The Polish Women’s Team at the 21st WUC Handball: A Strong Contender

BLUMENAU – The Polish women’s team and its athletic style have been described as one of the favorites for the podium in the women’s tournament of the 21^st World University Handball Championship. After a first win against the host country on the first day, the impression the Polish players would be contenders was even strengthened thanks to the very good performance of their striker and of their aggressive defense.

The second day the Polish team had to face another contender: Team Romania. For a lot of observers, Romania has been less impressive than Poland during their first game but surprisingly Romania was leading at the half time 12:9 and finally won the game 24:18.

Shortly after the game Poland vs. Uruguay, FISU met with Kim Rasmussen, the Danish coach of Team Poland and some of the players for some reactions on their performances and on the tournament.

FISU: Kim, how did a Dane became the coach of the Polish women’s university team?

KR: Well I am actually one of the coaches of the Polish national team and the Polish Handball Federation as well. When AZS asked me if I could be in charge of the university team, I accepted.

FISU: Don’t you have problems in communicating with your players?

KR: None. Handball can be made very easy, and in addition the players and my assistant coaches speak English which makes things even easier.

Poland in action

FISU: How do you see the rest of the tournament for your team?

KR: We have started with a victory, but we still have problems since our team is not used to play together and have been formed recently. Nevertheless we have two wins so far, so we will see how things will turn out.

We thus had a chance to meet with the some of the players to ask them their impressions.

FISU: How does it feel to play your first game against the host country?

Players: It was actually a bit special because the tribunes filled up suddenly and we are not used to play this type of teams

FISU: Is it something new for you to play against South American players?

Players: We do not have so many opportunities to play against American or Asian nations and thus we had to adapt ourselves since the playing styles are completely different.

FISU: Do you think you will still be there for the next edition of the Championship in Portugal in 2014?

Players: If we do not have any problems of health, we should be there since we will still be students.

Maybe in 2014 the cohesion of the team will be even better and the Polish team will be even more stated within the short list of favorites.

(Source: Julien Buhajezuk, FISU WUC Dept.)