I always knew I wanted to be coach when the time came and everything was leading towards that. In 2015 I said my first goodbye — with the national team. Four years later I ended my career as a player and started a new path. They might seem like hard decisions but I made every decision decisively and without hesitation. I’m proud of that. I think both decisions were right at the right moment.
I first started to coach the young team in Veszprém and was an assistant coach to David Davis in the first team. I was giving my best to transfer my experience and knowledge and had a clear vision what I wanted to teach young players, and that is the game itself. Young players need to enjoy the game and play, just like I did.
I have only started my path as a coach. It will be a year now since I took over Veszprém and I still learn. I talk a lot with other coaches — coaches like Sead Hasanefendic, Noka Serdarusic, Xavi Pasucal, Manolo Cadenas. I learned from Davis too. He was my coach; later I became his assistant and finally took over the team after him. With each new experience, I’m growing as a coach. Each decision forms me.
When I became a coach, I finally understood my coaches from the past and their actions. ‘Momo player’ and ‘Momo coach’ are very different. As a coach I try to understand my players and to use the best of them. I think that Momo coach would not allow Momo the player to do some some things I did, but I would find a place for him in my team too.
The difference between the two is the best description for one of my hardest periods. Taking over the team of players I used to share the locker room with was really stressful for me for the first few months. I had a hard time sleeping before everything fell to its own place. It took some time to adjust, for both me and my former teammates.
When I took over in the summer of 2021, we put down a three-year plan of what we want to achieve as a club. And for this season, we wanted to take the title in Hungary and pass through the group phase of the Champions League.
A year later, I can only be proud of my team. We won the SEHA League and Hungarian Cup, we are playing finals of the Hungarian championship, and we are back in Cologne. As a rookie coach I had a baptism of fire. PSG, Kielce and Barça were my first tasks but it made me stronger and better.
My vision as a coach is to play fast handball, to help my players make good decision in split seconds and progress, and I to progress with them through all challenges and changes in our sport. My new handball path has only just started.