Lunde-Borgersen shares her passion with the current Norway squad

While her twin sister, Katrine, is still playing and has just won the EHF EURO for the sixth time and the EHF Champions League Women for the seventh time – both all-time records in women’s handball – Kristine is still working in handball, albeit as a coach.

When both her and Katrine came back to Vipers Kristiansand, the team where they made the first steps in their careers, Kristine decided to call time on her playing career, becoming an assistant for the current EHF Champions League Women title holders, between 2015 and 2019.

Since 2019, Lunde-Borgersen has been serving as the Norway women’s youth national team coach, being present both at the current W19 EHF EURO 2023, but also last summer, at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, where the Scandinavian side finished in ninth place.

“It is a good group to be with, the girls are excellent. This year, it is all a bit new for many of them, we spent less days together with some of them, but it is nevertheless exciting, because every day we have new challenges, we make steps towards our goals and, yes, it is very exciting,” says Lunde-Borgersen.

It is Norway’s strategy to use former stalwarts, like Lunde-Borgersen, or goalkeepers Kari-Aalvik Grimsbø and even Denmark’s Lene Rantala, to help the young players grow and develop into the stars of the future, something that has been achieved, for example, with Henny Reistad, who made the All-Star team at the W19 EHF EURO 2017 as the best left back and was named the MVP of the senior EHF EURO 2022.

Another part of that strategy is to use the same playbook as the senior national team, therefore making the transition smoother to players who are able to break through in one of the best sides in the world over the last decades, bringing a constant stream of medals in major international tournaments in the process.

“Our federation think this is good for the players, for the younger ones to learn by experience and also try everything themselves. I think it is a good way to maybe learn faster and maybe make some mistakes I have also made throughout the early years of my careers,” adds Norway’s coach.

Yet a question lingers, the one on everybody’s lips; is winning at all costs important at this level, or is it more important to teach the players a system, so they can be ready for the next steps?

It is a difficult act to balance, because as the saying goes, "wins bring more wins", yet for some teams, it is more important, even crucial, to prepare the young players for the challenges they will face at the senior level.

“Of course, we take to the court in every match to win, that is without a shadow of a doubt. It does not matter if we finish seventh, eighth or fourth right now. The way we make progress and the steps taken by the players and the team are very important. Every week we have been here together and that is crucial for us,” adds Lunde-Borgersen.

The Scandinavian side failed to make it out of the preliminary round at the W19 EHF EURO 2023 in Romania, with losses against France (24:31) and Hungary (20:28), and a single win against Serbia, 27:26. But with a new squad, with many new players, they had their work cut out.

If the senior team’s results are a measure of success, than Norway are surely doing something right and the winner’s DNA they have imprinted, which Lunde-Borgersen surely had embedded, is likely to be passed on by the current coach to the future.

But is it mandatory to be a top player before being a good coach in Norway’s system?

“I think it's important, but it's not necessary. But it's good to have both sides in the team, in the leadership team. I see it my way and I have felt it on my body and know how it is in my head or my body and how to play and the pressure which comes with it.”

But the two roles are different. The culture is different and the style of play, the way handball is played now, they are totally different. But it's still handball and this sport is so much fun. There are so many variables in it, you can play there and maybe then another pass next to the line player or the back. I love handball, so it's perfect for me,” concludes Norway’s Under-19 team coach.