Kia ora koutou, Aotearoa Handball whanau!
All systems go this month as we hit the business end of the NZ Handball calendar.
Club Champs 6-8 September
Not long to go now until one of the largest senior handball tournaments ever held on New Zealand soil. This year we have 17 teams competing - 10 men’s teams and 7 women, with an unprecedented 5 teams joining us from Australia - fantastic to be able to welcome them to Wellington.
It is going to be massive, with a major juggle to squeeze in as much handball as possible over the three days for those taking part, without overloading players. It is a huge logistical exercise to pull this off, big thanks to the organising group for all their efforts. For those attending, please don’t be shy in offering to help out, and ensure your team does its bit when on duty, including assisting with the livestreaming and set up and pack down. This is your tournament, and its success relies on everyone playing their part, on and off the court.
This will be the first tournament operated under our new Inclusion & Respect Policy. For those taking part, please take time to familiarise yourselves with expectations.
For those unable to make it, all games are expected to be livestreamed on the Handball Live Youtube channel. The draw is available in our Event webpage.
Safe travels to those attending the event from out of town, and thanks to our partners for this event – WCC Sports Event Partnership Fund, The Goethe Institut, Brentwood Hotel and Trinity Group.
Youth Development - Wellington Inter-School Handball Champs
What a fantastic event New Zealand Handball hosted at Wellington’s fabulous Ākau Tangi Sports Centre on 16 August! Feeding off the success of the Auckland Inter School Champs held in June, for the Wellington equivalent we had over 140 budding Handball enthusiasts from 7 different schools making up 14 teams in total. Despite most of the players being new to Handball, just as we experienced in Auckland, the quality of the Handball was right up there, and all involved seemed to really enjoy the experience. Massive buzz.
Huge thanks to Frank and the rest of our volunteers for making this happen and ensuring everyone had a good time, and thanks to the teachers and parents involved who threw themselves into the spirit of the occasion.
The challenge for us will be how we ensure we are able to replicate that success next year, when we expect to have a significant jump in numbers in both Auckland and Wellington given the positivity with which these first tournaments have been received. Nice problem to have! Youth Handball Festivals are our future, encouraging to see our community supporting these events. Super exciting.
Calling all U16 female beach handball enthusiasts!
If you are keen to be part of the excitement of our girls campaign for the U17 Beach Handball World Champs in Tunisia in June next year, check out the Expression of Interest.
The NZ team for the tournament will comprise female beach handball players with a New Zealand passport born on or after 1 January 2008. If you meet that criteria, your country wants YOU! A team selection process will take place over the coming summer.
AGM
And of course, continuing with the excitement theme of Club Champs and youth Handball events, we have the AGM coming up on Sunday 29 September. Formal notice of that has now gone out to all the Clubs.
The door is still open to those keen on being nominated for election to the NZHF Executive Committee - if you want to know more about what is involved, please reach out to any of the current Exec. If you have a thirst for making Handball in Aotearoa as good as it can be and feel you can make a difference, we would love to have you on board.
Ngā mihi
David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation