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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
SWISS coach, Rolf Haussener, says there is still more to be done for the national Under-21 men’s handball team to achieve their targets.
Haussener was in the country for the team’s periodic camp, which ended yesterday, at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex.
He was working together with local coaches Innocent Kanosvova and Farai Mukundu.
Haussener noted there hasn’t been a lot of progress, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, although they tried to engage players through online platforms, for individual training sessions. “Of course, this Covid-19 was just a bad thing because we couldn’t come together, in these training camps.
“But, we actually organised an app, which is called sideline and on this app, I could communicate with the team, I could put videos on it and then they saw what they had to do individually and they also had to confirm every training.
“Of course, you can’t compare it to the training we should have done.
“So, this is the second camp, after all these Covid-19 problems and, definitely, I saw that lots of these boys, they didn’t train, of course.
“They didn’t get stronger or faster and they didn’t become better.
“But, this is just a fact we have got to accept because I think some of them also had problems in terms of financial issues, so it obviously was more important to survive than to train.
“At this camp, especially the goalkeepers, we could see that they were really performing well. So, this is just a fact and now we just try to make steps forward,” said Haussener.
The coach was engaged by the Zimbabwe Handball Federation to assist in building competitive national teams at various stages.
The national federation started with the men’s side, under their Vision 2024 project, and they now have a similar programme for the women’s side targeting 2026.
On Saturday, Haussener led the selection process for the women’s side, where they are targeting the Under-18s.
“But, very important for us is that we are not only working with the boys, we had a selection this Saturday for the Under-18 ladies.
“For us, as a federation, and for me as a coach, it’s very important that we get equality of men and women, in our sport.
“So, for me, this is quite a big focus now to try to create a strong girls team.
“But, also here, because of coronavirus, it’s also very difficult to find the best players, so this will be the big challenge for the assistant coach and team manager, of the ladies team, to find the best players all over Zimbabwe,” Haussener said.
ZHF secretary-general, Edson Chirowodza, said selection is an ongoing process, and will continue for some time.
On Saturday, they managed to pick seven players and they are looking at 15 to 20 players for the project.
Online Reporter