"No pressure": A glimpse in Uščins' journey to the 2024 IHF Young Male Player of the Year award

Back in June 2023, Renārs Uščins was one of the main players and the captain for the Germany junior national team which won the title at the IHF Men’s Junior World Championship without dropping even a match, a fantastic performance, higlighting the potential of the German handball.

Uščins still had not made his debut for the senior team in a major international competition – with his first call up coming in April 2023, just before turning 21 years old, for a friendly match -  but that was soon going to change, as Alfred Gislason was keen on injecting more youth into Germany’s squad.

Soon, Uščins became an integrant part of Germany’s side, which finished fourth at the EHF EURO 2024, qualified with a small hitch for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and then, eventually, lifted Germany to a silver medal at the Olympics, being named the All-Star right back of the competition.

All at 22 years old, in a fantastic year, a whirlwind, which now helped Uščins seal the coveted 2024 IHF Young Male Player of the Year award, leapfrogging Portugal’s Francisco Costa and Croatia’s Dominik Kuzmanovic in the final vote, which consisted of three constituencies – fans, the coaches of the teams featuring at Paris 2024 and the members of the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods.

“It is a fantastic award, to be fair, because there were votes from the coaches, votes from fans and votes from experts, therefore it makes it an exciting playing field, which encompasses a lot of opinions. I am very happy to be named the Young Player of the Year and it just motivates me to become better and better,” said Uščins.

The 22-year-old right back has had a phenomenal season for club and country, developing even further to match his excellent potential. But nothing was a given before last January. In fact, Uščins was not even supposed to be a starter for Germany at the EHF EURO 2024, which was played on home court by the European side.

But the experienced Germany coach, Alfred Gislason, identified Uščins’ potential and rode with the young right back until the end, after Kai Häfner, who was slated to start for the hosts, became a father and missed the last match of the preliminary round of the competition against North Macedonia.

“Our coach told me to play without any fear. He basically told me that I will do mistakes, but I should not think about that and if I play with any fear, he will take me off the court,” laughs Uščins.

“Basically, he told me to make mistakes, to try everything I want to try, because it is normal to have such mistakes in a match. He wanted me to play free, so this is what I did and it felt amazing, it really helped me build my confidence up and focus on my skills and what I can really do,” adds the right back.

Gislason’s approach worked wonders with Uščins, as the right back slowly became more and more important in the national team. By March, he was the top scorer of the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, having 26 goals against Croatia, Austria and Algeria, being Germany’s top scorer in each of the three matches.

And then the Paris 2024 Olympic Games came.

In such a competition, the margin of error is slim. Slimmer than in the IHF Men’s World Championship or the EHF EURO. Nevertheless, the young right back provided Germany the fire to perform and secure their best performance in 20 years, the silver medal, putting Germany back between the powerhouses in men’s handball.

On the way to the silver medal, Uščins was Germany’s top scorer, with 52 goals, the fourth best scorer of the competition. He also scored a crucial goal with seconds to spare in the regular time of the quarter-final against hosts France, pushing the match into extra-time, which saw Germany win and progress to the next phase.

“It is a fantastic performance, it is a fantastic feeling, to be there and represent your country at the Olympic Games. Of course, I remember every moment, but I think that you need to be focused and don’t let the pressure get to you. The goal is the same height, the same length, the ball is the same. Sure, moments like that against France are crucial and can define history. But we need to approach it without making many scenarios and trust the instincts,” adds the right back.

He scored and then went on to dominate in extra time in that match, finishing with 14 goals, in an unprecedented performance for such an inexperienced player on that stage. But Uščins says it is only the beginning.

Currently, he is playing club handball for TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, a team which finished seventh last season in the Bundesliga, but is now on the second place, tied on points with Mathias Gidsel’s Füchse Berlin.

Basically, a dream for the German side, which has been shooting over its potential over the last months, being in with a chance for the podium at the end of the season, ahead of powerhouses like THW Kiel, SG Flensburg-Handewitt and SC Magdeburg.

And Uščins, who is the fourth best scorer in the competition, with 160 goals, is delighted.

“I think coming to Hannover was an excellent decision for me. We are in the middle of an excellent season and it was the right team to choose, due to its structure. We do not have so much pressure like other teams, say Kiel or Flensburg, to win against teams which are lower in the standings. We do not face must-win matches every time. We can go out and enjoy what we are doing and that is a fantastic setting for a player who only is improving and growing, like me,” says Uščins.

But the right back has some silverware thoughts, such as the German Cup, or even more in the future, with Hannover being and up-and-coming team.

Nevertheless, just being there, between the best in the world, is a dream came true for Uščins. And probably for his family, the ones who honed the right back on the path towards handball.

His father, Armands, was himself a former player, who featured for the Latvia national team. Renārs, born in Latvia, came with his family when he was only three years old in Germany, where Armands played and then coached.

And then, when he was 12 years old, he moved to Magdeburg, where he entered the pyramid of SC Magdeburg, a tough situation, which Renārs aced. Eventually, he signed for Hannover in 2022 and the rest is history.

“My parents told me that school is the most important and then handball. But with a role model in my father, I always wanted to play handball. Even when I was losing matches or titles in the younger age competitions, I was told by my father that these results does not matter, that these losses will toughen me up and make me better for the future. So here I am,” concludes Uščins.