Daniel Birkelund

Always trying to develop, finding new, better, smarter ways to do things. Maximising what we can achieve within the resources that are available.

In line with this philosophy I am very much looking forward to having my dear friend as a part of my staff for next season. He will work with our goalkeepers mostly as an outside adviser - giving feedback (based on video from training and games), discussing, mentoring, sparring, challenging, advising… but also “on site” by visiting us in Akureyri a couple of times during the season.

Pictures are from our first session, where we quickly were diving deep into discussions about the goalkeeper role, modern goalkeeper training, individual styles and much more. Truly inspiring.

This week something totally different! ☺️

I’m currently doing a masters degree in High Performance Coaching at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. One of the modules of the Master Program (which is mostly an online program) is to do an internship in a different high performance environment.

Normally the idea would be to seek some other sport environment. Different, but similar so to speak…
However, I wanted to think more outside the box.
The similarities (and differences) between high performance and leadership in different areas and different contexts is something that has interested me for a long time. And something I have been curious to explore in a more serious way. So I decided to use this opportunity to pursue that thought.

I very much believe there is value in getting new and different perspectives, widening our range, seeing ideas that we are familiar with applied in a new context.

Because we, at the end of the day, are talking about getting a group of people to work together, in the most effective way we can, toward a common goal, and hopefully get them to perform at their absolute best at the right time, I think it’s obvious that there are some fundamental things that are the same. Regardless of whether it’s sport, art, business or something else. And new angles can provide new insights.

So, this week I have had the great privilege of having classical conductor Rolf Gupta as my mentor, and following him in his work on a production with KORK (The Norwegian Radio Orchestra).
I have been allowed to be a fly on the wall the whole week. Following the process from first rehearsal Monday morning and all the way through, ending with a concert last night.

It’s been truly inspirational to follow very closely someone in role (as an orchestra conductor) that has many similarities to that of being a handball coach (and of course also some distinct differences). I have really been enjoying seeing how Rolf has worked with his «team» from start to finish. And we’ve had many stimulating and interesting conversations along the way.

What's more, it's been invigorating to get to know an institution where every week basically means starting a new project from scratch and then delivering at the highest level by the end of it. Extremely impressive stuff.

Also, it’s just rewarding to watch people that are very very good at what they do, do their stuff and having fun and enjoyment while doing it.

Alway learning. Always trying to improve. Always staying curios.

As a bonus, I've gotten to listen to a lot of beautiful music throughout the week. Learning and understanding more about music that wouldn't normally feature most frequent in my playlists. Watching it evolve from something raw, unfinished and unpolished on Monday to an amazing concert experience yesterday has been truly special

Thank you Therese Birkelund Ulvo for helping me set it up.

Thank you Kringkastingsorkestret (KORK) and Gunilla Süssmann for opening your doors and allowing me to be a part of your world for a week.

And most of all, a huge thank you Rolf for your time, and even more for your openness, your willingness to share, to discuss, to explore. For which I’m truly grateful.

It was great to be back in Hungary and beautiful Budapest earlier in January, even though it was only a short trip.

I had the honour of doing four lectures at the Hungarian Master Coach Renewal Course, on the following topics:
- "Handball training in Scandinavia."
- "Skill development in attack for back court players."
- "Defence training, focusing on the roles of no1 and no2."
- "The Modern Coach Role."

A couple of slides from a lecture I did back in May where I talked about the complexity of the modern coach role.

Believing in an holistic approach means working with development of the person, not only the player. It also means understanding that everything is connected to everything, and that we cannot separate performance in the court from life outside the court.

New adventures waiting! Really looking forward to joining Þór Akureyri - Handbolti for the next two seasons, and can't wait to get to know the club, the city of Akureyri and the community.
I'm excited about the project, and see a great potential that I will do my very best to contribute to unlock. And I'm also very much looking forward to getting to know Iceland, as a country, and especially the amazing sport- (in general) and handball- (in particular) culture exists in this small island-nation. Time to get to work! 👊🔥

Daniel Birkelund tekur við Þór❗️

Í dag undirritaði Daniel tveggja ára samning við handknattleiksdeild Þórs en hann gengur til liðs við okkur frá danska félaginu Lemvig.

Daniel er norðmaður sem hefur þjálfað á hæsta stigi um víða Evrópu undanfarin ár og erum við gríðarlega spenntir að hefja störf með honum.

Hann kemur í 100% starf hjá okkur í Þór þar sem hann verður þjálfari meistaraflokks ásamt því að móta stefnu yngri flokka og ýta undir enn meiri uppbyggingu

Við bjóðum Daniel hjartanlega velkominn í þorpið❤️🤍

𝓓𝓕𝓚

I am very happy and proud to be the lead author of yet another product from Norges Håndballforbund. 🤩 In this project we have tried to explore the technical demands in attack, primarily from the perspective of a backcourt player (but of course relevant for all positions).

Together with my brilliant colleagues, Vigdis Holmeset, Mats Olsson, Henning Krøger and Claus Dalgaard-Hansen we have developed a site that contains...
- A deep dive into passing, receiving, movement with and without the ball, and feinting.
- An exploration of basic and advanced skills.
- A framework for defining the different technical skills.
- Videos showing best practice techniques
- Videos with examples from international level
- And relevant exercises...

It is a privilege to have the opportunity to be part of the continuous development of Norwegian handball through these projects.

Enjoy 😊

Angrepsteknikk – Norges Håndballforbund Målet med Angrepsteknikk er å sette fokus på de grunnleggende angrepsferdighetene enhver bakspiller bør beherske