Petković’s renewed team spirit to lift Russian Handball Federation Team

New Russian Handball Federation Team coach Velimir Petković was proud after his team's opening Egypt 2021 match draw against Belarus, saying “they fought with all their heart”. 

Petković was named Russian Handball Federation Team coach in March, replacing Eduard Koksharov following the team’s unsatisfactory results at the last Men’s EHF EURO, ending up 22nd place. Petković is a very experienced coach. He started his career at RK Borac Banja Luka in 1988, where he transitioned from the court to the sideline. Since 1991, he has coached German clubs HSG Wetzlar, FRISCH AUF! Göppingen and Füchse Berlin. 

Although he’s had a long club coaching career, this is his first experience as a national team coach. 

“In the beginning it was difficult for me. When I started as a coach for the Russian Handball Federation Team I had to stay in Berlin for four to five months because I had to wait for the visa. It was important for me to learn the Russian language, but that was almost not possible due to distance teaching.”

“As a coach, I show a lot of emotions and I need the personal contact with my players. That’s my strength and that was taken away from me in the beginning. When I finally moved to Russia, I was able to learn the language properly with a private teacher. I don’t have a certain talent for languages, but I know what to say on court and luckily for me I have some players in my team who speak Serbian, Croatian and even German. The communication hasn’t been a problem so far.” 

His first meeting with the team was in November when they played Ukraine in two Men’s EHF EURO 2022 qualification matches. The first match finished in a 27:27 draw and the second was a 30:28 victory. Since then, he has seen a steady change and improvement in his team, who have remained undefeated under his lead. The Russian Handball Federation Team met again right after Christmas, training together and after a short break, participated in a tournament alongside Argentina and Spain, winning both encounters. 

“I see a constant development in this team. I have told them my philosophy and said to them that their way of playing handball doesn’t have a future.”

“The biggest issue in the last years has been a lack of strength and winning mentality. I noticed that as well when we first met in November. The players didn’t interact with me or each other and stayed silent most of the time. It’s their way to show respect but I try to teach them a new mentality. I shake hands with them before and after every training and I talked a lot with them about their mentality. I know it takes time to change that, but already now, three months after our first meeting, the atmosphere within the team has changed.” 

“I implemented it smoothly. At tactical preparations I try to include the experienced player like Pavel Atman, Daniil Shishkarev and Alexander Shkurinskiy into the discussion. It’s a new experience for them because so far, only the trainer was talking to and not with them. And now I see this change where players are talking more with each other and with me as well, they ask questions and discuss a lot more and I’m really happy to see this development. Without this process it wouldn’t be possible to change the mentality.”

The Russian Handball Federation Team showed off their change and their ability to fight for 60 minutes in their World Championship opening match against Belarus, where they even had the chance to win after trailing most of the match.

“Although we had the chance to win, me and the players were satisfied with the result of our first match here. The atmosphere is good and we know that this is only the beginning. It’s the first tournament for this new team. We lack a few of our key players, but I don’t want to focus on that. I focus on the players who are here and eager to represent the Russian Handball Federation. Putting into account that our goalkeepers didn’t perform well and that I see Belarus slightly ahead of us, we even had to chance to win this game. I received a lot of messages and congratulations yesterday. Of course, it was unlucky that we couldn’t win in the end but I am really satisfied with the team’s fighting spirit.”

Velimir Petković’s team will face Slovenia today and Republic of Korea in their final group stage match.

“Slovenia are the favourites in our group and I see them also among the favourites to battle for a medal. They have a really good and experienced team, on each position they have two top-class players. But as a coach, I want to win every game. I don’t care whom I’m playing against. If Denmark, France or Croatia are playing against us, they can have a bad day and there is always a chance to win. That’s how I prepare my team, that’s why there’s also a chance to win against Slovenia. Though, we have to improve on the goalkeeping position. We scored 32 goals against Belarus but we also missed a few shots, thereof two penalties. We have to do better in case we want to win against Slovenia.”

“For Korea, I was really curious to see them. They are here with a very young team who couldn’t stand a chance against Slovenia. It won’t be an easy match but it will be a decisive one to proceed to the main round and we will put everything into it.”