PRESS RELEASE

THW-YOUNGstar: scholarship within your reach Young talents train in the final of the funding concept THW-YOUNGstar with Bundesliga pros of THW Kiel

Kiel, 20 February 2017. THW-YOUNGstar – The final of the young talent competition initiated by the filling stations and unique in handball will be held from 22 to 26 February in Kiel. Seven selected handball kids have already fought their way up three levels over a period of six months and are now training in the star excellence week under supervision of the THW young talent coaches to try to achieve their great dream. THW top coach Alfreð Gíslason and the Bundesliga pros and will assess the young talents. The tension is rising. With the star excellence week, the big final in the young talent funding concept THW-YOUNGstar is right around the corner. Seven young, talented handball players have qualified, who have left behind well over 100 competitors in day camps of the metropolitan regions North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and (level 2) and the weekend camp in Kiel (level 3). Their dream of becoming the first THW-YOUNGstar has now come very close for the handball-loving kids with their entry into the final. In the star excellence week in Europe's handball capital, Kiel, the young talents will train and live for five days from Wednesday like the Bundesliga pros of THW Kiel and will be put through their paces by their coaches. In addition to varied sessions in the training hall of the "Zebras", the 11- to 14-year-olds can look forward to challenging exercises at FIT Kiel and several team training sessions with the U15 elite squad of the German record champion. Other highlights, such as a visit to the VELUX EHF Champions League game between THW Kiel and BSV Bjerringbro-Silkeborg or a tour to the "handball temple" Sparkassen-Arena round off the action-packed week in Kiel. A celebrity visit has also been announced. From among the ranks of the THW Bundesliga pros, coach Alfreð Gíslason and the THW-YOUNGstar mentor players Andreas Wolff and Patrick Wiencek will make a personal assessment of the seven talents. "I've followed the project through all the levels with great excitement and now look forward to finally standing in the hall with the children myself," explains Andreas Wolff, who was recently elected Germany's "Handball Player of the Year". Line Player Patrick Wiencek, Wolff's teammate at THW Kiel and in the national team, adds: "I'm excited to see what the finalists are made of in the joint training. Maybe my successor is already waiting in the wings." For Wieslaw Milkiewicz, managing director and press officer of the filling station brand star and sponsor of the young talent funding concept THW-YOUNGstar, the excellence week is the highlight of the competition. "The talents train and live like their great role models from THW Kiel for five days. So I really hope that this unique experience gives them a really big

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boost of motivation. We launched the competition to promote young handball players and talented children from all over Germany – and we've already achieved great success in this – regardless of which child becomes the first THW-YOUNGstar at the end of this final phase." Mannhard Bech, founder of the handball camps and initiator of the project, is also looking ahead excitedly to the fourth and decisive level. "At the weekend camp, the talents got an impression of what they can look forward to in the star excellence week: Intensive, demanding training and exciting insights into Germany's most successful handball club. I'm sure the big final will deliver what it promises."

For further information and questions about the young talent funding concept THW- YOUNGstar, please contact:

Sebastian Zuther Managing Director CommEvent Management GmbH Dorothea-Erxleben-Straße 4 24145 Kiel [email protected] Tel: +49 (0)431 - 69670 - 25 Fax: +49 (0)431 - 69670 - 50

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star – a Strong Brand from ORLEN Deutschland GmbH star is the petrol station brand of ORLEN Deutschland GmbH, which has been operating more than 570 petrol stations in the northern half of Germany since 2003. The company, based in Elmshorn near Hamburg, is part of the Polish mineral oil and petrochemical group PKN ORLEN SA, which is the largest Central Eastern European group, with an annual turnover of 21 billion euros in 2015.

PKN ORLEN SA is listed in Warsaw and London and is represented on the petrol station market in Eastern and Central Europe with a total of 2,700 service stations in Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and Lithuania. In recent years, major investments have been made in Lithuania and the Czech Republic to bring the group a step closer to its goal of becoming the leading oil company in Central Europe.

Contact: ORLEN Deutschland GmbH Wieslaw Milkiewicz, Managing Director and Press Officer Telephone: +49 (0)4121 / 4750 - 1609, [email protected]

Isabel Scherer / Team Leader Marketing & Corporate Communications Telephone: Telephone +49 (0)4121 / 4750 – 1610, [email protected]

THW Kiel Handball-Bundesliga GmbH & Co. KG THW Kiel is the most successful and best-known German handball team of the past two decades. The “Zebras” have won the German championship 20 times, more than any other team. The team from Kiel has also won the DHB Cup nine times, which is also a record. And no German team has won the European “top class”, the Champions League, more often than THW Kiel. The team from Kiel has triumphed three times in this most important sport club competition in the world. “Tradition lives through sport” is the motto of THW Kiel, which promotes and encourages talents through intensive work with youngsters. For the THW, for Kiel and for handball in Germany.

Contact: Christian Robohm / Press Officer Telephone: +49 (0) 431/670 39-19, [email protected]

HANDBALL-CAMP Handball-Camp is a brand of CommEvent Management GmbH, based in Kiel. Founded in 2003, the agency is Europe’s largest provider of handball camps, with more than 5,000 participants per year in more than 200 locations. Skilled camp trainers and almost 20 permanent employees provide the planning, organisation and implementation of the events. Founder Mannhard Bech was a player at THW Kiel and the German handball national team. The 48-year-old also trains a team associated with THW Kiel in the 3rd league, TSV Altenholz.

Contact: CommEvent Management GmbH Mannhard Bech / Managing Director Telephone: +49 (0) 431 / 69670 – 20, [email protected] Sebastian Zuther / Managing Director Telephone: +49 (0) 431 / 69670 – 25, [email protected]

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