Kia ora koutou katoa e te whānau Aotearoa Handball!
Down to the business end of the indoor season with a busy few weeks coming up.
First up, after a two year hiatus, it’s all systems go for the NZ Handball Club Champs at Wellington’s fabulous ASB Centre, 9-11 September. We have five teams registered to compete in the Women’s side of the tournament, and seven Men’s teams from around the country. Fingers crossed the pandemic and weather gods don’t disrupt us this time round! For those not playing, the showcase part of the tournament will be taking place on Sunday, with spectator seating being organised from noon and livestreaming of the main court. It should be a great event, so get amongst it if you can.
Massive thanks the Wellington City Council for coming through with a generous grant to support the event.
Next up on the official calendar is the NZHF AGM, being held via Zoom on Sunday 25 September. While this is primarily a forum for our member Clubs, any NZHF stakeholder is welcome to attend. Details will be circulated to Clubs in the first half of September, with openings coming up on the NZHF Executive Committee for anyone interested in contributing to New Zealand Handball at a governance level.
We then have the Regional Champs being held at Pioneer Stadium in Christchurch in the first weekend of October to finish off the season. That will be the chance for the best of the best from each of the major handball regions of New Zealand to test themselves against each other. Again, there’s been a two year pause on that event due to Covid-lockdowns, so there should be plenty of pent-up inter-region rivalry to make it one to remember.
While all this is going on, Antoine Desnos (referees@handball.org.nz) is continuing to run his referees pathway programme for those keen on taking their refereeing to the next level – or just getting more familiar with the intricacies of the rules. And of course, we have our Men’s Junior and Youth squads preparing for the IHF Trophy later in the year.
Looking to the North, a big shout out to Auckland Region Handball for managing to hold an Under 20 tournament at the start of the month. Having finally managed to evade Aunty Covid which caused the cancellation of prior attempts to run Under 20 tournaments over the past year or so, Uncle Fog came to the party to disrupt travel, with the Canterbury team hardest hit at the last minute. Nevertheless, a great tournament was still able to be hosted, with plenty of emerging talent on display. Congratulations to Otago Handball for lifting the Under 20 Trophy for 2022, and special thanks to all the volunteers and the Auckland Region Handball Committee for their commitment to making this important event happen.
And congratulations as well to the Victoria University Handball Club Men’s Team for making it through to the final of the Wellington Men’s league to take on reigning champions the Northern Aguilas on Sunday 28th. It should be a great clash. On the Women’s side of the league, Victoria University Handball Club take on the Spartanz for the title - the Spartanz have had the wood on them this year so far, but have the scarfies been holding something back? Both games (and the Men’s play off for 3rd) will be livestreamed.
As always, if you have any queries about anything mentioned in this update or anything else New Zealand handball-related, please get in touch.
David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation