“As soon as I put the mic on, I was really excited”

“It was like a roller coaster – from being afraid, being nervous, being excited. But as soon as I put the mic on, I was really excited,” says Nikki Schreurs after her debut as a handball commentator during the Iceland vs Germany match at the Women’s 19 EHF EURO 2023 in Romania.

“I am quite OK with my performance, that also helps,” she adds. “This was great.”

Schreurs, who has been involved in handball in Netherlands for over two decades as player and coach, is one of the four candidates selected by the European Handball Federation in its quest for the first female handball commentator.

The project is part of EHF’s wider approach to empower women in European handball, and its slogan, “Empower your voice”, has been derived from one of EHF’s brand claims, “Empower to inspire”.

Schreurs and two other candidates – Nina Bargel-Neuhaus from Germany and Alexandra Mair from New Zealand – followed workshops by Jelena Bagaric from EHF TV & Media Operations and by commentary professionals Paul Bray and Glen Mackay on the fringes of the W19 EHF EURO 2023 in Romania.

The next day, they all got their first experience with providing live commentary during a handball match. The fourth candidate, Clare Griffiths from Great Britain, is set to join a later workshop.

“Those two days were incredible,” Schreurs says. “I learned a lot – all these simple things like when doing a pause. (Bray and Mackay) are so experienced, the best help you could get. So, I am super tired now from all the things that I learned and all the input that I got. Everything they said was new to me so that was very nice.”

Bargel-Neuhaus shares the same enthusiasm after the former BV Borussia 09 Dortmund youth player followed the workshops and had her commentating debut during Sweden against Switzerland.

“It was really exciting, I liked it a lot,” Bargel-Neuhaus says. “It was also a lot of input. I felt a bit overwhelmed at some point when we got the input from Paul and Glen. But when I got back to my hotel room, I thought: ‘Wow, that was amazing.’ I just let it sink in overnight and we did the matches the next day. It was like super-super amazing, it was a great experience.”

While all three have already been familiar with the sport of handball, talking about it during a live match has been a new experience.

Actually, there is a whole lot more to being a commentator than just talking about handball.

“I think I knew 15 to 20 per cent of all that is actually involved,” admits Mair, who played handball in her native New Zealand and had her commentary debut at the Netherlands vs Croatia match.

“The major learning points were around preparation and the technical aspects of it. It is not just about how much you know about handball and how much you know about the teams, it is actually: OK, how do I get my timings right, how do I get the mic to work? It was cool to be involved there and to be there live.”

For all three, the learnings from the workshops and the experiences from actually commentating on handball matches taste like more.

The good news: the most successful candidates will join the pool of EHF commentators and will be included in ENG commentary for all EHF competitions in the 2023/24 season.

Mair sees “plenty of room for improvement” for herself: “But it was a good start, and I am exciting to keep improving.”

The same goes for Bargel-Neuhaus.

“It is very important to have female voices in handball because in the last years there is so much change in handball – positive change for us women,” she says. “Women’s handball is so amazing as we have just witnessed in the arena, and we have to have more females on the mic.”

That has exactly been the goal of the EHF Female Commentators project from the start. Schreurs is eager to keep contributing her part to it.

“I hope we get the chance to learn more,” she says. “Paul has years of experience so there is probably still a lot to learn for us. But I hope to really grow into this and comment on big matches, and being recognised as female commentator in handball.”

all photos © 2023 Marius Ionescu