While she won the EHF Champions League twice as a player – with Györi Audi ETO KC in 2013 and 2014 – the former left wing had yet to lead a team in the competition. She had a stint last season as an assistant at Györ, but being at the wheel in such big games is definitely something different.
“You know only the best belong here and that every weekend, you are going to find solutions against the best coaches in the world. It was challenging as a player but it is equally as hard as a coach. But in the same way, playing this competition makes you better as a player but it also makes you better as a coach,” says the 45-year-old.
One example she gives to illustrate what kind of progress she is currently making is how big her staff is in Brest. While she was used to work with four or five players in Besançon, Raphaëlle Tervel is now at the head of a 10-person strong team.
“It’s great to have so much information available, because at the end of the day, it is useful to prepare the players better. But sometimes, I still have to work out how to handle all of this physical data, for example,” she says.
Brest have not had all the time needed to prepare this summer, due to several players being busy at the Olympics, but so far, the results have been delivered. The French side has beaten Vipers Kristiansand, Buducnost and Team Esbjerg in the first three rounds, before heading to Ludwigsburg for this weekend’s Match of the Week (Sunday 6 October, 14:00 CEST).
“I would still say we are a work in progress. We have some very good foundations, a lot of qualities, individually and as a team, but we need more time together, more time to know each other,” says Tervel, before adding: “It’s great to be able to beat Vipers and Esbjerg still being a little bit uncertain about the way we play. But let us not be blind-sided, there are still a lot of things to do.”
