Humans of Beach Handball: Oliver Middell

Time and time again, sports create special moments. One of those moments occurred on a Sunday evening in July 2025 in Alanya, Türkiye. A few seconds after the last penalty shot of the Spanish team hit the sand and bounced away from the goal line, a swarm of black-and-white jerseys stormed at goalkeeper Oliver Middell, jubilant over what this moment meant for German beach handball.

Two years after missing out on the EHF Beach Handball EURO title and one year after missing out on a World Championship medal, the team of head coach Marten Franke had done it. For the first time in history, a German men’s beach handball national team were crowned champions of Europe. 

No wonder that Middell ranks his 2025 right at the top of his career, “without a doubt.” Apart from winning gold in Türkiye, the player of 12 Monkeys Köln BHC was named the best goalkeeper of the EURO, reached the final of the German championship, placed fourth with his team at the ebt Finals, was also chosen as the best goalkeeper of that tournament, and was then named MVP of the season at the EHF Excellence Awards.

“Four prizes that I had never won before. It was by far the most successful and, yes, actually the best beach year I've ever had,” Middell says. Funnily enough, a lucky coincidence paved the way for all of this to even happen. 

Lucky coincidence for “summer child” Middell

When Middell moved from Dusseldorf to Cologne to study there, he also moved clubs. At HSV Bocklemünd, he met the Zeyen brothers. Both play for German beach handball powerhouse 12 Monkeys Köln BHC and quickly invited Middell to join the pair on the sand.

“I was really up for it. I'm a summer child. I love summer. I used to go on holiday every summer, spending the whole day on the beach in 30- or 40-degree Celsius heat, so naturally I think all beach sports are just cool,” Middell explains and adds: “It is a different world we are living in in summer. With all the cool people there is also somehow a different kind of cohesion than indoors.”

Now, only a few years on from these first sessions in the sand, Tobias Zeyen and Oliver Middell have won the EHF Beach Handball EURO together, as well as a couple of German championships alongside Sebastian Zeyen. 

A mix of emotions, intuition and video studying

Oliver Middell is a goalkeeper with great reflexes and a good read for situations. 

“You usually don’t face normal shots in beach handball. With spin shots in particular, you often see the arm very, very late because of the blocking defenders. This means that you either have to rely on your instincts or you have much less reaction time.”

Since taking beach handball more seriously, getting the drive to fight for championships, Middell doesn’t only trust his instincts, but also relies on watching videos of his opponents. 

“The level of performance has increased enormously. That’s why I use video analysis both in the national team and with the 12 Monkeys. We always get a bit of a laugh when we open our PowerPoint presentation at the German championships. But it's actually true, I always prepare with video for the national team and for the German championships or important international tournaments.”

Another key element to his game are his emotions. However, this side of him and his national team buddies had to develop over some time.

“I notice this not only for myself, but also in general. I think it has developed in the national team over the last two or three years, as we have become more and more successful. I remember the European Championships 2021 in Varna. We actually performed well there, but I felt that we weren't really emotionally invested, and I think that has improved with every tournament since then.

"Now we regularly cheer everyone on. I think that by showing your emotions, you not only improve your own performance, but also the performance of others, because you give them confidence.”

“I used to not be the emotional type, but especially in the national team at important tournaments, I find that it really boosts performance." 

After placing 12th in Varna, the team finished second and first at the following EUROs. It is safe to say that this emotional development had a great impact on the team’s performance.

“Best year of my beach handball career”

An eventful 2025 was made even more special in December with the EHF Excellence Award.

“It is a tremendous honour. I never imagined I would be recognised in this way,” Middell says. His situation in the national team makes these awards even more special: “When I found out that I had been named the best goalkeeper at the EURO, I couldn't quite believe it. I was part of the team as the second goalkeeper, because Moritz Ebert is the first-choice keeper, and rightly so, as he regularly does a fantastic job.”

“We get on very, very well both on and off the court. Of course, we would both love to play a lot. But I think each of us would trade our saves for the European Championship title. If you end up with zero saves but you win the title, then that's how it is, and we'll both be happier than if one of us was the best goalkeeper, but we finished fourth.”

These words are no surprise to those who follow the journey of the team. From the outside, the EURO felt like a school class trip of 12 friends, who were also enjoying the sport they love to play.

Middell shares some insights: “We've all known each other for many years now, and we see each other every summer and have a good time together. It also gets heated sometimes, when we're playing against each other, of course. There are just a lot of emotions that bring us together, and now the successes even more so.

"We sit together in the evenings. We used to always play Wizard or Uno; now we play Mario Kart together quite a lot. I think that's also part of the reason for our success, that we've all become a great team and our bond has become so strong.”

Even though Middell has achieved so much in 2025, he is still hungry for more.

“I would say that we’ve got a taste for success with the national team now, and we don't want to come down from that high so quickly. We want to compete at the top level in Europe and the world in the coming years. None of us has become world champion yet. That’s our next big goal. It would also be great to win an international title with the 12 Monkeys. We haven't managed that yet at the ebt Finals and the Champions Cup. I definitely want to achieve that, too.”

all images © kolektiff