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Talent set to become world class

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EIS 31 January 2008

A total of 15 athletes have become part of the World Class Handball Programme as a result of the UK Sport/English Institute of Sport (EIS) Sporting Giants campaign – 11 of whom will be fast-tracked straight into the academy based programme in Denmark.

The athletes (12 male and three female) will be given the opportunity to join the Programme after coming through a demanding selection and confirmation process which began with a number of talent assessment events early last year.

As a result of the initial assessments ran back in May and June, 43 athletes were invited to undertake a week long training camp in either Denmark (men) or Germany (women), where they were confronted with a variety of challenges and training regimes awakening them to the true realities of what it means to eat, live and breathe as a World Class athlete.

“The athletes attended a full-time training camp for a week with included twice daily sessions integrated with matches,” said EIS Talent Identification coordinator Ian Yates.

The week also provided an opportunity for many of the athletes to get their first real insight into World Class Handball as they watched some of Europe’s top professionals train and play.

“Huge improvements were made throughout the week and all of the athletes could add value to the sport of Handball” says Yates. “However only those showing the potential to be World Class in the timeframes for 2012 were given an opportunity to progress to the Talent Confirmation phase.”

This phase saw twenty-five athletes selected taking on an eight week period of full time training at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

“This involved relocation for many of the athletes, with most still taking on the task of keeping up their current studies or employment through various methods,” continued Yates. “This in itself was a true test of their commitment to the goal as their was no guarantee of final selection at this stage” he adds.

All the athletes trained under the supervision of the World Class High Performance coaches with their performance improvements carefully tracked to capture their responsiveness to the training environment, their capability to learn more complex skills and tactics, and generally how they adapt to a high performance culture.

Time was also spent providing the players with competitive opportunities against appropriate level competition. This saw the athletes compete against domestic teams at the start of their development, with a final assessment made against teams from the Danish Handball League.

At the conclusion of this phase, fifteen athletes confirmed their acceptance to start permanent full-time training on the World Class Handball Programme which got underway this month.

One of these athletes is Stuart Campbell, previously a Sports Physiotherapist in Salford.

"The whole Talent ID process has been amazing and completely surreal," said the 25-year-old. "Six months ago I was frustrated with rugby, not quite breaking into the first XV then my Dad rang and told me he'd heard about the ‘Sporting Giants’ programme on the radio.

"I sent off an application along with thousands of others. After six months of work and some seriously ‘hard-graft’, I am on the track to becoming an international athlete and fixated on achieving handball’s Olympic target for London 2012. It's amazing!"

Bill Baillie, GB Men’s High Performance Coach, concluded:

“The 12 players from the men’s TID all had three things in common, drive, desire and confidence. This coupled with potential talent and good coaching will help make the path to their goals much easier. This has helped to increase competitiveness and the number of athletes aiming at and reaching high performance levels – as a result there is a stronger and more like minded national team capable of better international performance.”

For the latest applicant update from the Sporting Giants Programme, please click here.

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