Lucy Thornewell, a BSc Psychology student, has brought her handballing skills and international experience to the University of Nottingham, where she now represents the #GreenandGold.
Really nice to speak with you today Lucy. Could you let us know more about the journey you’ve taken in your sport so far?
I started getting into sport at around eleven to twelve years of age. I was lucky enough that whilst I was at school, a coach involved in England Handball was also involved with the school and wanted to promote the sport. Because of this our PE teacher encouraged me and a few others to join the handball sessions that were happening, and at first it wasn’t something that we particularly enjoyed because it was so new and no-one really knew what the sport of handball was.
However, we played in a schools competition where we did really well and from there I began to move into the England Handball pathway. I started in a regional academy and then went into GB selections, and really started to enjoy it and find a love for the sport. When England Handball then introduced the Elite Performance Academy, my year were the first to enrol and we essentially moved to Loughborough College and trained full time for two years.
A natural progression from there was to move abroad and play in Denmark in 2022. I spent the last two years there, with my first year being at a high school where I played full-time whilst getting involved in the culture. In the second year I signed with a club but unfortunately due to visa issues, I ended up moving back and forth between the UK and Denmark. In the end I decided to move back here to start my university studies.
A busy last few years then! You say you didn’t particularly like the sport at first, what was it about the sport that made you carry on and find a love for it?
What made me love it in the end was watching the best players competing at the top level, accompanied with the success that I began to have. Winning is a great feeling and that automatically began to fill me with more confidence and I began to enjoy playing. Handball also incorporates facets of a lot of different sports, and I find it really inclusive. I actually used to be a county netball player, but because of my height I didn’t have the opportunity to progress, whereas in handball I’ve been able to use my quickness and other skills.
What position do you play?
Within the sport you have two wings, two backs, a central player, a line player, and a goalkeeper. All outfield players attack and defend together, but everyone has different roles within the team shape. Out of those I play on the left wing and that is my main position for Great Britain, but I’ve also played quite a bit as a playmaking central player.
What skills do you possess that makes you suited to those positions?
So when I’m on the wing I would say I’m quite jumpy! From the wing you have the hardest angle to shoot from, so if you can jump well you are able to create more opportunities for yourself. You also need to be quick because the wing players are usually the ones who are sprinting up the court on breaks to create opportunities and receive passes from those further back.
If I’m playing more centrally I can use my quick feet and I’m much better at assisting others from the middle. I think having played a lot on the wing and seeing a lot of the game from that viewpoint, I can use that experience to understand where the gaps usually open up.
So you’ve now made the decision to move to the University of Nottingham as a sport scholar and dual-career athlete, how did you come to that choice?
I actually think that I missed learning over the last two years. I had a great time but I would’ve loved to have kept studying. However, having said that I do feel that having the two years away from education after my A-Levels helped me to understand what I wanted to study at university. I think I would’ve gone straight into sport science or human biology, but I had some time to think and found that psychology was the course that really interests me and that’s what I am studying now. The big swing for me to come here was that I could study exactly what I wanted and also continue training and competing at the level I’m at. This is definitely the best place for me to do both.
Why did you eventually land on studying psychology as your degree?
I think there’s two reasons. I’ve always been really intrigued by human behaviour and how people interact with each other, and also when I was in Denmark there was a lot of teaching around how to understand emotions and making yourself a better person. I really enjoyed that and feel that the psychology course here can help me to learn more in that area.
Do you think you’ve been able to use parts from your studies so far and integrate them into your sport?
Yes, I think so. At this stage I think it’s mainly been really helpful in explaining why certain things. For example we recently covered the feeling of attention and how that occurs, and I thought that it definitely helped explain to me why it can be a factor for me individually or within teams in certain situations.
How have you found your short time here as a sports scholar so far?
It’s been really good. Being a sports scholar has really helped a lot because of the additional support that you receive. My first few weeks were quite overwhelming because there’s a lot going on getting used to training alongside studying, but also because I haven’t used my brain in what feels like a long time! I didn’t realise how hard switching back on academically would be initially, but after a few weeks I started to settle and take in information, and I’ve definitely started to really enjoy it. My university schedule is quite spread out so I’ve been able to balance both my academics and sport quite well.
Are you also now a part of the handball club here?
Yes, I have a membership with the club and I recently played a friendly with the team. There’s a few other girls from the youth GB programme here now too, so hopefully we can continue to build the programme here. There’s a wide mix of people within the club as we have players from a range of sporting backgrounds which makes it really interesting and fun to be a part of.
What are your aims whilst you’re here over the next few years?
I think I really want to continue to improve my levels over the next few years with the aim of getting a contract abroad once I’ve finished my studies. I know that the career I’d like to go into after my degree will incorporate aspects of psychology, but I’m not clear on what that will be. I think that I want to keep this separate from sport and not go into sports psychology, but figuring that out is something that I’d like to do over the course of my degree.
What goals do you have within the sport of handball?
As mentioned, playing professionally abroad is a big goal, but internationally with Great Britain I think that the squad has a good foundation. We recently played some world qualifiers, and in my opinion we took a real step forward in terms of our performances. That has given us some confidence and belief and our aim is to get some wins on the board in European competition. It’s so exciting to be a part of the progression within the camp and everyone is really willing to continue to push the programme forward from where it is now. We have monthly training camps which are usually abroad coming up, before more European qualifiers next summer so I’m really looking forward to being a part of those.
We would like to thank Lucy for her time, and look forward to following her journey as a sports scholar at the University of Nottingham and her part in the continued growth of the sport of handball at the university and with the national team.
You can find out more about the sports scholarship programme at the University of Nottingham here; Sports Scholarships at the University of Nottingham.