@Timo Issing well said

A significant lesson I’ve learned over the past few years is the importance of having a vision—both for all players individually and for the team. 🌟 I have a personal example that illustrates this: Yesterday, during a game, I witnessed this concept come to life. Before substituting one of my bench players, I provided her with a clear vision and a specific task for her defensive role. I outlined exactly what I needed from her, including specific responsibilities like covering passing lanes and focusing on transition defense. 🏐 As a result, she not only had the best defensive performance of her young career, but she also energized the team with her tremendous effort on the defensive end. She played defense like never before! 💪 The remarkable part was that this transformation wasn’t due to additional training—there simply wasn’t time for that during the game. It was all in her mind. The skills she needed were already within her, but she lacked the vision and belief that she could execute them. In summary, I want to emphasize that coaching is not just about teaching skills; it’s about instilling belief in people so they know they can achieve their potential.

As always it depends on the situation (importance of the upcoming game, the opponent, the state the team is currently in). From my point of view, you as a coach need to review and analyze both (own mistakes and solutions for the next opponents) in detail in order to be able to support the team and make the right call for plays and decisions mid-game. But what do I communicate to the team in training and use in practice? If there are some low-hanging fruits (what I mean by that is, if there are some weaknesses in the opponents game that are easy to exploit with my teams capabilities without a lot required extra work) then I would go through that in any case. But usually I focus on our team, our weaknesses and strengths. Example: If we have a well established defense system (e.g. 6:0 is working well, everybody executes the rules, etc...) then I would adapt the 6:0 to our opponent just a litte. For example I show them, which passing lanes I want them to attack. However, if we are in a building and developing phase, I would stay within in my system. I do believe that the level of play/league and gender are crucial factors in this discussion. So its hard to give a one-size-fits-all-solution, but this is what makes your question intersting 😀

Again it depends,but I would rather show 1 or 2 things in practice than discuss 4-5 mistakes/potentials in theory. From my perspective it depends on the players' level. If I am in EHF CL than I can tell my player 10 things and he might be able to apply all of it in the next game. If I work in the second women league in Austria than I might focus on 1 or maximum 2 things and try it in practice. All in all, coaching is so exciting because there is no correct answer. There are so many variables. Also every player and every team is different. Its our job to get a good feeling of what the team needs. 😀

👋 Hi, I’m Patrick from Austria — an EHF Master Coach and Strength & Conditioning Coach, currently studying Sport Science. I’m passionate about bridging the gap between handball and athletic training, and I’m always eager to learn more about tactics and new coaching philosophies. At the moment, I coach female youth players in a second-league women’s team and work as a regional selection coach. Nice to meet you guys 😇