Juri Knorr is the hope of German handball. At only 22 years old, he is already doing great things, but always remains true to himself.
Juri Knorr is a sports ace. If he hadn’t become an outstanding Bundesliga handball player on the way to world class, he could have become a veritable footballer. At least that’s what Joachim Schaube, Knorr’s former youth coach at VfL Bad Schwartau, thinks. In the D youth he even played with Jann-Fiete Arp and Josha Vagnoman at Hamburger SV. That was when dad Thomas Knorr, also a national handball player, was active at HSV Hamburg. Would it actually have been enough for a professional career? Knorr himself acknowledges this speculation with a smile. “Because it was always clear to me that I actually wanted to play handball,” said Knorr in an interview with SWR Sport.
Handball player Knorr becomes an idol
The decision “for the better feeling” (Knorr) was therefore easy for him. Looking at his statistics, it seems to have been the right one: the center backcourt player has already scored 130 goals in the current Bundesliga season. Ten alone on Sunday, in the 41:27 of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen against TVB Stuttgart – his hit rate: 90.91 percent. Team-mate Patrick Groetzki also certifies that he has “high dynamics, a good eye for the circle, good timing” and that he “knows how to move well even without the ball”. That makes him an idol for many youth players.
The Rhein-Neckar Löwen confidently continued their triumphal march in the Handball Bundesliga. The lions celebrated their sixth win in a row against TVB Stuttgart.
Knorr’s way to the all-star team for the 2022 World Handball Championship
At the Handball World Cup in January, Knorr is suddenly no longer just the hope of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. The fans of the German national team also wanted to see great deeds from him. “There was a lot of pressure. Of course it was a dream of mine to be part of a tournament like this – also in a role like that. But I quickly realized that there was more to it than you would think as a child .” It then came to a head in the Serbia game, “because it was clear: if we lose this game, we’ll be eliminated early on”. With the win “a lot fell away from me and I was able to enjoy the World Cup to a certain extent”. Actually, Juri Knorr just wants to play handball.
His former teammate and mentor Andy Schmid admires Knorr that the “head person” was able to withstand the immense pressure: “At the age of 22 I didn’t even know how to play handball properly. And he leads the largest association as a backcourt middle at a Great tournament through the World Cup. Hats off.” Now, however, Handball-Germany must give Knorr the right to shrink back to normal: “I don’t hope that he’s already being pushed into a role where he has to shoulder the whole thing like a 30-year-old.”
Knorr’s detour leads via FC Barcelona
Knorr learned early on to take responsibility. In 2018 he dared to take the step to the big FC Barcelona – at that time he was 17 years old. “I also wanted to have experiences outside of handball that others could take with them. I was then able to combine them with handball.” But after only a year he was drawn back to his homeland. Did the move abroad come too soon? “It was a very big step – even in hindsight. But I would have always asked myself what if?” says Knorr. “And even if it was a very difficult time, but also a very instructive one, I don’t regret anything.” Knorr came to the Rhein-Neckar Löwen in 2021 via GWD Minden, played the first year as a backup and apprentice to world-class playmaker Andy Schmid and took over responsibility as Löwen playmaker after his departure.
The Rhein-Neckar Löwen set the course for the future. The handball Bundesliga team has extended the contract with Juri Knorr.
Titles and trophies are not the most important thing for Knorr
Despite fluctuating performances: the 1.92 meter man is gradually growing into this role. His coach is also happy about that: “I think he can still take a lot of steps towards success, and he knows that too. I think that’s very, very good,” says Sebastian Hintze. Knorr wants to continue to be successful with the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. The team is currently in second place in the national handball league and even has realistic chances of winning the German championship. But Knorr curbs expectations here too: “When it comes to the title, our eyes are primarily on the final four.”
Titles and trophies don’t seem to have top priority on his list of priorities anyway. Because on the way to the top of the world, he also had to curb his own expectations – and say goodbye to one or the other childhood dream: “Maybe it was like that as a child that you imagined winning certain titles because that was something special is what you experience on television. But when you’re part of the big circus, it’s more of an issue for me to stay true to yourself and go your own way – also to be grateful for what you have. Me I experienced last year that handball, which has always been my hobby, can also be very difficult. And I think my primary goal is not to lose the fun in it.”
#Handball #star #Juri #Knorr #enthusiasm #football
