According to the amendment to the Government Decree on Sports Academies published on 29 December 2020, methodological centres will be designated in three sports on the basis of a ministerial proposal in the future, and the National Academy of Handball will play this role in handball over the next four years by means of a company set up by itself for this purpose. The educational and research centre in football, basketball and handball sports science helps sports academies and works to promote their effectiveness. This is a great honour and an important milestone in the life of NEKA.

The National Academy of Handball has become the methodological centre of the handball sport, which is a key role. As prof. dr. h.c. Lajos Mocsai, Director General of Sports and Sports Science at NEKA, formulated it, in addition to the honour, this also represents a huge responsibility for NEKA.

"It is a very important stage in our lives, it is an honour because we have been entrusted with implementation on the basis of the work done since its founding and the system, we have built up so far. Handball academies form similar units, but as NEKA has been operating since 2013, the possibilities are different from the academies that have just recently been established. From the outset, the need for the preparation, education, diagnostics, controlling, training and performance analysis of handball players was conducted on a sports scientific basis. As a result, the suitability of the National Handball Academy is indisputable, since it has privileged opportunities to carry out exemplary work and to develop an education system, by which the work of talent development in the Hungarian handball sport is constantly under control.

Future plans include for NEKA to become a sports diagnostic centre where it is possible to track and measure the work of different clubs or national teams, to diagnose with a set of sports scientific tools and to analyse performance by highly qualified professionals. It is important to point out that the developing infrastructure and scientific tools of the University of Physical Education also provide strong support for this. We have a tremendous job ahead of us and we are ready to work with the other academies" – he said.

Tamás Mocsai, managing director stressed that NEKA, as a methodological centre, has to fulfill serious tasks using the knowledge and experience of professionals:

"In addition to the Puskás Football Academy and the Rátgéber Basketball Academy, the National Academy of Handball has become a centre of excellence, as these institutions provide daily development and education. It is important that we use our professional work to help develop talent, elite athlete training and act as a sport scientific training, research and diagnostic centre. We have a serious and complex task ahead of us, because in addition to the above, the organisation of sports-specific conferences, the publication of professional    journals, the sharing of sports-related analytics and a knowledge library will be among the obligations of the methodological centre. The development of the sport has always been one of the main missions of the National Academy of Handball, and we would like to keep supporting this concept and cooperate with the Hungarian academies as well.”

 

Methodological centres:

Handball - NEKA Healthcare Services Ltd.

Basketball - Rátgéber Basketball Academy Foundation

Football - Foundation for Talent Development in Felcsút