Steins' game: "I walked on the main stage through the back door"

2020 was the year of empty arenas, the sound of the ball hitting the net like never heard before, and the voices of the players making up for the lack of atmosphere with no fans in the stands.

Still, one light shone through the darkness – and that star was Luc Steins. Fresh from joining Paris Saint-Germain Handball, the then 25-year-old Dutch centre back took everyone by surprise, not least his opponents. Especially one action stood out, when he drove the Industria Kielce defence crazy.

“Sometimes, you could feel that the defenders were a little bit like: What the f***? I could sense they were not used to defending someone my size and they did not quite know what to do with me,” he says. “It can be a big advantage to be 1.73 and to run superfast when the guy in front of you is two metres tall and a bit slower.”

Height has never been quite a problem for Luc Steins, despite what many would think. From the start, his coaches and teammates were giving it more thought than he ever did.

“All the people around me were wondering whether I could play top level being so short. That was not my problem, I did not have any questions. I was convinced that if I could be good enough at what I did – and that might mean playing a little bit different – then I would make my way to the top.”

To reach the top, Luc Steins had to get out of his native Netherlands to keep on progressing. “And that was the main obstacle I faced when I was young, not the fact that I was short,” he recalls. “I had to make sacrifices, to accept that I would be playing in the French second division for not a lot of money in order to keep progressing and to finally be able to be on everyone’s radar. To me, it’s like I walked on the main stage through the back door.”

Luc Steins is not one to hold back his efforts when he steps on a handball court. He will often jump into a break and put his head where some would hesitate to even put a foot. That fearlessness has been one of the main ingredients in his personal recipe for success.

“But that’s my mentality, and I try not to think too much when I play. If you think about taking blows or getting injured all the time, things will not work,” he says.

But the days after the game, the body starts to feel it a little bit more: “I walk a little bit like a robot sometimes, but it’s OK.”

Luc Steins has had to make his game evolve, though, as his opponents were quick to find solutions to stop him. Some might try to stop him in his own half as soon as he gets the ball, while others stick to him so he cannot actually touch the ball.

“All the games are on TV now, so it’s easier to find solutions. The first half-season, I just did my basic tricks and I could feel no-one knew me, but now, I have had to progress and add some more skills so I can be as important for my team as I was in the past.”

That might mean being able to shoot from the outside, which he rarely does, or also polishing his connection with the line players. Luc Steins has been one of the main providers for Kamil Syprzak, last season’s EHF Champions League best scorer, for a couple of seasons now.

“I think I am more complete than I was when I joined Paris. Maybe I don’t run as fast as I used to, but I have more experience and I play better with my teammates. Maybe it’s about running more at the right moment than running around all the time as it used to be before.”

With such an energy-consuming style of play, one question inevitably comes to mind: How much longer will Luc Steins be able to sustain his rhythm on the court?

“I’ve started wondering about that as well,” he admits. And the answer, it seems, is not that clear yet: “I’m almost 30, I’m physically fit, so it’s hard to see where all of this is going. But what will happen on the day I run slower? On the day where I lose my qualities and my impact on the game? I mean, I’m not the kind of players who can rely on their shooting power even though they cannot run anymore.”

For the time being, though, Luc Steins is not thinking about the end of his career, yet. He is too busy enjoying his time on the court.

“It’s all about fun for me and I’ll stop the day things are not that fun anymore. It’s great to be playing the way fans love it, very spectacular with a lot of one-against-one situations, lots of running… The more people enjoy it on the court, the more I enjoy myself.”

Remaining on top takes a lot of hard work. And Steins relentlessly puts his opponents to the test every week, his PSG teammates do not got many rest moments during training sessions.

“The key is never to be happy about what you do, never accept to play at 75% of your possibilities. It can be draining sometimes, but in the meantime, that’s the key. And when you are in that mindset, you can keep surprising your opponents, finding new ways to the goal.”

It seems like Luc Steins has launched a new trend among European clubs. Five years ago, he might have been the shortest player on the circuit, but it seems like every top club in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League has signed a centre back who might not shoot as hard as the others, but can run faster than his opponents.

“That’s not for me to say whether I put the shortness in fashion! But I find it great that players that might not have had their chance 10 years ago are now playing the first roles in the biggest clubs,” he says.

It also gives hope for the younger generations, Steins adds: “A kid that might not be two metres tall might have thought that he would not get a chance at top-level handball some time ago, but things are a little bit different now.”

September, 2024

photos: Laurène Valroff, kolektiff images, EHF archive