Half-way through February already, and the handball programme for 2021 is well underway.
First up, we hope you were able to catch some of the action from the recently completed men’s handball world champs live-streamed from Egypt. Some great action and great coverage, with the New Zealand handball community able to have some skin in the games for the first time through our agreement with the TAB. Congratulations to the Danes for making it back to back wins.
Back home, and the programme for the year ahead is taking shape. The first major event on the calendar is the national beach champs in Christchurch at the start of March. The beach programme this summer has been a raging success so far, and the grand finale is shaping up to be a goodie.
Later in March, we have a final beach camp scheduled to conclude the summer beach programme. Heading into January we were still hopeful of some Trans-Tasman beach action, but the border issues and latest covid outbreaks mean that won’t be happening this summer.
On the indoor front, the Queenstown South Island Open is locked in for 10/11 April, the senior regionals are set down for Auckland 15-16 May, the NZ Club champs will be held in Wellington 10-12 September and the junior regionals will be held in October. At the time of writing this, we were still putting the finishing touches on planning a junior high-performance camp for mid-March, with the extent of competitive action dependent on numbers. It’s a shame we can’t promise any international competition for either juniors or seniors at this stage, but we are looking to make the most of our domestic opportunities meantime, and keeping fingers crossed for whatever may open up later in the year.
Last, on the admin front, we are progressing the NZHF constitution update, with a draft replacement constitution to be circulated for consultation in March. It may not be the most exciting part of what’s in store, but getting the constitutional framework right should set up the long term success of the organisation, so we look forward to a good level of engagement in that process. Big thanks to Dentons Kensington Swan for coming to the party with some pro bono support for the drafting work.
All the best
The NZHF Executive Committee