Petra Vozobulova
Organising Major Sport Events in the Czech Handball Federation
The Czech Handball Federation (CHF) manages, organizes and governs handball in the Czech Republic. This case study wants to describe how the CHF will assure the smooth and professional organisation of the Men´s European Championship in 2022. Organization of the European Championship 2022 is one of the main strategic tools for the development of handball in the Czech Republic.
The CHF has already organized 3 major events in the last decade. In 2008 European Youth Championship MU18, in 2011 European Youth Championship WU17 and in 2012 World Junior Championship WU20, but nobody from these organizational teams is working for CHF anymore. So CHF is actually missing experienced professionals. The European Handball Federation, which allocates the tournament organization, is very demanding in terms of organization, technical security, halls, background etc., therefore the CHF wants to Co-organize the Championship with Slovakian and Hungarian Handball Federation.
The case study focuses on major problem of this event related with organizational allocation of Championship. SWOT analyses was used for evaluation of current situation in the CHF and brings basic points for improvement, f.e. to complete the organizing team (no later than 30 months before the event) and give them the opportunity to gain experience from the organizers of the European Championship 2020. This case study suggests solutions to improve deficiencies and brings implementation of changes that will result in an increase in costs between 2018 and 2022. I believe that we will prepare the attractive and high-level event, which will, among others, increase the awareness of handball in the Czech Republic.
Managing Human Resources in the Czech Handball Federation
The Czech Handball Federation (CHF) manages, organises and governs handball in the Czech Republic. CHF divides the area of human resources management into internal and external HR. Internal human resources focuses on employees, and external on referees, officials and coaches. CHF associates 1.320 coaches (344 women), which is a relatively small number given handball’s position in the country and the number of players. Furthermore, over half of them have only licence “C” (the lowest one). Most of these coaches are volunteers.
The main aim of the present case study is to contribute to the improvement of external human resources of the Czech Handball Federation; and to increase the number of professional coaches (PC), in particular. It goes without saying, that PCs are vital for the development of Czech handball, it would be impossible to improve the quality of the sport without them.
In the present case study, problem tree and goals tree are the main analytical tools to identify the exact problems as well as solutions to them. Based on this analysis, it is proposed that CHF prepares a development programme for coaches, which would include 3 main parts: Education, Financial Support, and Social Support. It is necessary to take into account all these areas as the implementation of the development project will be demanding in terms of both time and financial resources. Thanks to the gradually increasing grant allocations from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, CHF has sufficient resources available to cover the increased financial demands. An intensive involvement of expert committees and staff can help dividing the workload and minimising its impact on single persons.
This case study outlines the concrete steps and sets out recommendations for the design of a concrete project, which is aimed to be launched by January 2018, at the latest. These recommendations focus primarily on setting up of a functional background for professional coaches, increased financial allocation for professional coaches (supporting, in particular, their education and professional development), and active cooperation with clubs to select the appropriate persons – offer system of benefits, education etc.
