Humans of Beach Handball: Sofia Gonçalves

Sofia Gonçalves is deeply passionate about handball and always wants more in her life. But how did this huge passion for handball and beach handball come about?

“I’m from Espinho, which is a city naturally linked to volleyball, but it wasn’t my beach. Literally. My mother is a physical education teacher and a friend of hers invited me to play handball and then everything changed. It was love at first sight and I never gave up this sport. Just like what happened with beach handball. First I played in a more playful way, just to have fun, and then the competitive wave grew more and more until the professionalization of the sport,” highlights Gonçalves.

Alongside handball, Sofia is also a brilliant student. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Network and Information Systems Engineering, but it is not always easy to balance everything.

“Being a student is a very important part of my journey and I always try to do my best. It's not always easy to reconcile studies with handball, I have training every day, games on the weekends and I don't live near the university or the club, so I have less time to concentrate on my studies,” she says.

Even so, when Sofia Gonçalves really wants something, she fights until the end. “During the university exams in June I always have competitions and training sessions, so there is not much time for studying. And sometimes during breaks between training sessions or games I have even prepared a presentation and studied,” she confesses.

A fan of Star Wars and Greek mythology

Interestingly, the 23-year-old Portuguese athlete is a fan of Star Wars and Greek mythology. “I really like Star Wars, especially the first two trilogies. I love watching that. And I also really like Greek mythology. When we went to the Mediterranean Games, they were telling the whole story at the opening ceremony and I was explaining it to my colleagues. Look, now the minotaur comes, now they are in the labyrinth. Then the beach soccer players arrived and I had to tell the story again. They just laughed because I knew all that,” Gonçalves explains.

Naturally, this enormous curiosity, general knowledge and desire to improve also come from her father. “I have always loved history, my father used to give me children’s versions of the Odyssey about the history of Ancient Greece and I have always become more and more interested in the subject,” she says.

She has a unique playing style at her young age and she offers a lot of versatility to the team, which often results in great performances.

“I do a bit of everything, I want to be a well-rounded player. If you need someone on the left, on the right, at pivot, or in defence, I'll go. I always work to help our team in any way that I can. I feel like I'm a very versatile player and I hope to be very useful in the next European Championship,” she emphasises.

Even so, Sofia admits that she still has a lot to learn and that is what she wants to do alongside her more experienced teammates.

 “I’m still sometimes the youngest athlete, but I feel like I’m not the baby of the group anymore. The more experienced players help me follow the right path, they always give me a friendly word, I learn a lot from my older teammates, who are obviously more experienced than me. And it is on this path that I want to continue,” stresses Gonçalves.

“I want to always be a better Sofia”  

Did she grow up with any idols in the world of handball?

“I loved Gilberto Duarte when I was younger, I really enjoyed watching him play. Right now, I just want to be the best version of myself, improve more and more as a person and as an athlete. I want to always be a better Sofia.”

At the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup held in October last year, Sofia Gonçalves' team (GRD Leça) was the great hope for the Portuguese women's beach handball in the fight for medals. However, the Danish Beachhandball Dream had other plans. The first set of the semi-final started well for Leça, winning 27:22. In the second set, it was the Danes who came out on top and the match went to a shootout. Then, the dream of the final ended up falling apart. In the match for the bronze medal, the Portuguese team lost 2:0 to Black Lake Beach and ended up in fourth place. The only two games lost in that competition left her with a bitter taste.

“I felt huge sadness and frustration for not having a medal. Fourth place is the true first of the last, because you die on the beach of medals. If you come in second or third you can still take home a medal. In this case, there was a lot of frustration, as we only lost the last two games of the competition. But you have to learn and work on it. That's just how sport is, you have to keep moving forward,” she says.

At the 2023 European Championship, Portugal came in fourth place also, on the doorstep of the medals.

“But there wasn’t such a big sense of frustration there, because Nazaré's fourth place was the best-ever classification in women's handball, we made history. So the mood was somewhat lighter. But we lost the bronze medal in the shootout against Spain, it's always inglorious of course. Anyway, in July at the next EURO, our goal is to win a medal. And everything we went through in the previous competitions will give us even more strength to achieve our goal. I really want to win medals for Portugal,” highlights Gonçalves who has her eyes set on the trophy at the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025, which takes place in Alanya, Türkiye from 8-13 July.

“It is with great happiness that I see beach handball growing more and more. But my biggest dream is to represent Portugal at the Olympic Games. I hope that beach handball becomes an Olympic sport soon, it would be the cherry on top for this sport. Maybe in Los Angeles or more likely in Australia in 2032,” the 23-year-old athlete suggests. 

Asked what is the best advice she received in her career, Sofia Gonçalves picks a phrase from her parents: “Don't give up on your dreams, grab every opportunity with enthusiasm. And that’s what I always try to do,” Gonçalves concludes.

Photos © kolektiff