Finalized the first round of mobility exchanges of the three H4DC clubs
During the last months, and with the aim of exchanging knowledge of practices for the best combination of an educational/work life with high level sport practice, players and coaches of the three handball clubs participating in the H4DC project have traveled to visit their homonyms to learn and know first-hand the facilities, services and the different options offered to solve the problem of pursuing a dual career. This activity has also served as a strengthening of relations between the three clubs and will widen the season that comes with the second round of exchanges between the three clubs.
Players of BMG had the chance to meet IK Savehof, pioneer of handball in Sweden and considered the largest handball club in the world with more than 90 teams in its structure. The Partille Arena, the new Partille sports venue, club's headquarters, was the main point where the exchange took place, since there were carried out the different talks about the club, the Partille Cup organization and examples of how to combine studies and sports by the players of the first teams of the Swedish club Johan Jackobsson and Hanna Folgeström. To end the activity, BMG visitors had the opportunity to witness the debut of the first IK Savehof teams in the first Swedish league. Image gallery
The second exchange was made by junior players from Swedish club IK Savehof, moving to the French city of Toulouse. The first visit that was made to the "Université Paul Sabatier" and the "CREPS Toulouse", a center of high sports performance, which helped to know the different options that the athletes of the region have in order to successfully combine a pursuit of a dual career. Visiting the city, it was possible to meet another important sports club in the city, the Tolouse Football Club and the "Cité de l'Espace" a theme park dedicated to the space. Along with the combination of several work sessions by the AUAS, also partner of the H4DC project, there was time to carry out different joint trainings with players from both clubs and finally the realization of a friendly match. To end the week of visiting the French club, the Swedish delagació had the opportunity to witness the debut of the first team of FENIX Toulouse at home against Paris Saint-Germain. Image Gallery
A total of 10 players and 3 coaches went to Granollers from Toulouse. Among the visits they made throughout the week, the French young people traveled to Vic, home of the University of Vic, where they learned about the operations of the flexible programs offered by the institution to young athletes as well as their sports facilities. With this same intention, they also had the opportunity to visit the CAR High Performance Center of Sant Cugat, a reference institution when carrying out flexible training programs for elite athletes that can be combined with the pursuit of higher education. The main sponsoring companies of Club Balonmano granollers, KH Lloreda and Fraikin, were also visited by the French group. One of the most representative activities aligned with the theme of the project was the talk of Marc Garcia (player of the Fraikin BM Granollers) Raúl Campos (Ambassador of the H4DC project) and Xavi O'Callaghan (former FCBarcelona player and Spanish team) in a where the three had the opportunity to explain to the French youth and other players of the handball base Granollers their personal experiences when they had to combine high level sport with work and / or studies and they could do - serve as mirrors for young people who are now in this situation. The week was completed with the participation of different training sessions with players of the Granollers Handball and the performance of several friendly matches against the junior teams of the Catalan club. Image Gallery
With these activities, the first phase of the project is finished. The phase led by the University of Applied Sciences of Amsterdam (AUAS), has allowed, through different studies of needs and knowledge of the environments of the three clubs, to design a first proposal of support service to the specific athlete for each club where, as of January 2018, they will be developed and carried out throughout the year, thus helping to achieve the ultimate goal that H4DC has the preparation of a service model of support for the athlete, transferable to any European sports club.