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.

On 25th October the GB Squad came together in Wolverhampton for a three day preparation camp. The aim was to get ourselves familiar with tactical information before our trip to Luxembourg. The camp got off to a bad start when we found out Head Coach Dragan Djukic would not be joining us until we reached Luxembourg. It was then up to assistant Coach Bill Ballie to ensure we made the most of our time together before the tournament began.

Despite the setback, everybody was very focused on the task at hand and unlike the previous camp in France back in August everybody seemed a little more relaxed and the team spirit appeared to be back to how it should have been. This was probably due to most of the squad being back in a competitive training environment and the immediate future was not as bleak as it appeared to be in France!

The mood in the camp was good and this was important as we went in to our first match of the tournament against hosts Luxembourg. Two years previous, an inexperienced England side lost by 17 goals to this team so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy with some of our players being present then. I was disappointed to be left on the bench for the game considering the hard work I and progress I had made since the France Camp. I eventually got a chance to show this improvement as I replaced Parker after around 25 minutes with us trailing by three goals.

I was determined to put in a good performance and also try to inspire the other players as we found ourselves up against it. After clawing our way back into the game we found ourselves again down by three goals in the closing stages but fought our way back and had a lead of 32-30 with just three minutes left on the clock. Unfortunately our lack of experience in big matches allowed Luxembourg to fight back themselves and with almost the last shot of the game they levelled to 32-32 and so the spoils were shared.

Having been so close to tasting victory, the team took this draw almost as a loss. The heads were down immediately and you could see the disappointment on everyone’s faces. Our head coach however had a different view on the match and he was very pleased with our character and the chances we created. On another day we could have won this game by a fair margin and we were now able to compete with teams at this level. We would have the chance to improve on this performance against a tough Belgian side the next day.

The mood soon picked up again and we were ready to prove to ourselves and the rest of the handball community that our performance against Luxembourg was not a ‘one-off’. The Luxembourg press had called the result an embarrassment and this showed that these teams or at least the opinion of the press did not expect us to be on the same level. I kept my place in goal, perhaps the first time I had started a match for GB on merit after my strong performance the day before. I was however given a two minute suspension early on. We were down 1-0 when I went off and I back on after around 15 minutes and we were trailing again by three. I got back into the game immediately and made a few crucial saves and at half-time we were up by one although it should have been two, our inexperience once again allowing Belgium to score a cheap goal in the final seconds of the half. After Belgium came at us in the second half, our 3-2-1 defence appeared to be cracking and we came back to a 6-0 formation to try to ‘plug the gaps’. It was tough for me as I prefer a 3-2-1 in front of me but the boys were doing a good job with some good blocking and interceptions. We were still on the back foot and were down by two with 15 minutes left. The coach decided to replace me with newcomer Ciaran Pasqual Larkin and then a few minutes later Parker took his place back in the goal. These changes had made no impact on the game and we went on to lose by two. A superb defensive effort, but a below par display from the goalkeepers and some missed chances at the other end allowed Belgium to take the win 25-23.

So we had proved to ourselves if no-one else that we had what it takes to at least compete with the likes of these teams. We went into the third and final match tired and with some players carrying a few injuries but we knew that another decent performance was needed not to undo all the hard work of the previous two matches. Mulhouse had put in some good performances narrowly losing out to Belgium and beating Luxembourg so we knew we would be there or thereabouts.

Jesper started the match in goal and did a superb job despite our defence not replicating the solid performance of the day before. We went on to lose by five goals, 26-21; a close contest and one which again we should have done better in.

Overall, the three matches were a great success. The hard work and improvement of the team and also our ability to now perform on an international stage had been highlighted. The season is currently in its early stages and I believe our inexperienced squad will improve even more over the next month or so with more match time under our belts. This will lead nicely into the December/January preparation camps and ultimately our World Championship qualifiers in Finland at the end of January where we will face Finland, Bosnia and Romania. A huge task for a team currently at our stage of development however we will have the possibility for the majority of the squad to be together for three weeks prior to the qualification. This coupled with the early season creases being ironed out before Christmas will hopefully result in more improvement as a team and more good performances on the court.

Before I had made the decision to come to A1 Bregenz, Roland Frushtuk (the Manager) had said that there was a sponsor keen to get involved and support the project and they would be covering my living costs during my stay in Bregenz. When I arrived he had informed me that the sponsor had not yet given the club any money and at the end of September he informed me the sponsor had withdrawn their offer. This was a huge blow and the future of my handball career was once again hanging in the balance.

On court, everything had been going well. I had been training well with the first team and we were well into the season now and I had played three games for the second team. As I have said before, the level is not the best but I was getting 60 minutes every game so to get this court time under my belt had been good and it felt like I was progressing every game.

Given the situation with the finances, I decided to make a few enquiries back in Denmark to make sure I had a back-up plan should a solution not be found here in Bregenz. I was informed there could be a possibility with a Second Division club there where several of my GB team mates are playing. Discussions have taken place between myself, Bregenz and the BHA, as well as information coming in from Denmark and I will be moving back to Denmark at the beginning of November. The financial situation in Denmark is a little more stable than here, the handball opportunity there is also comparable to the situation here, on paper. I will be returning to the IHAa Sports Academy and will receive training there as well with the proposed club. More information regarding the move will be in my next blog as I don’t want to go into too much detail should the move fall through.

In the mean time some small injuries have interrupted my physical training and I hope to these have cleared up by the time I meet up with the Great Britain squad on 25th October. I am looking forward to meeting up with the lads again but more importantly I am looking forward to the friendly tournament in Luxembourg where we will play the hosts, Bulgaria and Belgium. It will be stiff competition but it is our opportunity to show we have improved and are heading in the right direction.

Finally I would like to say congratulations to the GB Women’s team that successfully made it through the European Pre-Qualification games against a tough Finland side and I wish them the best for the qualification round.

My player’s license eventually came through having missed the first two league matches of the season. Having been here for two months now, it was huge relief to say that I was officially a Bregenz player. This season I am likely to be playing for the development team which consists of mainly players who are under 21. However they can have three players over 21 in the squad. In the Austrian Handball Liga (HLA) each team has an U21 team which play the same fixtures as the first team which I think is a great way to keep the young players involved and allow the head coach to see which players are developing and he can also include them in the first team squad on the same day.

The first team had responded well to their failed Champion’s League qualification attempt with the defeat of Innsbruck in a midweek fixture with the U21′s also continuing their winning start to the season. On the morning of Friday 11th before Saturday’s away fixture to Leoben, it was still unclear whether or not my license would be ready but after some calls to the relevant people it was finally cleared; I could play!!

It was great to be involved this weekend, my first match for the U21′s also included the possibility of being included in the first team squad as the second choice goalkeeper Chrissi Winkler had injured his finger in the midweek match. I was a bit nervous which is unlike me. I started on the bench behind Chrissi’s younger brother Lukas who has had a good start to the season in goal with the U21′s. After a good first, we were in front by 11 and it looked like it would be plain sailing from there on.

I came on with 25 minutes to go, feeling a little bit of pressure. I had a decent start saving the first two shots that came my way. It was a strange experience playing against these players, the shots weren’t as hard as I was used to and I struggled to find my timing and had a poor 10 minutes to allow Leoben to close the gap to six goals. After a time out, I managed to compose myself and had a fairly good closing 10 minutes conceding just one goal on the final whistle. I was disappointed with myself, I knew this sloppy 10 minute period would cost me any chance I had of being named in the first team squad as back up for Goran Aleksic and I was right. Lukas deservedly took his place on the bench and came on with around 12 minutes to go. He played well and helped the first team see out their victory with a nine goal advantage.

I knew that I had to respond from the disappointment of my performance in the right way, and that was to focus on the next training session and the next match that I would play in. The following weekend I was called up by the second team. The chance had come to redeem myself and restore some confidence. We travelled to Biberach in Germany for the match against a team that had been relegated the season before so we were expecting a tough game. Once again the level compared to the training I have had was not the same but I quickly found my form and we eventually went on to win the game by one goal and I saved the last shot of the game. The team were happy with me, I had been a key player in the victory and it felt good to have put in a good performance after my poor start the weekend before. So, the season is finally under way for me. It has been a long time coming!

While I was in France I received a call from A1 Bregenz Youth Academy Manager asking if I would like to accompany him in Hungary as he was one coach short for the trip. Three of the Bregenz youth teams were travelling to Veszprem for the Cell Cup Handball Festival. Having not been selected for the 1st team trip to a tournament in Germany, I thought it was a chance to get some valuable experience as a coach rather than as a player and further develop my understanding of the game. I would be coaching the U18 team, as it would be easier for me to communicate with the team in English.

It was a tough Journey, leaving from France at 14:00 on the Saturday and arriving in Veszprem at 21:00 on the Sunday with a 4 hour stop in Bregenz to re-pack my bag and get some sleep!

The U18 team of Bregenz will make up the bulk of the U21/development team that I will be a part of this season so it was a great chance for me to get to know the players and vice versa. The first game was a close contest between us and Konstanz from Germany. Markus took control of this game but I would be on my own for the remainder of the tournament. We won the game by one goal and I was very impressed with the determination and spirit displayed by the players. The next day we were due to play two matches. I was a bit nervous which is unlike me, but I don’t think the lads picked up on it and we won both games comfortably, perhaps with the help of some lucky tactical decisions by me but more due to the quality shown by the team.

We eventually made the Semi-Final having not lost a game and we were due to play Veszprem, regarded as the favourites for the tournament. Markus was there to help me manage the team again, the boys played extremely well and deserved the win however just an hour and a half later we had to play the final against Konstanz who had given us a close run in the first game and who had been slowly improving throughout the tournament. We eventually lost the game and afterwards I spoke to the players and they said for them their final was against Veszprem, but of course their heads were down. It wasn’t nice to see the guys like this and I felt powerless during the game. My knowledge of the game isn’t so vast and I didn’t have any ideas of how to break down the Konstanz defence. Despite this and my lack of experience the lads said they were happy with the way I had been throughout the week and said I had done a good job, which was nice to hear.

When I returned to Bregenz, it was going to be a fairly easy going week as the first team had not performed so well in the tournament in Germany and the start of the season was looming so our coach decided that we needed some rest time and reduced the number of sessions for the week.

The first game of the season took place on Saturday 29th August but I did not take part as my transfer from Denmark has not been completed yet. I decided to travel with the squad, an 8 hour trip to Tolln. The U21 team played 1st and put in a convincing performance to win by 8 goals. The same however could not be said for the first team, having been down by three at half time they managed to scrape a draw. It wasn’t the start they wanted especially when next week they travel to Norway for the Champions League Qualification against Fyllingen and Partisan Belgrade.

August was a very tough period for me both with Bregenz and with Great Britain, travelling for camps and tournaments in Germany, France and Hungary.

Making an appearance for A1 Bregenz in a pre-season tournament in Germany was a real taste of top flight Handball, although there were bigger matches to come the week after, in France with GB. I had a fairly good 20 minute spell but noticed the increased ability in the 2nd Division of the German Bundesliga side, the players were faster and the shots were harder than I had become accustom to in my time in Denmark. I was disappointed not to get more game time in the 4 matches but sometimes I just have to remind myself where I have come from and not let sitting on the bench or not being selected for the squad get me down!

Sunday 8th of August saw the GB team join up in the south of France. After a 13 hour train journey from Bregenz, I joined up with the rest of the boys at the hall where training had already started. The lads looked hot, tired and as if most of them would rather be somewhere else! For a lot of the lads, this was the first time they had touched a handball since our trips to Serbia and Greece back in June. For many, uncertainty also surrounds their club situation for the 2009/10 season and being this late into August it is not a good situation to be in.

The mood in the camp was not the best and it was picked up immediately by Dragan and Assistant Coach Bill Baillie who told me I would have to do my best as stand in Captain to reignite the motivation and desire of the squad.

It was going to be a tough week!

On the Tuesday, we were due to travel to Frantignan a small town near Montpellier to play Japan and Montpellier in a friendly tournament. Dragan was sure we could match the Japanese but Montpellier would be a different matter all together with none other than Nikola Karabatic being added to their ranks in the summer.

Having lost against Montpellier, we played Japan 20 minutes later and a poor first half, filled with numerous technical mistakes, meant we would have a mountain to climb to salvage any positives from the game. We came out for the second half and put in a better performance but the damage had already been done with the Japanese counter attacks in the first half.

Later in the week, we also played against Algeria and Istres, losing both games but we had shown we had the ability to compete with the likes of these teams having matched them for periods during the game but our higher number of technical mistakes was the difference and we were punished with counter attacks once again.

On the July 13th I arrived in Bregenz, Austria, to begin a new chapter of my life as a Handball Player.

The decision to come to A1 Bregenz wasn’t an easy one, with the option of going back to the academy in Aarhus being available, which would also hold the benefit of having the majority of the GB squad based there once again.

I am now finding myself in a foreign country with no familiar faces in sight; it is going to be a tough journey but one which should have a positive impact my Handball career. A1 Bregenz lifted the Austrian Championship last season and are going into a qualification round for the EHF Champions League, so to be associated with a club of this calibre is inspiring and spine-tingling in itself and I haven’t even stepped onto a court yet!

The season ahead will bring many challenges in all aspects of my life. Firstly having to leave loved ones back in the UK once again is not an enjoyable experience and I hope this move will not impact too severely on that. Secondly, having played Handball since January 2008 I now find myself within an established professional outfit and there will be no hiding place should mistakes be made and excuses of still being a development player will no doubt fall on deaf ears.

The first training session took place in the morning of Wednesday 15th. It was a fairly light start to training and it opened with a football match. The heavens opened after the match as we did some conditioning work comprising of interval runs coupled with various exercises. The feeling of running in heavy rain on the grass brought back memories of pre-season training back in my footballing days!

On Friday 17th July we set off for Faschina a small town in the Austrian Alps to continue our pre-season conditioning. I was told it would be a gruelling five day training camp with four training sessions per day. On the first day our last training sessions was a 40 minute jog up one of the mountains. I was listening to a playlist on my iPod, which I often did when running through the traffic of Central Milton Keynes, we ran through a herd of cows on a narrow path on the mountain with ‘crosstown traffic’ by Jimmy Hendrix playing, it brought a smile to my face despite the mud rain and pain of the run!

The weather was a mixture of rain, snow and brief sunshine until we left on the Tuesday when it was about 30 degrees, typical!

So the first week is under my belt, I feel in good shape but I’m sure we have plenty of conditioning left to do. I am itching to get on to the court and hope I can take any opportunities that come my way during the pre-season friendly period!

So the Danish Handball season is over for myself and the rest of the squad at the Academy and I have returned to England where I am currently taking a week off from training. I am using this time to concentrate on my studies as well as planning my training for the coming weeks and spending time with friends and family.

The GB squad still await news from the British Handball Association regarding the appointment of our new coach and also the date for our first training camp which is likely to be at the end of April.

Looking forward, there may be an opportunity to return to the Sports Academy in Arhus, Denmark depending on scholarship and sponsorship opportunities that are currently being looked at by the Academy. I have been invited to join Second Division club Skovbakken which is close to the Academy so this may be a good prospect for next season, providing a financial solution can be found.

Bobby White is another new recruit to mysportsthoughts as he keeps us up to date in his long quest to make it to London 2012.

The 25-year-old goalkeeper is part of the British Handball Association’s World Class Development squad based in Denmark as they look to overcome the recent blow of a cut to their funding.

As well as training with England, the Northampton born star, plays in the Danish league with BMI, he will be providing us with regular blogs from his base in Arhus.

The Danish Handball season is coming to an end and after an impressive first competitive season, I am looking forward to a couple of weeks off and then getting back into pre-season training.

The season has had it’s highlights and low points. At our Danish base camp, Idraetshojskon, Arhus just 6 of the 12 athletes that started the year remain due to the financial difficulties the programme has experienced. Other opportunities were presented for the more experienced members of the squad as they joined Bundesliga outfit TUSEM Essen in the German top flight.

For the remaining 6 it has been a difficult period as our daily academy sessions have suffered due to lack of numbers however stand in coach Jesper Holmris (GB Womens Head Coach) has made the most of the situation and has kept us motivated with competitive and enjoyable training despite the lack of players!

In two weeks the season will be over and I will be leaving Denmark for home to begin what I hope to be an intense physical training period to get myself into the best possible condition for the summer training camps.

A new coach is set to be in place in a couple of weeks and it is up to us to impress in our first camp at the end of April so everyone will need to be in peak condition.

After the pre-season training, there is still a question mark as to where the majority of the squad will be with offers coming in from all over Europe, I am hoping one will arrive which will allow us to continue our exponential development while also being financially viable for the players.