competitions to test
one’s own technical, tactical, and physical competence against numerous
players of different nationalities, with different philosophies of handball, in
order to gain as much international experience as possible at a very early age.
The more experience the better. The international confrontation helps a young
pla
yer to gauge his own standard of play, to motivate him to go in for even
harder work in training, and to provide him with a sense of accomplishment.
In addition, however, there are several other factors which are absolute “musts” in the development of a young player. These factors are the following:
• educational career and family background,
• quality of the club (structure, international contacts, etc.),
• quality of the training process,
• top level and ambitious trainers,
• continuity of the training process,
• quantity and quality of the individual training units measured by international standards,
• application of up-to-date training methods and incorporation of the latest
findings of sports science,
• accompanying medical and physiotherapeutical services,
• available rehabilitation institutes in case of injuries,
• adequate funding to guarantee various sportive and social activities,
• application of mental and physical relaxation techniques,
• systematic introduction to national teams at the various age levels,
• and, above all, frequent participation in international competitions to test
one’s own technical, tactical, and physical competence against numerous
players of different nationalities, with different philosophies of handball, in
order to gain as much international experience as possible at a very early age.
The more experience the better. The international confrontation helps a young
pla
yer to gauge his own standard of play, to motivate him to go in for evenharder work in training, and to provide him with a sense of accomplishment.
Apart from the factors enumerated above there is an element which puts the finishing touch to any training process and finally makes the true professional top player. This element is the individual component which determines the outcome of hours and hours of hard work in the gym. When we refer to the term individual component we think of the way the athlete :
• models himself on international players,
• trains precisely and consistently,
• understands “his” training process to be exclusively his personal responsibility,
• understands that he is personally responsible for his own status of health
(prevention of injuries, proper nutrition, social life) at any given moment,
• demands regular objective checks of his individual training progress and level
of competence,
• accepts positive criticism and suggestions as a necessary means to improve
his overall efficiency,
• takes part in “handball life”, that is to say, reads handball literature and tries to get hold of new tendencies in training methods, watches handball related
movies and video tapes, etc. to strengthen his own analytical capability,
• is prepared to devote about 10-15 years of his juvenile life to handball
exclusively.
• models himself on international players,
• trains precisely and consistently,
• understands “his” training process to be exclusively his personal responsibility,
• understands that he is personally responsible for his own status of health
(prevention of injuries, proper nutrition, social life) at any given moment,
• demands regular objective checks of his individual training progress and level
of competence,
• accepts positive criticism and suggestions as a necessary means to improve
his overall efficiency,
• takes part in “handball life”, that is to say, reads handball literature and tries to get hold of new tendencies in training methods, watches handball related
movies and video tapes, etc. to strengthen his own analytical capability,
• is prepared to devote about 10-15 years of his juvenile life to handball
exclusively.
Conrad Wilczynski grew up in Vienna and attended a prestigious grammar school – Goethe Gymnasium Vienna - with a particular emphasis on handball. His parents (of Polish origin) fostered his ambitions and supported the young player in every way. Wilczynski played for Union West Wien, a club with a very long handball tradition and numerous national titles. Because of a close co-operation between Goethe Gymnasium (six times Austrian School Champion, silver medal at the ISF Games in Israel) and the club (“West Wien Youth Model”) Wilczynski was able to develop his skills in a very competitive environment. Competitive in so far that at school level he already took part in four international tournaments each year (France, Sweden,Poland, Sweden/Italy), which meant an average of 150 international games between
the age of 10 and 17. If the international competitions the club organized are added it is plain to see that the young player gathered a high degree of experience throughout his formative years.
the age of 10 and 17. If the international competitions the club organized are added it is plain to see that the young player gathered a high degree of experience throughout his formative years.
Apart from those opportunities to hone his skills, the club, in the wake of Vinko Kandia’s work with the men’s team, had increased the training volume to 8-9 times a week, and the youth teams, according to age group, had followed suit. This meant 5-6 training sessions a week at the age of 14-15. Parallel to that the volume of the training units themselves was increased to sometimes 150 minutes instead of the usual 120 minutes per unit.
As far as possible the various youth trainers worked according to a common philosophy as to what handball at the club and at school should be. The corner stones of that philosophy were speed, quick legs, an offensive defence (3:2:1), fast break, and stress on the variability of technical competence in shooting, passing, feinting, stealing the ball, and a quick change between collective attacking systems.
As a consequence of his growing maturity and the understanding of his position in the game, Wilczynski was elected captain of the various teams he played in, and was soon incorporated into Austria’s Youth and later into Austria’s Junior National Team.
From that moment on his career was clearly on the move. He took part in six
European and World Champion qualifications, and was finally made one of the
youngest members of Austria’s men’s team.
Mais uma vez se prova que o único sítio onde o talento aparece antes do trabalho é no diccionário!
As a consequence of his growing maturity and the understanding of his position in the game, Wilczynski was elected captain of the various teams he played in, and was soon incorporated into Austria’s Youth and later into Austria’s Junior National Team.
From that moment on his career was clearly on the move. He took part in six
European and World Champion qualifications, and was finally made one of the
youngest members of Austria’s men’s team.
Mais uma vez se prova que o único sítio onde o talento aparece antes do trabalho é no diccionário!
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