Herrem’s game: “If you're not ready to take the last shot at the last second, you should not be out there”

Twice All-star left wing of the EHF EURO, twice All-star left wing of the World Championship and one-time All-star for the EHF Champions League, and it is not only the official nods that prove Camilla Herrem as an icon of the position. She has been the star of viral internet clips for her trick shots and is one many would name as an example of the qualities a wing should possess.

But was Herrem always a left wing? “No. Oh my God, I cried so much when I needed to go to the wing,” she laughs.

“When I came in the A team, when I was 16, I was a middle back but then, the coach we had — I remember it so well — he said, ‘OK, the wing players and line players go on this side and the back players go on that side. And of course, I went to the side with the back players and he was just like, ‘no, Camilla, you need to go on the other side.’”

Herrem recalls that speed was her biggest weapon, so to coaches the wing seemed like a natural fit.

“I remember coming home to my mum and dad, and I was like, ‘I needed to be a wing today.’ And I was like, ‘I can't be there. It's nothing to do!’ Because I was so used to being in control of the game and setting up the game and always was involved.

“It was very hard, because I didn't even know how to shoot from the wing. I just remember being in trainings and shooting — I was either shooting in the short side of the goal, like straight in the stomach of the goalkeeper almost, or I was shooting outside the goal. So, I was not a very good wing player. I scored my goals in fast break, but from the wing, I was not shooting good at all.”

At that time, Herrem was still with her first club — and the club she plays for now, having returned there in 2017 after some adventures abroad: Sola HK. She credits the more experienced wings ahead of her in those years with teaching her a lot.

“We also had a coach who was in trainings many times, and he was a very good right wing. He was the one who taught me how to like trick, so it was like a big learning experience for me,” says Herrem.

“When I was 17, 18, the wing player who was in front of me, she got pregnant. And then it was like, ‘OK, now it's my turn to be like the first wing player.'

“Maybe I can do something good at this position”

Prior to that, Herrem was mainly playing right wing, sharing time with Tonje Nøstvold, with whom Herrem would go on to win national team medals and is now part of the Sola coaching staff.

“I was not like, loving the life on the wing in this time of age,” Herrem laughs, but she promised herself to make the most of the chance.

“I started to learn more and more, and I could see myself getting better from the wing position, building up more muscles to endure the speed.

“When I was 19, I got an offer from Byasen in the middle of the season to go there. They were playing Champions League at the time. When I came there, I still don't feel like I was a very good wing player, but at the end, I had the speed and fast break.

“I came there 2nd of January and I think I played my first game with them 4th of January and then the first Champions League 6th of January. So, it was like full speed ahead, but for me, it was like I just needed to learn on my way also and have patience with myself. Wanting to learn, wanting to improve, especially also building up my body with the jumping, get more muscles, and just become a stronger wing player.

“It was at this time I realised that, ‘OK, maybe I can do something good at this position,’ and just two months after I came to Byasen, I got drafted to the national team. Everything happened so fast. So, that was my experience of this position. So, every time in trainings I have a possibility to be a middle back, I will take it!

“For me now, of course I enjoy playing a wing and I feel like maybe my like, legacy, [is that] someone can see me play and like, catch some of the things that I started to do in my position and then they can carry on with the same.”

“If you're scared of failing, I think it's sad”

Now, having enjoyed a long and successful career, Herrem must be considered one of the legends of the wing position. While she has played for clubs outside Norway — Baia Mare, Holstebro and Vardar — and featured in 13 seasons of the EHF Champions League, including the current one, Herrem’s biggest achievements in terms of medals have been achieved with the national team.

For Norway, she retired at the end of the EHF EURO 2024 with 951 goals in 332 matches. A true crowd pleaser, many of Herrem’s goals were spectacular.

“But for me, especially the trick and fast break, for me this is a normal shot, because I'm so used to doing this type of shot, so in my head it's not like, a fancy thing. It's just like, ‘OK, if I jump more on the right then I can see the goalkeeper is coming with me, then it's easy for me to take this shot because I know the goalkeeper won't reach it,’” says Herrem.

“From a young age, my role model in handball, on the pitch, was Anja Andersen. I remember just having this tape of her doing different types of shots and showing just her in training, what she did and how she did it. I studied that tape so hard — that was like, when it was VHS time.

“You can just see that she was enjoying herself on the pitch and in a playful way and, for me, this is almost the most important thing. Just try and do different types of things in the field and not be scared of failing because if you're scared of failing, I think it's sad. I've missed so many trick shots myself, but it's something you need to try on the field if you're going to succeed. And I always did that, in a young age.

“My mum told me, I was like 11 years old and I came on a fast break and I did like, a backhand on fast break, so in my entire life, I always liked to experiment with different types of shots and doing different type of things, because it was my way of playing and doing it a playful way.”

While Andersen was Herrem’s biggest inspiration, she was and is not the sole influence on Herrem’s game.

“I always love watching a good trick shot from players and I've also watched many male players do trick shots. I was like going back and forth, back and forth with Uwe Gensheimer. I don't even know how many times I go back and forth watching him like, trick the ball, because his wrist is just out of this world and I was like, I don't think my wrist can even do that, you know? So, it's also fun for me to watch other players do the same trick and trying to learn different types of way you can do it. But I also know that it's fun to watch.”

“Of course, in my head, I always score”

Talking about watching other players, Herrem is one of those who does her own video study before a game. “I watch the goalkeeper before every match. I have shots from the wing of the goalkeeper that we will meet and shots from fast break of the goalkeeper.

“Even I did this when I was playing against Katrine Lunde, you know, when she played in Vipers, even though I know her so well,” says Herrem of her long-time national teammate, who herself retired from the Norway team at the end of 2025.

“I will watch the three last games, and I will take all the wing shots and all the fast breaks. This is normal for me to do.”

Herrem does her goalkeeper study the day before the match in question. On game day, she also has quite a specific approach.

“I have this routine in the locker room: When everyone goes out from the locker room, I stay alone in the locker room and I have a song that I'm listening to. Meanwhile I'm just closing my eyes and then I’m on the field in my mind, and I'm shooting shots from the wing and I'm shooting shots from the fast break. And then of course, in my head, I always score!

“But then I'm like, ‘OK, I'm thinking about this goalkeeper. I'm thinking about what she likes to do in the wing shots, in the fast break, and I'm imagining me shooting this shot and scoring, just to be like, mentally prepared. So, when I'm going out there, I know what to do. I can't always do it — of course, I miss my shots. But I'm doing the things that I will always be prepared for every game.”

“Wing players are more involved with the defence and maybe creating a bigger role for themselves”

So, the time comes to step on court for a match. Looking to the two ends of the court, Herrem enjoys the challenge of reading the game that is a crucial part of defence.

“I love playing defence. If we have a training and you have like, a focus on attack, I would rather ask the coach to put me in defence, because I think it's so fun reading the play; reading the players; reading the arm, if they go on the right side and seeing, ‘OK, is the arm high? Is the arm low? Is it possible to take the ball?’” she says.

“For me, defence is so much fun. And, of course, it's where I can do more things also as a wing player. And I think seeing the development in wing players in defence also in the last years, it's so much more fun, because now you can see number twos are going more up in the middle, the wing player is following. The wing players are more like, what can I say, more free and have a more important job to do than just stand there and wait for a fast break.

“I feel like the wing players are more involved with the defence and maybe creating a bigger role for themselves and, so, this is something that I appreciate. And for me, it's all about reading the game. ‘How can I create something good for my number two beside me? How can I play in a way that's hard for the right back to go between one and two?’

“Many of the teams that we're playing against know that I like to take the ball, for instance. I've done this for the national team also for many years and they know me as a player, but for me, then it's fun when it actually works in the game. I know that they talked about it, I know everything, but when you still can do it, this is just like, for me, about when you read the game.”

Concerning attack, now we can add the fact that she was a centre back and relished being so involved in the game to the familiar way she shows so much joy on the court, one might guess Herrem finds some comedy in the fact that her job in positional play is most often to wait in anticipation.

“You could go 60 minutes and you can have like one attempt in the corner. And suddenly, you can have like seven attempts, you know. You're just standing there, like, watching the game,” says Herrem, highlighting what makes attack most interesting for her: The chance to read what the opponents are doing and help the overall team strategy.

“Because of all the experience I had with handball and the national team and everything, I can see like the bigger picture, maybe give them [the backs and line player] some advice also. If I see like, ‘OK, she's doing this. She's coming further in defence, the number two — maybe we should try this so we can go between one and two.’ Just trying to give some advice for the players outside.

“But as a wing player, you're just waiting to get the ball and hope for the best. And you use a lot of time watching the game and then you run home and then you run back again, so you're very dependent on the other players, because you can't do so much without them.”

“Today, I would still do the same shot but hopefully it would go inside”

Having celebrated two Olympic gold medals, three world titles and six EHF EURO trophies in the course of her national team career, along with six other medals, Herrem has played her share of high-pressure end-of-tournament stage matches. The matches that can get the most competitive with everything on the line.

As she highlights, a wing can stand in their position for almost the whole match without taking a shot — and then suddenly be called on for the shot that matters the most.

“If you're not ready to take the last shot at the last second, you should not be out there. It's hard to be the one that will end the game, and you need to trust yourself to be like, ‘OK, if I get the ball at this time, I will do what I always do and keep my head cool. But of course, it's been many games, tight games, especially with the national team, my pulse is getting higher and higher because you never know when you get like, the final shot or the most important shot,” says Herrem.

She names a specific instance where she missed: The 2016 Olympic semi-final against Russia, which went to overtime.

“I've been on both sides of this type of shot — in 2016, in the Olympics, I had the last shot, doing the lob that I do so many times and it goes like, just barely outside. And I would do this shot every time if the goalkeeper did this, so it was not like, something special that I did. Today, I would still do the same shot but hopefully it would go inside.

“Then also, I've been on the other side, like, with the goal that ends the game. So, you just need to have this mentality that you want to be on the field when these type of games are playing, because if you're thinking out there on your position like, ‘oh, please don't give me the ball, please don't give me the ball, I don't want to take this shot,’ you know, then it's hard to be there.”

“You're not a bad handball player because you're having a bad day”

Herrem says another situation that can be tough to deal with is having an off day. “I feel like this is something that so many players go through also, and for me, it's just about, ‘OK, how do I handle this situation, if I'm having a bad game? How do I turn it to be like more positive in my way?’ You're not a bad handball player because you're having a bad day.”

Herrem is now into her second EHF Champions League season with Sola, eyeing her 40th birthday in October and going strong. That continuance is due to her sense of enjoyment of the game and the personal challenge of striving to keep improving.

“I think you can always get better. That's the fun thing about playing sports because, in my opinion, if someday you just get, like, satisfied with what you do, maybe mentally, you're not like quite there. In my case, I always try to get better in every stage in the game, so different types of shots, trying things in defence and trying to read the game more and more. And I think that's what it's all about.”

Main and feature images © 2026 Hans Lie / @sportsfoto