Interview with Coach Javier Sabate

As the preparation period has almost ended and the second half of the season has begun, we made an interview with Javier Sabate, Head Coach of MVM Veszprém, about the preparation, the European Championship and the upcoming challenges.

 

 

What has the team been doing in the past month? What have you concentrated on the most?

This month we have been preparing for the second half of the season with those players who did not take part in the European Championship or were out in its early period; the other participants will join their teammates soon. This period has been really important to the players who stayed in Veszprém concerning their recovery. We have been working on our mental and physical abilities, we recharged the batteries. As we all know, handball is based on teamwork so we also concentrated on our tactic. The upcoming period will be exciting and I hope that everyone is ready for the start.

 

What about the conditions of players preparing at home?

They are in great form. I was surprised by their condition after coming back from winter break. Then they were really motivated and working hard during the trainings. I think this is the kind of attitude we need to become even better.

 

Many young players have joined the preparations in January, what do you think about them?

It’s great to have them; they helped us during the trainings. They have improved and grown a lot and started to get closer to the level of the first team. To reach that, they have to do the first steps on the trainings. Of course they still have to work and improve a lot. They need to try to become even better players every single day.

 

Concerning the European Championship, what did you focus on the most?

I really enjoyed watching the games, I loved them because there have been many hard matches in the Championship played by excellent teams. This has been a tight tournament with a lot of surprises in the last round. Besides, many young players showed up who are going to become amazing handball players.

 

What about the tactics?

Of course we can learn from every team. We have our own system but within in we are willing to learn and gain ideas from other coaches and teams.

 

 

What do you think of the performance of your players in the European Championship?

I think all of our players showed what a real teamwork means trying to perform 100% during the matches of the international tournament. Let me say an example: László Nagy was the one who had spent the most time on court in the Hungarian team, and the second and third player in this aspect also had been players from Veszprém. This shows our players’ great personality and how committed they are to their national team and that they are ready to make efforts for gaining success.

 

Which team do you think is going to win the tournament?

It’s hard to say, especially because they were so many surprises during the matches. If I have to guess I would say the team which has been improving constantly from the very beginning of the European Championship until now, and this team is Germany.

 

What is task of the players coming back from the European Championship?

We have to try to gain their strength back since there was much pressure on them and they couldn’t rest in the past period. We are going to find balance between recovery and burden caused by the matches. I am sure that they are going to come back with motivations and prove that they are excellent players.

 

What are your expectations for February?

We are facing an exciting month because the contests in the tournaments will continue. Everybody is hungry for success, waiting for the start and for playing with their teammates in the great atmosphere of Veszprém Arena.