Last time the Croatian women were at an IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship, Josipa Grebenar was playing on the sand for them. This time, she is on the other side of the line, as coach.

IHF.info spoke to the coach about returning to the global event after her side had confirmed their quarter-final spot with a main round win against the Philippines.

IHF.info: You’re in the quarter-finals – how do you feel?

Josipa Grebenar: It's great because Croatia has been out of the world championships since Oman in 2012. It's a great, great chance because we got a wildcard (Croatia were first substitute nation after Tunisia had to decline their China 2024 spot), so it's a great chance to be back. We hope to really use this opportunity to make a good score, make a good result.

In Oman, last time, I was a player and this time I'm as a head coach for the first time. I'm really eager we do our best and I'm really hoping that this team can go far. The quarter-finals are already a really huge success after all these years, but now everything opened up and we are ready to do some big things.

IHF.info: You have reached the last eight with three wins, all against Asian teams (China, Philippines and Vietnam), combined with losses against Portugal, Spain and Argentina. Now you will likely face a European team in the quarter-final (the question was asked before the opponent was known)…

Josipa Grebenar: We are not afraid of facing European teams because we are more familiar with them. Spain, we lost by one set and were close in the shoot-out.

We were playing with them at the European Championship last year in Portugal and also lost on shoot-out, but we beat Portugal 2-0 so we are really not outsiders as much, but we are outsiders as world championship competitors. So, I'm guessing that everyone thinks they will beat us easily but we do not think this way.

IHF.info: After being added as a first substitute nation for Tunisia did it mean that you had nothing to lose coming to China 2024?

Josipa Grebenar: On one hand, we didn't have anything to lose, but on the other hand, if we didn't go to this competition we would lose one year again, a year of development, one year when the girls are not competing. We would then, again, need to go from scratch next year.

We don't want to say just because we got a wildcard then come here as tourists, we really want to show our best.

IHF.info after all your medals and success as a player, what is different now you’re a coach?

Josipa Grebenar: It’s been really 12 years ago since I stopped playing, so maybe there are some things I forgot, but the sport has developed a lot. More and more countries are getting good; not only Europe and maybe South America, but also Asian sides; Philippines, Vietnam is really good. They are unfortunately out of the tournament, but because the group was really strong and it was a tie result.

It's nice to see this and also tactics. Everything going with this sport is developing, so not only players and countries, but also the techniques, the methodology. Everything around the sport is developing.

IHF.info: How hard is it as head coach now to stop yourself from wanting to go on the sand and play?

Josipa Grebenar: I would sometimes think ‘yeah, I can maybe shoot the penalty’, but, no, I was never shooting, but I would like to play of course.

This is a new experience for me. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. I thought ‘okay, let's see when i come here’ and the first match we had was on central court so I was a little bit nervous, of course. 

“But after that, and being with my team and seeing them being really enthusiastic, ready to win and ready to play, to give their best. This really made things easier for me.”