For a great player, height does not matter

Will the upcoming Men’s 20 EHF EURO in Denmark mark the next breakthrough for Germany’s Franz Semper? Over the past few years the 19-year-old right back has done everything to put himself firmly in the spotlight of European junior’s handball – and even beyond.

With Semper as a key player on court, his club SC DHfK Leipzig, won three consecutive youth and junior national championships. At the same time he already made the step into the senior squad, helping them to a promising 11th Bundesliga place in the 2015/16 season, the club’s first one since its promotion.

For the past two years Semper has also been playing for Germany’s junior national team. He was nominated for the Junior World Championship 2015 even though he had just turned 18 in July and came home with the bronze medal.

“Franz has gone through an extremely positive development,” says Germany’s junior coach Markus Baur, a 2007 world champions. “He has done a brilliant job in Leipzig’s junior as well as in the senior team.”

Even though he knows that the 1.90-metre-tall Semper himself does not agree fully – “It would be better and helpful to be some centimetres taller, and then I could call myself a shooter,” he says – Baur praises …

continue reading in source www.eurohandball.com