My name is Molly G. Watkins. I'm 16 years old, and I started playing handball in mid-March. I trained with the Futures Program i in the Los Angeles area under coach Julio Sainz for 6 weeks/2 hours a week  before heading off to play in the Youth National Team Handball Championship. 

 

While there, our team took 2nd behind Colorado Springs whose players were much more experience than our own. After that tournament, I was invited to spend my summer training in Colorado Springs. I have played water polo nearly 10 years now, but something about Team Handball drew me in, and I was hooked. I spent my summer training with Greg Morava and Kathy Rex. 

 

Late, The opportunity came for me to spend a semester training in Denmark, and, once again, there was something about the sport grabbed a hold of me and here I am now. 16 years old, living in a different country with a language I do not speak nor understand -- all for the love of a sport I've known of for less than 6 months. That is how amazing this sport is, and why it needs to be publicized as much as possible.

 

A day full of firsts! My first 'real' day in Denmark, my first Danish breakfast, my first day at my first danish school, my first danish handball practice, and my first danish bus ride! 

I woke up this morning, and it was around 14 degrees celsius, brrr! Apparently it had gotten as low as 4 degrees during the night, but now right now we are at a beautiful 16 degrees. I had breakfast with Danish Mom & Dad and Irene, an awesome little piece of whole wheat bread with butter and Danish Jam. DANISH JAM IS AMAZING. 

 

Around 7:30, Danish Mom drove Irene and I to Bjerringbro, her to school, and I to our traning hall. When I arove at the training hall, Jennie was already there, Amber & Chanel met us soon after. Allan took us on a more detailed tour of the training center [Bjerringbro Idrætspark], and off to the bank to exchange Kroner, and finally to Bjerringbro Gymnasium to see our new school and meet our new Headmaster [he did NOT wear a robe, have a beard, wear half-moon spectacles, nor have a golden eagle protecting the entrance to his office. Needless to say, I was disappointed]. 

 

The school seems pretty cool, but HUGE for only about 300 students TOTAL. Not 300 in the graduating class, not 300 incoming freshman. 300 students. 

After a short meeting with the headmaster and a few teachers, we heading back to the training center [from now on referred to as the Hall] to relax for just a few moments before changing and going BACK to the Gymnasium for 'Handball College.'-our first danish practice!

We began practice with a warm-up in the Gymnasium's gymnasium, and the first thing our coach said to us was "The first 2-minutes are in English, after that, follow along." He stuck to that statement. Luckily we will be taking a crash course Danish Class at the Gymnasium. 

 

After our warm-up, we moved into a smaller room set up with little physical training sessions. Allan paired us off, Americans with Danes, and we began. 30-seconds for your partner, 10-seconds to switch, 30-seconds for you. The Danes went first, and that made a world of difference! Things like ring dips, lunges, kettle-bell swings, wall sits, and push-ups on a ball were not foreign to me, but rope climbing, balance beams, 'spider-mans,' and something best described as reverse sit-ups were new. 

 

2 times through was just enough to get my adrenaline going, thanks to similar training with CrossFit Ventura [http://www.crossfitventura.com/], I was ready for more!! We then ran some simple ball drills in the gym, and it felt great to play handball again! Handball College is seperate from Bjerringbro FH but it will fill out out weeks with handball training Tuesdays and Thursdays to Bjerringbro's Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

After Handball, Stine picked me up and got me on the bus. I'm sure she was embarrassed because I had NO idea what I was doing, and there were 6 year olds getting on, sitting quietly, and pressing the stop button for their homes while I couldn't figure out which way to put my ticket in the stamper. 

Tomorrow we will head off to Aarhus for our final 'free' day before starting school Thursday. There is a festival going on there, and I hope to meet up with a friend training for Handball there.

http://www.bfh.dk/index.php ...This is our club's website...I recommend translating it with google translate.