On January 26, the Technical Area of the Royal Spanish Handball Federation announced the 70 players of the 2006-07 masculine generation that were going to be part of the Technification Days, that were held from February 9 to 16 in Granada, more specifically in the CAR of Sierra Nevada. In that call there was four players from Malaga, the left back Víctor Barderas (Trops). the center backs Alonso Cañizares (Trops) and David Agudo (Málaga City) and the right back Zeus Mejías (Málaga City). Barderas and Cañizares are from 2006, while Mejías and Agudo are from 2007. All four belong to the Promising category. His call shows that the Málaga handball academy is in a great moment and that a good job is being done from the base.
“There were several days of a lot of work” says Víctor Barderas, who attended this event together with his teammate at the Trops Málaga Alonso Cañizares. For Barderas it was his fourth concentration with the national team and he has already been in a competition with the promising team. On his part, for Cañizares it was the third presence with the elite of his category.
Vícor and Alonso had a hard work routine during the concentration week in Sierra Nevada. They got up at 7:15, had breakfast from 7:30 to 8:00. If they had a chat, it was at 8:45. On the other hand, they did have training, they had to be at the pavilion half an hour before, around 8:15. There were two shifts, in the morning a group had training first, for approximately two hours. When it was finished, they exchanged, the group that was on the dance floor went on to have a chat and vice versa. After training, everyone eats and, depending on the turn of each player, talks and a game in the afternoon. After the meeting, dinner and later to rest until going to sleep.
The talks they had were about psychology, physical preparation and technical-tactics. To find out what kind of training and activities the players were going to do. The players of both generations trained together without making distinctions by age.
In these concentrations it is usual for a player from the senior team to spend a few days to give advice to the promises. This time was no exception Aitor Ariño, a player for FC Barcelona and the Spanish team, spent three days sharing experiences with the players from Malaga and the rest of the squad. Taking advantage of the fact that he is recovering from an injury, he went to the Sierra Nevada CAR. “He gave us a talk about his career until he reached Barça and told us some advice that had helped him to get there,” says the Trops center-back, Alonso Cañizares.
The national coach of the senior team, Jordi Ribera, was also at the concentration. According to Barderas, the coach was very involved with the players: “When we did something wrong, he corrected the mistake and was very involved in the exercises,” explains the Trops front row. For Barderas it is a luxury to live an experience like this: “Having it so close is surprising, since it is not like that in other sports and it helps you improve a lot.”
Both players affirm that these concentrations are very much enjoyed and that the atmosphere in these days is always very good among the players. In addition, in these experiences “you always learn concepts and new keys that help improve the game in order to be a better player,” explains Víctor. According to the Trops left-back, Although the objective of these concentrations is to help players improve their game with the advice and tools they are given, “the performance shown during the week in which you are called to future championships can also influence.”
“They tell us that everything counts, but that it’s not worth just doing seven days well, performance throughout the year at the club is key,” says the Trops center-back, Alonso Cañizares.
And it is that the promising handball team has a very busy year with 3 championships during 2023. The first of them will be the Mediterranean Championship which will take place at the end of April. From June 29 to July 1 they will travel to Slovakia to play the 4 Nations Tournament, as a preamble to the big event of the season: the european open. This continental event will be held in Sweden, specifically in Goteborg, between July 2 and 8.
In addition, these players play beach handball to keep fit during the summer. Last summer they were runners-up in Europe in Prague with the under 16 team. An activity that allows them to continue playing handball in the summer and continue to improve as players.
These Technification Days are very useful for the players and the coaching staff of the national team. It helps the former to be with the best players and coaches in Spain to improve their game. It helps the latter to get to know the best promises in the country and the absolute coach can observe those who will be the benchmarks in Spanish handball in the future. And in that bunch of chosen ones are four from Malaga: Víctor Barderas (Trops). Alonso Cañizares (Trops), David Agudo (City of Malaga) and Zeus Mejías (City of Malaga).