One year ago, Germany right back David Schmidt had just made his competitive debut at the 2020 Men’s EHF EURO in Trondheim, Norway, a competition that then coach Christian Prokop’s side would eventually finish an impressive fifth in.
 
Twelve months later Schmidt now finds himself in Egypt, under legendary German club coach Alfred Gislason, as they prepare to open Germany’s 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship campaign against Uruguay later today.
 
ihf.info sat down with Schmidt under the gaze of the Giza Pyramids at the team hotel to talk skiing, setting up business, yoga, and handball.
 
ihf.info: You arrived here at the team hotel at night, so when you woke up the next morning and saw the pyramids, what did you think?
 
David Schmidt: I was totally surprised that we were so close to the pyramids, it was a big surprise I would never believe it. Every time we sit here or eat lunch it’s an incredible view, I’m totally overwhelmed to be honest. Sometimes you’re so exhausted from work but then you think, ‘OK, there’s the pyramids’.
 
I actually Googled it. The River Nile is around 8km away from our hotel and they had to get the stones there for it – two million stones for one pyramid to this place. It’s incredible work for the people who built 4,000 years ago, you feel very, very little.
 
ihf.info: Take us back one year. What happened when you got selected for Germany?
 
David Schmidt: I was actually on a skiing holiday when I got the call from the coach because somebody in my position, Franz Semper, was injured. I said ‘OK, I’m coming’ of course.
 
I remember there was a lot of impressions, there was so much to deal with; the first time with the national team, and then you have two games to prepare for the European Championship, T (in Egypt) then you travel to Norway, a much darker place than here in the winter – it was very beautiful but very dark.
 
For me, this championship here in Egypt it’s much better to have the experience of a tournament of a year ago, and I am really looking forward. I have a better feeling than last year.
 
Ihf.info: Did you get a refund for your ski trip?
 
David Schmidt: I was with my girlfriend and my family, so they just stayed there, I didn’t need a refund.
 
ihf.info: Did it take some time after Norway to realise what you had achieved with Germany?
 
David Schmidt: After the European Championship I had four or five days off, so I went again skiing with my girlfriend because we only had that one or two days before.
 
That time, when I was skiing, I thought ‘yeah it really happened’. We played in Vienna against Croatia and it was really one of the biggest games I’ve played in with a lot of spectators and incredible atmosphere. I realised it pretty soon, but I needed two or three days on vacation to settle down and relax.
 
ihf.info: However, soon after the European Championship things changed a lot with COVID-19, what did you do when everything was put on hold?
 
David Schmidt: At the beginning I tried to do a lot of things, play chess, I was reading a lot of books, but I wasn’t happy with them, so I started doing yoga. I was doing it every morning and it was very good to get a routine of the day – you are starting with yoga and then you are out in the nature, hiking. It was the best thing I could do. I tried to build some things but I’m not so good at that, so I just left it.
 
After about two months (of lockdown) in Germany we were allowed to train again with the team so that was very good, but the two months before it was hard. When it was bad weather, I was in my apartment thinking about what to do.
 
ihf.info: Were you living by yourself?
 
David Schmidt: I live together with my girlfriend, and she’s a yoga teacher so it’s a perfect combination. I was always saying to her: ‘I don’t think that’s something for me’, and she always said, ‘it’s good for you, you take a deep breath; it’s good for your body, good for your soul and give you, flexibility’.
 
So I started to do it and I still do it. It’s really good. You can use it for handball, you get more flexibility.  She’s a hard teacher, so if I am doing a movement not in a perfect position – which is mostly the case – she just tries to get me in the right position.
 
ihf.info: From a global view point your group at Egypt 2021 is exciting with yourselves and Hungary, but also Cape Verde and Uruguay. What does it feel like playing in Africa in such a diverse continental group and seeing just how much handball is a global game?
 
David Schmidt: It’s an incredible chance to play against teams who, maybe, have a different style of playing, especially Uruguay. I think most of their players don’t play in Europe, of course with Cape Verde many of the players play in Portugal, so that’s closer to the handball we play, but I am very excited about playing against these teams.
 
I watched the opening Egypt vs Chile game and I thought Chile had a style of playing handball which was not that close to the style of playing handball in Europe so it’s good to get a bigger mind of how handball is played around the world. It’s a huge challenge and a big difference to the European championship.
 
ihf.info: You face Uruguay first, how important is that opening game?
 
David Schmidt: The first game (of a championship) is one of the most important. You want to start very well in the tournament. There will be a little bit of nervousness from both sides, I think, even though on our side, we know we are the better team – I think it is clear – we have to win, and I am sure we will do it.
 
It’s an opponent we don’t know, so it will be very exciting. As always, we want to build a very good defence with different formations and then I think it will be hard for Uruguay to beat us.
 
ihf.info: Coach Gislason said “…anyone who knows me well knows that I will rely on offensive defence and a quick transition to the attack,” before the start of Egypt 2021, do you enjoy this style of play?
 
David Schmidt: From a technical view, he’s incredible to be honest. He has so many ideas in his head and he tries to give us his ideas in so little time, it’s so exciting to work with him. He has so many ideas, really good ideas. How we attack an opponent, what you have to do against different formations of defences. He’s a very good coach.
 
ihf.info: In the short time you have worked together with Coach Gislason what have you learnt from him?
 
David Schmidt: The most improvement I feel under him from a technical view is that he shows me things that I have never thought about when I was playing handball – like ‘Hey, there’s another way of doing that, there’s another chance of doing that’. This is a thing what I have learnt.
 
What I think he is very good at is his speeches. In front of training or in front of games, it’s hard to describe how he does it, but everyone is looking at his eyes, reading his lips, he’s very, very good at it. He doesn’t need to be loud. He’s loud, but he speaks in a manner, he has an aura. Like in yoga. He’s very self-confident. When he’s talking, everybody listens.
 
ihf.info: In 2013 you won the Men’s EHF Cup with Rhein-Neckar Lowen who were in the top division in Germany but you left the club to join TSG Friesenheim in the second division, helping to guide them to promotion and safety in the top division. How important was this career move for you?
 
David Schmidt: When we won the EHF Cup, I was 19 and only played a little, so this victory was not ‘important’ as I knew I wasn’t the main part of the team. I said to myself; ‘OK I have to be playing, go to the second league in Germany’. The second league in Germany is very good as well and it’s a very good league to develop yourself. I wanted the game minutes and I wanted to have a position in the team which is very important for me and for the others of the team, some kind of leader of the team, and that was the reason why went down to the second league.
 
I played in a very important role over three years, we went up and made it to stay in the league so then I said to myself; ‘OK it’s time for the next step’, and I then went to a better team in the first league.
 
Like Uwe Gensheimer, who also played in the second league, always says: for a young player it’s always perfect to play in the second league because you have game minutes, that’s the most important thing; to have minutes in a game not in training. A game is a whole different thing.
 
Everybody knows how good Uwe is now.
 
ihf.info: When you moved from Freisenheim to TVB Stuttgart, you joined up with Johannes ‘Jogi’ Bitter and you are now in the German team with him. When you look at him and the rest of your teammates, what do you feel?
 
David Schmidt: When I look at them, I just see a lot of friendships and fun. Everybody’s very friendly, of course, some guys like Yogi, they’ve seen everything. When something goes wrong in the game, they don’t mind, they just go, they’ve experienced everything you can in handball, and this is very important to have such guys in your team. They just calm you down, they are the leader in the game. It’s an honour to play with those guys in the team.
 
ihf.info: You have a master’s degree in Business Administration, why is it important for you to have this ‘parallel’ career?
 
David Schmidt: One reason is I look after myself. Another reason is that tomorrow I could get injured in a game and my career is over. Then you have to be educated in something in order to get a job, but the other thing is I want to do something for my brain, just handball isn’t enough for me.
 
I have taken time off for one, one and a half years, doing nothing but I think I have to look for another thing what I can do alongside handball, maybe build up my own business, but I’m not sure about that. For example, Yogi did, and Uwe has got his sock business.
 
It’s very important that you can do your business and you don’t think about handball, this is also some reason for having something next to handball. I think it’s very important for every player to have something next to handball. The career isn’t forever.
 
ihf.info: Finally, there will be no German fans here at Egypt, what is your message to them, and do you feel their support this far away from home?
 
David Schmidt: The most important thing is to transfer fun for them on television when we are playing. Hopefully we will play in a manner that our fans will like, or even love.
 
In Germany now we have very strict restrictions. A family can watch a game with one friend, nothing more, so hopefully we will get some fun in there.
 
You can feel the support (of the fans) on social media and get contact with them. We definitely feel it. Of course, some fans have their opinion like ‘don’t go to Egypt it’s too dangerous’ but most of the fans I think, when we start playing our first game, will transfer to the group that says, ‘Go Germany, play a good tournament’.