Exploring the importance of coaches in the development of the sports career in Handball. The perception of athletes from higher and lower levels of success.

Our study aims to analyse the perception of elite handball players, belonging to generations with different levels of success, on: i) how they characterize their most important club and national team coach; ii) how they characterize their preferential coach in the different stages of their sports career (Bloom, 1985).Fourteen athletes were interviewed based on the interview protocol of Gould, Dieffenbach and Moffett (2002). In the specialization years, the most successful athletes reported that they had one coach in the club, and at the same time a national team coach, that permanently marked their sports career and their personality.All athletes reported that detailed knowledge about the sport was the most important characteristic of their most important club and national team coaches, throughout the specialization years in addition to a strong insistence on perfection. According to the perception of the most successful athletes, their reference coaches taught directly and indirectly (caring, paying attention, shaping the personality) and also emphasized expectations, hard work, discipline and the attitude that hard work pays off. In addition, both club and national team coaches devoted their time to the planning of individualized training programs, particularly in the specializations years