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Women's handballers to start pre-season in mid-July

The Borussia Dortmund women's handballers have finalised their pre-season plans. Before the Borussia ladies start the 2024/25 Bundesliga campaign with a home game against Buxtehuder SV on 7 September, a packed schedule awaits coach Henk Groener's team. The pre-season preparations will kick off with the traditional first meeting on 15 July. That will be followed by a short camp in Winterberg and a one-week training camp in Denmark. In total, head coach Henk Groener and sporting director Andreas Kuno have planned nine matches against high-quality opponents.

The majority of the players are off until the medical check on 13 and 14 July. However, no Borussia player is to report back unprepared. "All the players have received an individual training programme for strength and endurance from our athletics coach. When the pre-season preparations begin, I assume that everyone will be fit. Otherwise the workload and the risk of injury are too high," explained Henk Groener.

The meeting in Dortmund will be followed two days later by a camp in Winterberg, where the players will have the time to gel as a team – both on and off the court – between 17 and 19 July. Four Borussia players will not be involved. Although it has not yet been decided who will play at the Olympic Games in Paris, two Borussia players – goalkeeper Sarah Wachter and centre Lisa Antl – are in the provisional DHB squad. In addition, Carmen Campos Costa (Spain) and new signing Deborah Lassource (France) are likely to play at the Olympics. "Nothing is yet certain, but if that quartet is called up, then the preparation for those four players will of course be completely different," said Henk Groener: "But we won't finalise that until the players are back in Dortmund."

After getting to know each other for the first time in Winterberg, there will be two training sessions per day in Dortmund before the first friendly on 31 July. The Black & Yellows will face HSG Bensheim/Auerbach, before then playing host to HSG Blomberg-Lippe (6 August). On 10 August, the first of two matches against VOC Amsterdam will take place away from home. The team will then travel north following their visit to VfL Oldenburg on 17 August in order to hold a training camp in Denmark up until 25 August. This time it won't be in Skaerbaek just over the border from Germany, but in Vejen, which is located a little further north between Esbjerg and Kolding in the centre of Jutland.

The training camp will kick off with a match against Horsens HK and a friendly away to Silkeborg-Voel KFUM, before concluding with an appearance against Champions League participants Odense Handball. The Odense game will also see Borussia face ex-goalkeeper Yara ten Holte, who has been playing in Denmark for a year.

Three days after returning from Denmark, the Borussia women will face Blomberg for the second time – but this time in East Westphalia. The final friendly before the Bundesliga starts will take place at Halle Wellinghofen on 31 August, with VOC Amsterdam again the opponents. "I think we've found challenging opponents to prepare ourselves for the season. And there's a very simple reason why there's no tournament involved: I'm not a fan of playing three games in one day at a tournament," explained Henk Groener.

The women's handballers' pre-season at a glance:

 

13/07-14/07 Medical check
15/07 First meeting
17/07-19/07 Short camp in Winterberg
31/07 Friendly: BVB vs. HSG Bensheim/Auerbach
06/08 Friendly: BVB vs. HSG Blomberg-Lippe
10/08 Friendly: VOC Amsterdam vs. BVB
17/08 Friendly: VfL Oldenburg vs. BVB
18/08-25/08 Training camp in Vejen (Denmark) with friendlies against Horsens HK, Silkeborg-Voel and Odense
28/08 Friendly: HSG Blomberg-Lippe vs. BVB
31/08 Friendly: BVB vs. VOC Amsterdam
07/09 Bundesliga Matchday 1: BVB vs. Buxtehuder SV

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