Watch Tvedten’s incredible “magic penalty” in the video window above!
He has legendary status in Danish Aalborg handball and was a superstar in Spanish BM Ciudad de Logroño and BM Valladolid for many years. He has 208 matches on the A national team in handball behind him and 809 goals.
But of the 809 goals on the national team and of all the hits and achievements on the handball court, it is a special moment that most people remember Håvard Tvedten (42) for.
– It was something I had “nerded” on, and it was not planned at all
In the run-up to the European Championships in Serbia against Egypt on 5 January 2012, he made an entire sports world stare.
TV 2 commentator Harald Bredeli called it a «Magic punishment». Sports journalists described it as «magi». For neither experts, audiences nor sports fans around the world had ever seen a trick scoring from the penalty spot before.
– A lot happened afterwards that I was not prepared for, Håvard Tvedten admits when TV 2 meets him at Sola outside Stavanger.
– That punishment was something I had played a little with over time. I had just done it a bit in training and tested it out there. I did not do it because it was going to be a YouTube hit, I had practiced to test timing and things like that, says the handball profile.
Then he adds:
– I had discussed with the goalkeepers in training about what they thought if I did this and that. It was something I had “nerded” on, and it was not at all planned that I would do it in battle, Tvedten admits.
– BECAME WORLDWIDE: Håvard Tvedten’s trick scoring from the penalty spot went viral. Photo: Sturla Johannessen, TV 2.
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– I received a number of such sick requests afterwards
Afterwards, no one wanted to ask Tvedten about the match itself. All the questions were about the score. But for Tvedten, right after that it was really just another goal. Trick scoring was something he had done many times before. Therefore, he did not think much about the fact that he had scored a goal every now and then that would haunt him for the rest of his career and in life.
I received invitations to participate in Japanese television. And was invited to Kuwait
– It was only afterwards that it narrowed. In the first interview after the match, it was not about the match, but about the scoring. Everyone should talk about it. Then the score was shared and shared and shared on social media, and then it spread all over the world pretty quickly. Then a lot of messages started coming in on Facebook and Twitter, the scoring was suddenly everywhere, he says.
On YouTube, the super penalty is still out in several different versions and is in total of many millions. The penalty throw magic led to the handball profile receiving inquiries he could never have imagined before.
– It gradually started to call people who spoke all sorts of languages and were to have interviews and answers to “what this was” and the like. I received invitations to participate in Japanese television. And I was invited to the Emirates and Kuwait to attend an event and asked if I could do it again there. I got a lot of such sick requests, really, he sums up.
– MEET TV 2: Handball profile Håvard Tvedten tells as the super penalty. Photo: Sturla Johannessen, TV 2.
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– Sees the effect of social media
The European Championships in Serbia were a disappointment for Norway. The national handball team smoked out in the initial group game. But the questions about the super penalty in the warm-up match did not go unnoticed.
– It was a disappointing championship for our team. During the championship, all focus was on the team, but then it took off more afterwards. Every day I met someone who had questions about that punishment. It came from children, adults and the elderly who had seen it, and wanted me to show how I had done it. But my kids think it’s a lot of fun, then. If Dad is to be known for something on YouTube, then there are worse things, he grins
– This is how you in a way see the effect of social media, and how YouTube videos can spread and go viral
– The score made you by far the world’s most famous handball player for a while?
– Yes, it was special. This is how you in a way see the effect of social media, and how YouTube videos can spread and how viral it can get. That score hangs after me, and is something people remember for a long time, Tvedten answers, and continues:
– Especially in France, they were completely “bananas”. I remember some time afterwards we were playing a tournament in France, and people came away all the time to have pictures and have me show the backhand scoring, he remembers.
– Have you seen any scores on a similar “backhand penalty” afterwards?
– No, and not before. This was something I came up with in my search for new ways to score. I think I must have been the first, I had not looked at anyone before at least. I have not seen anyone else do it afterwards either. No one else dares, then. No one is stupid enough to try, he laughs.
– Would you have done it if it was a decisive match in a playoff?
– I have often been asked that question, and at that time I had not done so. It had been and taken too great a risk in a decisive moment. There are small margins on that punishment there. The screw should sit far enough out from the keeper. In addition, it should not go too far, and not too short. And the onslaught must be quite credible for a goalkeeper to walk on it. So I would not have done it if it was an even and decisive match. It would have been cool to have said that I had done it, but honestly I had not done it out of respect for all the others on the team, he states.
Watch Tvedten explain his trick scores in TV 2 Sport’s report from 2012 here:
– I trained more than everyone else
During his long and eventful handball career at the top level, which dates from 2000 to 2016, Tvedten has experienced a lot. He laid the foundation for the good experiences on the handball court while growing up on the island of Stord in Western Norway.
Håvard Tvedten:
Born: June 29, 1978 (age 42 years)
International matches: 208
Goal: 809
Clubs:
- Stord IL (–2002)
- Aalborg Handball (2002–2006)
- CB City of Logroño (2006–2008)
- CB Valladolid (2008–2011)
- Aalborg Handball (2011–2016)
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– I probably had a ball talent, but I was first and foremost a training talent. I was able to work on and tinker with small and difficult details over time without getting very bored, says the Stord guy.
– I eventually managed to break things down into concrete details. For example, when I was going to learn how to screw the ball, how to hold the ball, how should I twist my wrist to give the ball the right spin, and not turn outwards, but inwards towards the goal. I was also good at asking and getting input from others around me, he recalls, before emphasizing:
– The main reason I became good was that I probably trained more than everyone else. That is the recipe if you want to be good at something. It is to train on things, Tvedten points out.
The targeted training during his upbringing made Håvard Tvedten a star on the handball court. He won the cup winner cup with Valladolid and became Danish champion with Aalborg.
– One thing is the titles we won, such as the European Cup and the Danish league with Aalborg, but it is often individual matches I remember best. Like when we beat Barcelona away, or Ciudad Real, which was the best team in the world, and the feeling I had in the match and not least afterwards. I can feel that feeling sometimes. There are actually more such small moments than titles, he says.
– STAR: Håvard Tvedten excelled with his tricks on the handball court. Both for Norway and its club teams. Photo: Heiko Junge
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Protected Tvedten’s suit
In Aalborg, he spent a total of nine years of his career. When he resigned in 2016, the club protected Tvedten’s kit number ten as proof of the legendary status he earned in the club.
– It is the greatest honor you as an individual player in a team can get in a club, and of course very cool. I was probably not fully prepared for it, but it was a very nice point for a long and eventful career. The club had booked the whole hall, invited lots of people and made big scenes with videos and speeches. It was a gift table and with wine, beer and champagne from both fans and sponsors. And they protected my suit, and only my boys can play with number ten there in the future. It’s fun, he smiles.
– They protected my suit, and only my boys can play with number ten there in the future
Tvedten already had the plans ready the day he put handball on the shelf. During his active career, he studied diploma in management at UCN in Aalborg. In addition, the handball profile has studied marketing at BI in Bergen and is a certified performance coach and LEAN instructor.
– I studied management in Aalborg and had planned a career stop and knew I was going to retire in 2016. I had tried to create a scenario and a plan, says Tvedten.
– I did not want to become a coach, I wanted more weekends and a more normal life. I wanted to plan my life myself considering vacations and travel and all those things there. Top sports life is a very planned life, you do not have much influence, it is about relating to the plan. It is an incredible feeling of freedom and deciding what you really want for yourself, he admits.
– FROM HANDBALL TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Håvard Tvedten had the plan ready when he resigned as a handball professional. Photo: Lise Åserud
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Got a job immediately
After his career on the handball court, he got a job in the company Storform, which develops and trains managers. Tvedten takes his experiences from sports life with him when he trains managers in companies and municipalities.
In Storform, Håvard works with organizational development processes and leadership programs, as a lecturer, as leadership support for top leaders and as a process leader for the development of teams and leadership groups.
– We have customers from all over Norway, and I work, among other things, to take the performance mindset and team player qualities from the sport into it, says Tvedten.
– In a team or in a workplace, it is very important to know what you are actually good at so that you can use those qualities in the team
– What is your best advice to leaders?
– It is probably quite complex, and leaders are just ordinary people with different qualities like everyone else. But the specific thing I often talk about, and which is closely connected with the top sports thinking, is to be curious about how you influence and are experienced by those you either lead or work with. In a team or in a workplace, it is very important to know what you are actually good at so that you can use those qualities in the team, the handball star answers, and adds:
– At the same time, it is in an athlete’s DNA to also be looking for, what one can develop and get better at. In sports, you are quite good at both giving and receiving feedback. I experience that I sit a little further in with both managers and employees in the business community. Both asking for feedback, but also giving it to others. This is, among other things, what we train the leader in, and which is very effective, says the man behind the “magic penalty” of all time on the handball court.
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