Viktor Gísli Hallgrímsson – Handball Goalkeeper Inspiring Story

I had the pleasure of getting the chance to get some answers about goalkeeper training questions from an amazing goalkeeper Viktor Gísli Hallgrímsson!

After following the last 2022 Men’s EHF Handball Championship, majority of handball world knows who Viktor is.
But here is just a short introduction of this promising, talented young goalkeeper.

Viktor is a 21 years old handball goalkeeper, playing for GOG Håndbold and for the Icelandic national team.

Viktor’s good performance was noticed already earlier, because he has been making some significant saves and had an important role in his team.

Interview With Viktor

I was very interested and curious to hear more about the beginning of Viktor’s handball goalkeeping story.

Below you can read about how and when Viktor started to play in the goal, and how his goalkeeper practices looked like in the beginning.

1. When did you start to play handball, and did you start as a player or as a goalkeeper?

I started playing handball at 9 years old as a player but quit after a couple of weeks. Then my father encouraged me to start again when i was 11 years old as a goalkeeper.

2. When did you start to play as a goalkeeper and how come you chose a goalkeeper position?

As i said earlier I started as a goalkeeper when I was 11 years old because my father was a handball goalkeeper himself.

3. When did you start with specific goalkeeper training?

My father started with specific goalkeeper training right away. So at 11 i started doing extra footwork practices and some skill work with a tennis ball

4. Who was your first coach? And do you remember on which topics did you work on in the beginning with your goalkeeper coach?

My father was my first coach, he taught me a lot about tricking players into shooting to certain spots. That was his specialty when he played because he was not so tall

5. How often did you work on your goalkeeper specific skills in the beginning, let’s say before you were 14 years old?

Maybe just 2 times a week, nothing too serious, just something light and fun.

6. When did you start dedicating your full focus to handball goalkeeping, when and how did you realize that it wasn’t anymore only a hobby?

At the beginning handball was just an extra sport for me, my main focus was always soccer. But when I was 15 years old, I got a contract to play handball and after that it was just not a hobby anymore.

7. What gives you the biggest motivation in your training, and also in games? What helps you overcome the difficulty or tiredness?

Watching videos of Niklas Landin, that always gets me going! Love watching the way he moves in the goal!

8. What are the most aspects of goalkeeper training for you now and how do you work on them?

Just trying to get a little bit better every day, do something a little bit extra. Some footwork drills, tennis balls or refine my leg kicks and splits/sliding movements.

9. What is your biggest advice for young goalkeepers out there who are just starting with goalkeeping and who want to succeed and achieve big results one day?

Watch other great goalkeepers on YouTube and watch the games, watch how they move and think about why they move the way they do. Then try to take those moves to your own training and make them your own.

10. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Just try to get a little bit better every day!

Thank you for sharing a part of your goalkeeping experience, Viktor! 🙂

I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog post and that you found some inspiration in it!