Meet handball talent Wendell Ludewig-Vieira

At just 19, Wendell Ludewig-Vieira has already packed more into five years of handball than many athletes manage in a decade. The Nottingham Handball Club player has progressed rapidly from school and club level to the international stage, winning gold with Great Britain at the 5th IHF Emerging Nations Championship and earning selection across GB Men’s, M18 and M20 squads.

In 2024, Wendell competed in EHF competitions with both age-group teams, before representing Great Britain again at the M18 IHF Trophy in January 2025. Wendell’s rise has been fuelled by consistent training – strength and conditioning work in the gym around game practice too. Wendell cites basketball legend Lebron James as his sporting inspiration, this former U19 National Champion hopes to emulate his hero’s success and longevity in the sport. With senior international ambitions firmly in sight, Wendell is part of a new wave shaping the future of British handball.

EARLY YEARS

Tell us about your first success in your sport?
Under 19s Nationals Champions in 2023

What was the name of your first sports club?
Nottingham handball club was my first handball team and the one I still currently play for.

GRASSROOTS

What would you say to someone thinking about trying your sport?
Try it out definitely to see if you might enjoy it because it’s not as popular a sport in the UK so you meet a lot of great coaches with a real passion for it that put in extra effort to improve their players but still make it an enjoyable experience for all players.

What do you wish you’d known when you first started out?
Always set multiple goals with time limits that challenge you into working extra hard. This helps gaining more skills or better fitness but also helps track improvements and what works.

What initiatives are happening to get people into your sport?
Many club coaches and the England handball association are trying to reach out to more schools to start after school clubs so they may join competitions that England handball host for the younger generation.

HEROES

Which sportspeople do you admire now, and why?
Lebron James because his longevity in being one of the greatest in his sport shows that there is always more that you can achieve for yourself. He showed this by never dropping the level of effort that he puts into training and games allowing him to keep reaching new heights consistently for over 20 years.

TRAINING

How often do you train?
Roughly 9 times per week including Training sessions and gym sessions.

Describe a typical training session
It would start with a pulse raiser followed by static and dynamic stretches, then usually would go into a passing warm-up, often in the form of a mini game. Then follows any variation of a shooting / keeper warm up. After that we would go into about 4-6 defensive or offensive tactical drills the coach had planned for the majority of the session, often ending the session with a game of 7v7. Lastly, cool down.

What is your favourite training session/exercise/drill?
Any drills that involve repeated shooting practice against a defender, a keeper or both.

Best piece of advice from your coach?
Write things down. Whether this is new plays, defensive tactics, or just personal skills that coaches said you need to work on. This will help with goal setting and just remembering tactics.

Which part of your body suffers the most in your sport?
My right shoulder for sure.

What’s the toughest thing about being an athlete?
Making sure you get enough rest without missing training or games, especially when injuries happen.

What’s the hardest part/skill in your sport to master?
The speed of your decision making in game because the timings of your teammates or the oppositions defence/ keeper is almost never the same.

Progress, not perfection. If you keep improving every week, the results will come

MOTIVATION

What’s your training mantra?
Progress not perfection

How do you keep going mentally when things get tough?
Celebrate the smallest of things that teammates or I do out loud and as exaggerated as I can to help bring back confidence in myself and others.

What’s been your greatest sporting moment so far?
I was extremely happy being able to play my debut match for the GB Men’s at the start of the qualifying tournament and finish off with a 6-goal game.

How do you deal with defeats/set-backs?
Give myself just a day to be as upset as possible about it then after that only allowed to reflect on it by coming up with solutions.

What do you do to freshen-up your training routine?
I adjust the routine to challenge the different aspects of training like power, strength, control or coordination. Other than that, searching up different variations of the same exercises keeps it from getting boring

NUTRITION

What performance foods do you enjoy most and why?
Eggs are my all-time favourite because they are easy to make and there’s a variety of ways you can have them. I also really like sweet potatoes for no particular reason.

What are your go-to feel-good treats?
Chocolate chip cookies or Maltesers.

How does nutrition improve your performance?
Maintaining my proper diet is what gives me the chance or giving 100% effort every training session and game because it gives my body the best chance to recover quickly between sessions. This means I can play better for longer amounts of time when we have back to back tournament games because I can stay focused on finding solutions in the game rather than preserving energy for later.

Have you got a favourite recipe you can share?
A one pot consisting of pulled beef, pepperoni, rice, bell peppers, and tomato.

TOP TIPS

Any go-to fitness tips you can recommend?
Definitely incorporating compound lifts and exercises in the gym when starting out to build a good foundation for strength. Frequency is the best for improvement rather than huge volume training sessions do shorter intense ones more often. Compete against yourself constantly and vary the exercises you do in training to keep things interesting.

What’s the hardest skill in your sport to perfect?
Jump shots over the defense require a lot of power, body control, good timing and reactions to the block as well as the keeper

Advice on preparing mentally to get involved
The best thing that has worked for me is using positive imaging which is vividly picturing everything you are going to do in the game in which you succeed – whether it’s scoring every shot or stopping every single attack in front of you or throwing perfect assist passes every time.

FUN STUFF

Can you share three quirky facts not many people know about you

Are there any sports you aren’t good at?
There’s no way I could look remotely natural playing Ice hockey.

How do you unwind away from sport?
Learning or listening to music and a lot of sleeping.

What are plans, aims and for 2026?
First off, to continue being invited back to training and playing with the Great Britain Men’s team and ultimately my goal is to achieve a Man of the Match in an international game or competition.