After the relative success of the camp in Luxembourg, I was excited to be heading back to Denmark for another fresh challenge. I attended my first training session for Bjerringbo-Silkeborg-Voel (BSV) the day after my arrival. I was tired from the tough week before but eager to impress the coach and show that I was capable of playing at 2nd Division level. BSV is a great club with team’s in the Danish Liga 2nd and 3rd division and there is plenty of opportunity to train with experienced players and get consistent court time at a high level. The first session went well and I went on to complete my trial week having achieved what I had set out to do. The Coach Peder Mayer was pleased with what I had shown; he had seen me 18 months before and had noticed a vast improvement.
Having experienced issues with my transfer to Bregenz, it would be interesting to see how quick the turnaround would be this time. So with match time out to one side until further notice, there is plenty to concentrate on in the mean time with training sessions at the Aarhus Sports Academy. I am joined there by eight other members of the GB set up and also a few other handballers of varying levels. At this moment in time I am trying to strike the right balance between volume of training and quality. The club sessions with BSV are providing more quality than the academy but time in the goal is time in the goal. It has been difficult to step back into this environment after being involved with Bregenz. The volume and timing of the academy training often leaves my body aching and tired and training late with BSV is not ideal so it is important to maximise my recovery in between sessions so my performance is affected as little as possible.
To fund our stay at the Sports Academy, myself and the other GB boys have to complete 4 hours of labour per week and attend A Sports Coach Education Programme. This helps pass the time and is an extremely great offer from the Academy, without it many of us would be struggling to continue our development at the current rate.
The mood in the camp varies day to day but at the moment it is mostly positive with the thought of a busy festive period looming. A training camp in Holland from the 26th December, followed by competing in the prestigious yellow cup in Switzerland. We then have a nine day preparation camp in London before our World Championship Qualifications in Finland. This intense period should enable the coaching staff to continue our tactical development and also improve our team cohesion. The results in Luxembourg showed that a three day preparation camp had helped improve our performance. With this in mind, hopefully the range in competition and the amount of training should pay dividends when we finally meet our toughest competition yet in Finland.
