WHAT IS BEACH HANDBALL?
Who are we?
PHILOSOPHY
Our philosophy is to inspire growth of Beach Handball in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Enjoyment ultimately will breed success. Continue building on current skills and experiences to become a competitive nation at World Events. This starts by developing and encouraging the growth of Beach Handball in our own backyard.
Regular high-quality National Camps.
Growing player numbers who are committed to Beach.
Competitive Regular Games of the best players in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Our Identity
The New Zealand Handball Federation, recognises that beach Handball would not be possible without Tangata Whenua looking after the land, particularly the beautiful beaches that beach handball is played on. Beach handball also requires Kotahitanga both between our players and their connection with the sand. We wanted to honour this connection and appreciation of the land while telling our beach handball journey through the medium of our shirt design. We were extremely fortunate to have been designed a Taonga for New Zealand Beach Handball.
The original design on the new uniforms was created by Paige Wilson of Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Rangi descent to give mana and strength to the athletes of the New Zealand Beach Handball Team. The design acknowledges who we are and who we are representing at tournaments. The design upholds the mana of those who played before us and all our whānau who have supported the athletes along their sporting journey. Māori are the tāngata whenua of Aotearoa, and having a Māori design on the uniforms is important to acknowledge the people, the land and the culture in New Zealand as well as in an International arena. Each pattern has significant meaning, like the pakati symbolises the qualities ascribed to warriors, such as courage, strength and honour. The pattern within the design is a ‘ahu ahu mataora’ which represents talent, skill, facing new challenges and achievement in sport. The connecting lines between all patterns are called manawa (heart) which represents the connection and aroha between players and their whānau and helps bring protection towards the players.
The Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball sides wore this shirt with honour at the Oceania Beach Handball Championships and while competing in the Australian Beach Handball Championships and will continue to wear it for years to come. We want to thank both Paige and Tahndae Wyatt for the mahi they have put in to make this happen.
WHAT IS BEACH HANDBALL
The video below does an excellent job in explaining the sport of Beach Handball