Giving women's handball a voice
Her Playground — She grows. We win.
2025 saw the launch of an EHF project unlike any seen before in handball, and indeed seen rarely, but increasingly, among major sports federations: Her Playground, a platform giving women’s handball its own voice. The platform encompasses a microsite on the official EHF website eurohandball.com, a Facebook page and an Instagram profile.
Operating under the slogan, “She grows. We win,” Her Playground celebrates and shines a light on women in and around the game — their challenges, their triumphs and issues that concern them. The catchphrase “She grows. We win” reflects the fact that when women thrive, everyone benefits.
The “She grows” part of the slogan refers to the individual journey of strength, confidence, skills, persistence and self-discovery — areas that are elemental in handball. The “We win” couplet extends the individual story to the collective, that is, the support system, teammates, community and future generations that benefit from every woman’s journey.
Through the launch of Her Playground, the EHF join a global effort from sports federations to develop the women’s arm of their discipline and women’s sport in general.
Taboo topics brought into the spotlight
Her Playground is an unprecedented concept in handball, and so are the topics addressed through the platform.
In the first months, numerous areas surrounding the menstruation cycle were highlighted, from stigma to working with the cycle to a best-case example from Denmark regarding education of coaches. In October, inspired by Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Her Playground looked at breast injuries in sport and handball — another emerging area that has been under-researched due to a historic lack of female-only studies.
YAC and senior survey
To gain increased understanding of how elite female athletes view their sport, two online surveys were conducted in 2025. The first involved 261 players aged 15 to 19 competing at the women’s Younger Age Category events over the summer, with 31 countries represented. The second took place during the national team week in October, with 328 open-age female players from 35 countries participating.
The players were polled on various areas: Their consumption of women’s handball regarding watching matches and interacting on social media, media representation and the perception of women’s handball, role models, career path and the future of the women’s game.
From the two groups, there were areas of crossover and interesting variances. One difference was the players’ perception of the public view of women’s handball. The dominant answers from the YAC players were negative, while the most prominent responses from the open-age players were positive, highlighting a discrepancy in how the athletes feel their game is appreciated. However, both groups overwhelmingly agreed that women’s handball needs more visibility.
The two groups also agreed on the most important role models in women’s handball: The Norwegian trio of Stine Oftedal Dahmke, Nora Mørk and Henny Reistad.
Role models project
Encouraging girls to be active and participate in sport
In the context of encouraging girls to be active and participate in sport, they need to have women they can look up to and aspire to be — they need to see women breaking boundaries in a largely male-dominated area. Therefore, a women’s handball platform aiming to inspire would not be complete without the involvement of the athletes themselves.
Four well-known handball players were chosen as the Her Playground ambassadors: Norwegian goalkeeper Katrine Lunde, French back Estelle Nze Minko, Serbian playmaker Andrea Lekic and Dutch wheelchair handball goalkeeper Joyce van Haaster.
The four were invited to the project based on a number of criteria, including their performance on court, in terms of elements such as hard work and success but also regarding characteristics like persistence, integrity, respect, positivity and passion for the sport. Who they are off court was also considered, specifically areas such as life experience, education and media presence, as well as characteristics like emotional intelligence, authenticity, a desire to help others by sharing knowledge and experience, and an ability to overcome adversity.
The four were a key part of the launch of Her Playground and will have ongoing roles as the platform continues forward.
