Interview with Volker Zerbe about the Balaton Cup

 

Last week the Balaton Cup was held in Veszprém for the 29th year in a row, and it happened to be most prestigious one ever, and it was a good measure for the strength of our youth and youth system in the European elite. Füchse Berlin is said to be one of the best youth academy in Europe, whose U18 trainer is the European champion and 184 times German international, Volker Zerbe. We asked one of the former best right backs of handball about his impressions about Balaton Cup.

 

 

For me, personally, it was not so good because I was ill for three days and I was in the hotel and I could only join to one game of the team. I only followed the other matches from the live stream and talked to the other coaches after. I think the tournament was really well organized, it was perfect and everything was on a high level. The teams were really good. We played against teams from other countries. I think it is very important for the young guys to meet and play against other characters out of their league. It was interesting to see how youth teams play for example from Croatia or Slovenia and also from Hungary. There were good matches from our team and good experiences playing against others.

 

I think I could be satisfied with the end of the tournament, but we are always looking to get more. We started the tournament well, but I was not so satisfied with our defense, during the whole tournament. I think that we have to do some work there, but on the other hand, I think we found good solutions in offense. Altogether, it was a good tournament.

 

I think they are a very physical and tough team, which played well in defense and made easy goals from the fast breaks. I think their best positions were the left and right backs, and also the line player. These three positions were on a high level all through this tournament. I think they are good players on a good way to develop themselves.

 

Our philosophy in Berlin is that we are good individually, so the players can play well in one-on-one situations in both defense and offense. Individual play is first, then the group. We do not like to create plays and moves in the team, we like it better to have a player who is dangerous to the goal. You have to be ready to score at any time. We train to be very fast from defense to offense and make fast breaks and score as many goals as possible. This is our philosophy.

 

The first step is being talented. However, the second step is much bigger because they have to work a lot on the physical side and technical side as well. They have to know how to play in the defense and also in the offense. When you compare the personalities of players, it is always the one who accepts the hard work. It is a big step from the youth to the professionals, but with the right mentality, it is possible for all of them.