Handball Reflection #3: “The impact of cartelization of athletes in national handball”

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This is a topic that has been debated a lot in recent times, and that I hear, recurrently, being talked about by almost all the coaches of the most diverse teams. That's why I decided to give my opinion on this delicate subject, although it has a relative validity since it is just one more among many others.

First, let's try to contextualize the subject in question. In recent years there has been a general stampede, at each beginning of the season, of several athletes from the so-called “training clubs”. The destination is invariably the same: S.L. Benfica, Sporting C.P. and F.C.Porto. From season to season, this phenomenon has been increasingly accentuated and begins to raise questions that I think are relevant to be debated and thought about in favor of the future of Portuguese handball.

First of all, it is important to realize that this has always happened. That is, an athlete with recognized potential, at a given point in his sporting career, is approached by larger clubs, and with other economic power, with the aim of strengthening their ranks. It was like this with many of the main athletes in the history of Portuguese handball and it is something common to almost all collective and individual sports. The question that arises here is not so much this phenomenon, which, in my view, is natural, but the fact that it happens earlier and earlier and in “industrial” quantities. Dozens of athletes, of the most diverse age groups, migrate every year, from the most varied clubs, to the “capitals” (south and north) of the country in the hope of being the next stars of the national handball panorama. Sometimes on their own initiative, of course, but most of the time because they are approached at the end of the previous season by a representative of the big club in question, who waves them with collective titles, promises to one day reach the senior team, sports equipment, among other things. This persuasion is made not only to athletes but also to parents who are convinced that this is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best option for their child.
This is where I start the most subjective and personal part of the question.

If, on the one hand, I think that big clubs are essential and very important for national handball, on the other hand, I am completely against this phenomenon that has been happening lately.

The big clubs, by their name and the crowds they move, can and should be a vehicle for more people to enter the world of handball, be they athletes, fans, coaches, managers, etc. Their ability to project the sport both nationally and internationally should not be neglected and is an important weapon for us to continue to grow as a sport.

However, this excessive recruitment to training clubs makes me raise a series of issues that I think it is important to share:

1. When recruiting athletes from other clubs in the training levels, they effectively stop recruiting for the sport. In other words, clubs that would be much easier to bring new kids to play handball, due to the projection that their name has among the population, stop doing so (or do less) because they no longer have that need.
2. Most of the training teams are composed, many times, by few players. When they are deprived of some athletes, who move to other clubs, they almost always decide to “close doors”. Not only a team ends, but the remaining players who would stay there end up giving up playing, because they don't have a club where to practice. There is therefore a reduction in human resources linked to the sport.
3. The fact that the best athletes in the region gather in a single club means that they no longer have competition during the season, since the other teams are no longer able to create opposition at the height. (So ​​what are the regional and national teams that exist in all other countries for?)
4. As much as it is claimed that having the best athletes together improves the quality of training for them, the truth is that there is no training as important as competition and/or capable of replacing it.
5. The athletes with the greatest potential stop growing to be constant protagonists and often assume the expenses of the game. Or because they have no opposition or because any other teammate can play that role in their place.
6. In a handball team, only 16 athletes can be summoned and only 7 athletes can be on the field at a time. What happens to the other 15/20 who were also recruited and who could be playing regularly at any other club?
7. Each athlete ends up doing their training with only 20/30min of game time per match when in their home club they would probably do 60min or close to that. (As an example, let's look at the Spanish school, in which teams participate in tournaments and championships with 8/9 players in order to maximize their playing time)
8. Many of them regress in the school aspect, since they spend a large part of their free time on the journeys to the new club, thus having less time to study and to rest.
9. "In nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transformed" (Lavoisier's Law): in order for some to enter, others have to leave... , in my opinion, has a harmful effect on any kid's self-esteem and that can mean, for many, the abandonment of the sport.Many end up not even having the courage to return to their club of origin.

For me, all these points are more than enough reasons to be against this premature practice.

But there is one, which I purposely left for the end, which is usually a flag argument of leaders, coaches and coordinators of the biggest clubs, when it comes to enticing athletes and their parents:

“Here you work better than in small clubs and the athlete evolves much more”.

I will never agree with this statement and, fortunately, the facts do not allow me to lie.

If that were true, why is it that every year there is a need to recruit dozens of athletes to the training clubs and dismiss many others who were once seen as athletes with potential? If the coaches of big clubs are so much better, why don't they recruit and train their own athletes from scratch as is done in smaller clubs?

There are very competent people everywhere and not just in 2 or 3 clubs. These people are much more dedicated and hardworking, most of the time, than those found in larger clubs. People who are willing to spend hours and hours of their time with the athletes/club of their heart. People who see these athletes as “almost children” and not a mere means to achieve results at any cost. People who know, understand and understand, better than anyone else, the athlete/individual during his delicate (and decisive) childhood/adolescence phase.

Is it a coincidence that practically all the best national players left their club of origin only at junior/senior age??

• Gilberto Duarte - Lagoa AC up to 17 years old
• Claudio Pedroso - NAAL Passos Manuel up to 17 years old
• Bruno Moreira - CF Os Belenenses up to 24 years old
• Pedro Portela - Academic Leiria up to 17 years old
• José Costa - ABC Braga up to 24 years old
• Tiago Pereira - CCR Fermentões up to 17 years old
• Ricardo Candeias - Évora AC up to 18 years old
• Pedro Spínola - CCR Alto do Moinho up to 20 years old
• Rui Silva - Xico Handball up to 17 years old
• Pedro Seabra Marques - CD São Bernardo up to 19 years old
• Ricardo Pesqueira - AA Águas Santas up to 20 years old
• Pedro Cruz - AA S. Mamede - up to 18 years old
• Carlos Carneiro - Xico Handball up to 17 years old

And just to name a few..(by the way, many of them appear in the last call for the national team)

Just to conclude:

1. I understand that the national economic situation favors the attempt to acquire human assets as soon as possible, so that, in the future, possible professional contracts become more economical. The fact that the training teams go through serious financial problems and often have to demand more from the athletes' parents (monthly fees, rides to games, etc.) reduced monthly fees (or lack thereof) by large clubs. But this ends up being more expensive as it is not the most beneficial for the athletes/people/children in question.
2. The need for victories in the formation levels by these more renowned clubs also does not seem to me to be a sensible reason and leads us, again, to the previous reflection.
3. It is preferable to make protocols with training clubs where they closely monitor the evolution of athletes with greater potential but without significantly altering their routines and their free time. When they reach the age of majority, and if they really realize their full potential, then that will be the right time to leave and reach other competitive levels.

National handball will win more clubs, more athletes and better players.