The flagship of women's handball: HCD Gröbenzell is celebrating its 50th birthday

Created: 06/30/2022, 09:15 am

This is how it started: In 1972, the first girls' handball team was formed at HCD Gröbenzell.

(Reproduction) © Dieter Metzler

There is reason to celebrate at HCD Gröbenzell.

The successful women's handball club has been around for 50 years.

Gröbenzell – HCD Gröbenzell has undergone an impressive development in its history.

What was just a girls' team in 1972 has now - 50 years later - become a real force in German handball.

And in the anniversary year of all things, the Gröbenzellers also achieved one of the greatest successes in the club's history: winning the championship in the 3rd division.

However, HCD did not accept the self-made gift of promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga.

The anniversary is celebrated anyway.

It's about more than just placements

Even the waiver of promotion shows that the club ticks a little differently than most other clubs.

"For us, success doesn't necessarily just consist of placings and results," says trainer Harald Fischer, adding, "but also from commitment and the mentality to give everything, as well as a social component." The sports director Hendrik Pleines, himself HCD for many years -Trainer, adds: "Coaches only accept the challenges at HCD if they are self-confident, courageously prioritize opportunities over risks and are at peace with themselves in terms of sport." That attracts doers.

"And I can feel that on every corner of the club."

President Rüdiger Hoch, who has been in charge of the association for twelve years now, is also an advocate of this social orientation.

"I know a lot of players who grew up at HCD and became self-confident personalities.

I am convinced that handball has made an important contribution to this.” The manageable size of the club creates an independent identity that would be difficult to achieve as a department of a large club.

The many committed members play a significant role in this.

"If I'm proud, it's in all the people who have shaped and shaped the HCD in this way for 50 years," says Hoch.

Dambach works supported the club

The HCD was launched on May 19, 1972, when a group of handball enthusiasts met in the former "Waldstüberl" in Gröbenzell.

At that time, no club in Gröbenzell offered handball for women and girls.

This gap should be closed.

The club was given the name "Handballclub Dambach Gröbenzell", HCD for short, named after the company Dambach Werke, which supported the club.

Over the years, the club was given the name "Gröbenzell Women's Handball Club".

The training and game operations began with a single girls team (under 14 years of age), back then on the sports field of the Ährenfeld School.

At that time, the contribution was 50 pfennigs per month for children and one mark for adults.

The club color was dark blue and yellow-orange.

Blue is still the jersey color of the teams today.

And today the Wildmooshalle is filled every day, so to speak, from the minis to the children's and youth teams to the two women's teams.

HCD made it into the 2nd division twice

In the early years, no one dared to dream that HCD would one day establish itself in the 3rd division.

The promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga in 1989 after only ten years of playing was therefore almost unbelievable.

But the Gröbenzellers could not hold out there.

In 2017, under Hendrik Pleines and Harald Fischer, the HCD managed to make the leap up the ladder for a second time – even if it was only for a year.

Nevertheless, it was great fun, says Fischer.

At the same time, the 2nd team from the lowest class climbed up to the state league.

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The HCD is also a good address when it comes to youth work.

While the teams initially learned a lot, the youngsters won several Upper and South Bavarian, Bavarian and South German championship titles over time.

The A youth belonged to the youth league from 2017 to 2019.

And Gröbenzell talents like Verena Oßwald (Bad Wildungen), Lisa Antl (Borussia Dortmund) or Leonie Henkel (VfL Waiblingen) have long been playing in the Bundesliga.

"We want to continue to be the contact point for the best handball players in Gröbenzell and the greater Munich area with our teams," says Pleines.

In doing so, they want to bring the successful youth work of the last 20 years back to the fore and get more girls excited about the HCD.

Pleines formulates a clear goal: "Every year to integrate our own talents from the HCD juniors into the women's teams." (Dieter Metzler)