INTERVIEW – Dutch star Estavana Polman has her four and a half months old daughter with her at the World Championship, in Germany.

The charming backcourt player finds it great to be back, but as a mother priorities in life have changed.

By Peter Bruun

Estavana Polman brought her four and a half months old daughter, Jesslyn, to the Dutch camp at the World Championship. For her it is a particular situation.

“Of course, it is a special situation, but I have made a good arrangement with the coach with regards to when I can be with my daughter, and when she has to be taken care of by others.

“This way, I feel better while I play, and it also means that I can play well”, explains the 25-year-old left back.

“Before, handball was an extremely big thing in my life.

“Now, I would not say that handball is nothing, of course, but my little girl is obviously most important to me. When I am here, I am a handball player. When I am at home, I am a mom!”

But first and foremost, she is happy to be back at the top level of handball.

“It is amazing!

“I was much in doubt, if I would be able to make it, but I am so happy to stand here today and to be part of it all again,” says Estavana Polman who has already played a number of league games with her Danish club, Team Esbjerg.

“I am fit, but when it comes to top form, we will have to see what the tournament brings.

“So far, we are only two matches into the competition but I hope to contribute more and more to the team every game we play,” she tells stregspiller.com.

“We started poorly against South Korea, and it was certainly not one of my best games either.

“In our second match against China, however, I already think we stepped up.

“Now, we have Cameroon, a game, we can hopefully use to play even better and build on for the rest of the tournament.

“Then, we face Serbia and Germany, and we will have to step up even further against these two opponents, for sure.

“However, we have a great coach who is particularly good at watching out, when players need a rest.

“Moreover, we have the advantage of having a good mix of players, making it easier to compensate for me and a few others who may not be in our best form, yet. And let’s not forget that we are also missing some players.

“We possibly play 11 games in 17 days – after the group phase comes the knockout phase, where one bad game can send you out of the World Cup. It is crucial to keep players fresh, when the time comes, where it counts most” she says.

The future 

When she returns back home from the World Championship, she will have to make a decision about her future.

Her contract with Team Esbjerg is expiring after this season, and now with a baby girl in her life, her next club choice will be even more important.

“Of course, I miss the Champions League, which I am not playing with Esbjerg these days, but on the other, it may have been an advantage for me to not play so many games, considering that I just came back from maternity leave. But of course, I hope to play Champions League again in the future.

“The fact of having a family means that the decision is no longer one hundred per cent my own. Well, maybe 80 per cent.” she laughs.

“No, seriously, if you are on your own, you can afford to be selfish and say: ´Fuck it, I go all in.´ But when you have a family, it is different all of a sudden.

“If my family is not happy, neither am I, and then I cannot play good handball.

“I am happy in the Danish league. I like the Danish style of handball, which fits me very well, but we will have to see.

“I am pleased being in Esbjerg, where we have two good coaches (former Danish internationals Jesper Jensen and Mette Melgaard, ed.) and that’s what matters, for now. I will do my best to make them champions again. That is the most important thing for me at the moment.

“However, I am open to almost everything.

“There are other good clubs in Denmark besides Esbjerg. Odense is coming up, Midtjylland is good – so the question is, if we want to stay where we are, or if we want to seek a new experience.

“That’s what I will have to think about, when I come home.”