Among those participants are former Romania players Paula Ungureanu and Valentina Ardean-Elisei, who were both part of their national team’s sole medal success at the Women’s EHF EURO, when they took bronze in 2010, and finished as runners-up in the EHF Champions League 2009/10 with Oltchim. Another EHF Champions League finalist, from 2014/15, Veszprém legend Péter Gulyás, is also furthering his education by taking part in the Master Coach Course.
The second module saw the participants collaborating more closely following their shared experience of the first module, which took place in Hamburg during the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 in January. As part of the module, and continuing with the practical training approach, the participants attended and analysed two matches of the M20 EURO, with the opportunity to clarify technical and tactical elements of the game.
The new coaching and communication methodologies and strategies introduced in the second module were practically focused. On the coaching side, participants were tasked with managing two-and-a-half days of on-court sessions, and all of them had the opportunity to lead. With this methodology, it was possible for the lecturers to observe the participants conducting a training session and communicating with the players. Feedback and explanations on exercises could be given on the spot by EHF Experts, allowing for identification of problems and solutions in the exercises, as well as adaption of the training session to the time constraints and players.
The communication task, led by EHF commentator Paul Bray, involved producing simulated press conferences, which allowed for more collaborative group learning. Another new learning method introduced was the opportunity for participants to interview the head coaches of the national teams whose matches they had previously analysed.
Lecturers included EHF Experts Julian Bauer, Alexandru Buligan, Zrinka Greblo Jurakić, Bettina Pásztor, Günes Viter, Brigitta Kiss and Paul Bray, along with coaching expert Luis Santos. Master Coach lecturers bring expertise from various fields aside from handball and coaching, with sports management, sports medicine, sport psychology, leadership and media all addressed during the three-module course, which comprises a minimum of 175 teaching units. The course also requires independent learning before and in between the on-site modules, as well as a written thesis presented in the third module.
The last of the three on-site modules forming the 2024 Master Coach Course will take place from 2 to 8 December in Vienna, during the Women’s EHF EURO 2024.
