We proudly represent to our readers Axa Beach stars Budapest, one of the famous tbeach handball teams ever. We have the honor to speak with Mr. István Bődy who answered us to few questions about his team and beach handball. Enjoy!
For introduction, tell us something about your team.
Axa Beach Stars Budapest BHC was formed in 2002. It is the fusion of two teams. During the last six years our results: First place twice in Europe Cup, first place three times in Hungarian Cup, two gold medals in Hungarian Championship and second place in Central European Cup. All members of the team got a memorandum for the results of 2008 from the Budapest Municipal Council and from the Hungarian Sport Federation. The best players of our team are also the members of the Hungarian National Team.
Is this the first time that you will play on Masters tour? If yes,what do you expect? (of organization,other teams….)
We are in that lucky situation that it is the fifth occasion we can take part in this qualified tournament. We experience that the organizing of the tournament reaches a higher and higher standard year by year and the teams also make this beautiful sport more popular with their increasingly high-standard game!
Our greatest expectations are to let this dynamism remain and to let the beach handball be more and more popular in all countries.
You are representing your state on this tournament,so are there any strong sponsors or media to help the team to promote you(some sport magazines or tv?) Is beach handball a popular sport in your state?
The 80% of our yearly costs are assured by the AXA Group Hungary (earlier Credit Suisse or Winterthur). Our appearance in the Media is organized by ourselves. We sometimes appear on Hungarian sport channels and in written media there are several weekly and monthly sport newspapers and magazines which sometimes write about our results and players. Year after year beach handball becomes more and more popular in Hungary. In 2008 about 250 teams qualified in different tournaments.
How long do you exist as a team,when did you start to play and what was the beggining like?Was it difficult to create a beach handball club?
In 2002 two groups of friends decided to make up a team. In the same year we came fourth in the Hungarian Championship. Then we had to bear all our costs but since 2003 sponsors and the management help our team. We consider ourselves more a group of friends than a sport club that is why it is easier to make our team work get better and better results.
Where do you have trainings? How many courts are per city? Do you use maybe indoor courts during winter?
We can train on a medium quality beach court which is in a fifty-year-old sport centre. There are six beach courts in Budapest and about forty beach courts in Hungary where this sport can be played. Unfortunately there are not any indoor beach courts but one of our plans is to make one in Budapest.
Do you,as a team, play only beach handball or do you play also indoor handball and just play together during the summer?
There are 16 players in our team and they play in nine different indoor handball teams.
How is the championship organised in your state? How many tournaments do you have?
Beside the adolescent and junior league there is a two-class adult championship. The professional and the amateur teams play in different championships. The amateur championship consists of 10 qualifying rounds and a final while the professional championship takes place in a three-round system.
How many tours do you play per year, do you often play in other countries in Europe or maybe on other continents?
Between 2002 and 2006 we participated on 10-12 tournaments every summer plus in the National Team. It is both financially and physically overloading for a long term. We played on 7-7 tournaments (plus in the National Team) in the last two years to be able to spend enough time with our families and relaxing. Since 2004 we have taken part in international tournaments in Croatia, Switzerland and Germany.
Are there any players in your team that play for the national team?
4 of our players are playing in the present Hungarian National Team. 11 of our players and all 4 of our leaders were the members of the National Team!
How do you plan to prepare the team for Masters tour? Do you train every day during the season?
As the players of our team come from 9 different handball teams it is quite difficult to find time for trainings together at the beginning of the season. If everything goes well we can have 6-8 trainings before the Masters during the season. We can also play maximum 3-4 training matches.
What are your goals on Masters tour? Just to play and have fun or to win one of the medals?
Winning a gold medal for the third time would be a great success, but we will not be embittered if we do not succeed. We would like to come home with that feeling that we did our best!!!!
Do you have any information of other teams on Masters?
We know the teams well.
How do you see the progress of beach handball in future?
EHF shows a good direction for this sport so we think that we are in good hands. Participating for the first time on the Olympic Games may lead to a big breakthrough! In our opinion the junior teams should be managed more powerfully. Junior players of first class handball teams should be convinced about trying out and enjoying playing beach handball.
How do you see the differences between indoor and beach handball?
We are in that lucky situation that we have already played friendly training matches with several first class handball teams – among them the MKB Veszprém which team was the winner of KEK in 2008. The biggest difference was our routine. Their players are technically well-trained but they could not use this advantage in the sand. Thank to those hundreds of matches played for the last seven years we could win against them.
Do you have some program of creating young beach players,or everyone just plays indoor and for fun beach? Do you think that it is necessary to develop beach handball as independent sport,not so connected to indoor handball and players?
Among young players beach handball is a possibility for extra training and entertaining themselves beside handball. The Hungarian Handball Federation takes serious steps to make children see beach handball not only as a way of fun but also a possibility. Improving this sport is important by all means. We think that in short term the greatest progress can happen parallel to handball. But the future is open widely…
Do you have any information about croatian beach handball? (teams,results…?)
In the last five years we played 9 times on Croatian tournaments (Pag, Crikvenica, Zagrab) Thank to this fact we know the organizing, the teams, the players, the leaders and the referees well. We also know the club and international results because we played a lot of exciting and high-standard matches against each other. We managed to create good relationships with several teams during the previous years.