Sako’s game: “I need the connection with the fans to feel alive”

Thierry Weizman, Metz Handball’s president, once said of Hatadou Sako, the former goalkeeper of his club, that she could play in a one-woman show. Well, there is definitely a sense to that seeing the Györ player on the court, exulting after a save. “I feel like us, players, put on some kind of show. They are not going to the theatre but still, people spend money to see us play and have fun on the court,” says Sako, who joined Györ in the summer of 2024.

When you ask her about the screaming antics and behaviour between the posts, Hatadou Sako is adamant: no, she is not overplaying things, she is just behaving normally. “I am 100 per cent natural. Of course, we are playing a game, so I exchange looks with my opponents, sometimes words. But I don’t scream just for the sake of screaming,” she says. “I think it’s clear for everyone in the room when I am not in a good day. People can feel it, I am not as exuberant as usual.”

That comes somehow surprisingly, though, as in everyday life, Hatadou Sako is known as chilled and relaxed. But like a lot of other top level athletes, she just transforms into someone else when she steps on the court. “I think this duality really fits my image. I can be ice and fire, two persons are within myself, and that’s actually a strength, to be able to be calm and relaxed outside of the court while being on fire once the game is on.”

To make it to Györ, the current and record title holders in the EHF Champions League Women, Hatadou Sako has had quite a tortuous journey. After being educated to become a nurse, she signed a contract as a professional handball player in the French second division, before making it to Nice, then Metz in 2020. “I think that determination is the one word that I would use to describe myself. Playing in Györ was not a goal but it came along the journey. I put a lot of work into it, and I still do every day.”

Her daily routine might seem pretty obvious for a top-level handball player, but she still feels the need to explain it. “First and foremost, I don’t think you can be a great player if you are not in perfect shape. So, I try to have the best life routine I can, even though I am still learning on that every day.” And then comes training, “which you can’t take for granted. The video part is really important for us, goalkeepers, this might be the thing that helps us making the crucial save to win the game.”

The former Metz goalkeeper spends a lot of time in front of the video screen, trying to memorise which shots are favoured by her opponents. “I know X or Y will shoot in the top right corner when she is tired and shooting from six metres. It has to be automatic for me, so I don’t waste any mental energy at minute 57 and we are down by one.”

And Hatadou Sako claims she does not think too much when she is playing the dying seconds of a tight game. “I think a lot at the beginning of a game, to get me going, to bring back the memories from the video analysis before the game,” says the EHF EURO 2024 semi-finalist with France. “But in the last five or eight minutes, I just switch off. Things become almost automatic. Some would say I become an instinctive player, but that’s just partly true. Because my instinct is modified, even subconsciously, by the work I have put in during a whole season.”

Goalkeeper remains, for obvious reasons, a special position in handball. After all, you are lonely between the posts and there is not anyone you can rely on. “But that’s not frustrating and it’s even quite exciting. You know that you, just by making a save, can save the day, so that’s really empowering in a way.” Sako admits that it still takes some mental strength to get things going again after taking seven goals in a row. “This is definitely something I have gotten better at. I have small tips either to get my head out of the water in a bad moment, or not to get too high in the skies when I have the momentum on my side.”

As a goalkeeper, Hatadou Sako also relies a lot on communication with her defence. The 29-year-old is pretty outgoing, but she faced a new challenge when she arrived in Györ, having played all of her career in France. “That was one of the most frustrating things when arriving here: I had to speak English with my defence, while it comes naturally in French, obviously. I was always using a split second to know what word to use, and that was really, really tough for me. It is better now, and the girls told to shout something in French anyway, and that they would work out what it meant.”

No wonder the French national team goalkeeper definitely is on the rise with Györ, as well as with the France national team. The more she can express herself, the more she can be herself on the court and the more she can deliver. “I have a lot of fun on the court, and I love the interaction with the fans and my teammates. That’s just who I am,” she says. I arrived in Metz in 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 period. We were playing in empty arenas and I had no one to celebrate with. I was making saves, turning to the stands and all I could see were empty seats. Then the fans came back and, in a way, brought me back to life. I need the connection with the fans to feel alive.”

Photos: Aniko Kovacs; Xavi Vegas; Anze Malovrh & Eva Manhart / kolektiff