Kia ora koutou, Aotearoa Handball Whānau!
A mixture of looking back and looking forward in this month’s update as the indoor handball season swings into gear.
Auckland OpEN
I am penning this month’s update hot on the heels of another fabulous Auckland Open. Good numbers attending, lots of tight matches and fierce competition. and some exciting handball talent on display, young and old - a treat to be there to witness the event. New Zealand handball looks to be in a good space.
Congratulations to the Auckland Women’s team for convincingly taking out their section of the event in a round robin competition, and to the Wellington Barbarians for taking out an all-Wellington final against the Vic Uni Turtles in a very closely matched 6 team competition. Congratulations also to Auckland Handball for organising such a smoothly run tournament.
Tournament feedback
With three major tournaments now under our belt for 2023 (Beach Club Champs and the Queenstown and Auckland Opens) we will shortly be circulating a feedback survey to ensure all involved have an opportunity to have their say. We feel there is some great handball product being delivered, but we know there is always room for improvement so would love to hear from you. And don’t feel you need to wait for the survey to have your say - please reach out to secretary@handball.org.nz at any time if you have any feedback you would like us to take on board.
Upcoming events
The Auckland Committee aren’t resting on their laurels with the Auckland Open now done and dusted. They are also hosting a male youth/under 20 tournament over the weekend of 8-9 July, and an equivalent female tournament over the weekend of 5-6 August.
If that age bracket is relevant to you, please do whatever you can to get along - Auckland has a track record of building great competitions, now it’s in the hands of under 20 players to get in behind the opportunity.
Each major region is aiming to send a team to both competitions so please get in contact with your local region for more information on joining that team.
Auckland: info@aucklandhandball.com
Wellington: admin@wellingtonhandball.com
Christchurch: secretary@canterburyhandball.org.nz
Otago: otagohandball@gmail.com
The next scheduled national domestic event is the Club Champs in Wellington on 8-10 September. It’s shaping up to be a great tournament, so make sure you have it locked into your schedule to come along.
We also have various training camps being held for our national representative squads, as well as local trainings taking place in each region. And on the international stage it is now less than ten weeks until the IHF Men’s U19 Handball World Championships…
NZ Youth High Performance
The men’s youth champs in Auckland in July will be the last hit out for our Under 19 Team before they head off to take on the world in Croatia.https://handball.org.nz/youth/current-youth-mens-campaign Thomas and the boys have run an amazing fundraising campaign to help cover the significant costs involved, and have really appreciated the overwhelming support they have received to date - but would also really appreciate any further support anyone is able to provide! They are still looking for a major sponsor to take advantage of the opportunity presented - for more information, contact youth@handball.org.nz.
Of course, it’s not all about the boys. We had a good level of interest in joining our female Under 17 and Under 19 squads, and we have assembled a great coaching unit to support them. The immediate focus of the girls’ campaign is on the IHF Trophy Oceania qualifiers being held later in the year, but longer term we are committed to building depth in this group - so the door remains open for new players to join the wider training squad for the campaign. Please register your interest through the EOI form on our website: https://handball.org.nz/youth-handball
Beach
The Beach Handball season reached a crescendo with the Oceania Beach Handball Qualifiers held in Coolangatta over ANZAC Weekend. The Men’s and Women’s teams played their hearts out, both making the finals but fell just short, sadly missing out on qualification to the World Beach Games in 2023 and the Beach Handball Championships in 2024. While these results were agonising for all involved, our players gave it their all and did their nation proud. Congratulations to the Australian teams going on to represent Oceania at the upcoming world events. But we’ll be back!
The NZHF management team is now looking at options to give our young and hungry sides the best available international experience and opportunities. We remain committed to moving from strength to strength in the beach handball scene, despite the disappointment in Coolangatta. In the coming months we will be finalising our national calendar for next year with some exciting changes, so for those who prefer their handball action on the sand, keep an eye out for what’s in store.
Referee courses
Switching from the playing side of the fence, one of our key ongoing initiatives is to improve the quality of our refereeing and overall understanding of the rules of our wonderful game. Antoine will be kicking off this year’s referee education programme on the first Sunday evening of June. It’s all run virtually, and we would love as many of our community as possible to take part - including those who went through last year’s programme and would like a refresher. For those completing the course, there is NZHF referee accreditation up for grabs, which brings with it eligibility to be paid for games you referee at national events.
The course is an essential building block for anyone interested in refereeing at a higher level - and is great for anyone just wanting a better understanding of the game. Look out for further details being posted later this month, or contact referees@handball.org.nz if you would like to register your interest in taking part.
Regions
Part of our strategic initiatives includes improving the information flows between the regions. We will be looking to convene a regions’ hui in the next few weeks, and will report further on what’s going on handball-wise around the country in next month’s update.
That’s it for this month – best wishes to you all for your various handball endeavours, whatever they may be.
David ireland
President