President's Update - July 2022

Kia ora koutou katoa e te whānau Aotearoa Handball! 

While the latest weather bombs to hit NZ and our July temperatures may mean none of us are thinking beach at this time (other than somewhere overseas to escape to), beach handball is where this month’s update must start off.

Massive shout out to our Men’s Beach Handball team who have now completed their 5 week European and North American Beach Handball odyssey. Awesome achievement to clock up New Zealand’s first ever senior level handball victory at a major international tournament with a W at the World Championships in Crete, narrowly missing out on a top 12 finish in a penalty shoot-out with the USA, and then backing up their earlier success with another W over the African continental champions to finish a very creditable 14th. The World Games in Alabama was a more exclusive 8 team event where we weren’t able to get over the line with another victory, albeit still finishing 7th after Denmark weren’t able to make it over. In Alabama we arguably put in some of the most head-turning performances ever by a NZ handball team competing overseas, with a highlight of the trip being coming within a whisker of taking beach handball’s traditional powerhouse Brazil to penalties. Heady stuff.

Congratulations to our history-making team, proving that Kiwis can in fact fly and take it to the best. Welcome back to the New Zealand winter, boys!

The Men’s team’s participation in July’s World Games concluded our highly successful 2021-22 Beach campaign, which included our Women’s Team pushing Australia hard in the Oceania qualifiers over ANZAC Weekend. Seems a long time ago... Eyes now turn to the 2022-23 campaign, with qualifying for the World Beach Games in Bali later next year the key objective. Both national rep squads will be opened up for selection over summer, with another action-packed beach handball programme planned. If you are interested in getting amongst it, contact NZHF Beach Handball beach@handball.org.nz to register your interest. 

The next major event on the NZ Handball calendar is the Under 20 Open in Auckland. Great to see that tournament get off the ground to back up the success of Auckland’s Men’s and Women’s Open in May. Best wishes to Pepe and the Auckland Handball organising committee, and fingers crossed you don’t get hit with any COVID disruptions this time round. Any boys who were under 20 at the start of this year who have not yet been snaffled into a team for the tournament, please get in touch with Pepe at  Auckland Handball info@aucklandhandball.com, as he may be able to find a spot in one of the teams to take you – the more the merrier. This will be the first selection event ahead of the IHF Oceania Trophy tournament in the Cook Islands scheduled for the end of November. Coaches and a management team have been appointed for that campaign and we look forward to seeing the future of our Men’s  game develop over the next few months. If you are a male born in 2002 or younger and want to get involved, please reach out to Tim at high-performance@handball.org.nz.

And we haven’t forgotten about the girls! While we couldn’t get the numbers to run a female section of the Auckland Under 20 Open, your chance at IHF Trophy qualification is expected to come in 2023.  We are currently working on a strategy to increase participation of girls playing across the country, and provide support to those keen to develop their skills in coaching and management to ensure the future of our women’s game is secure. Please reach out to Womens NZHF womenshandball@handball.org.nz if you are interested in being a part of that.

 Following the Auckland Under 20 Open we have the National Club Champs being held at Wellington’s fabulous ASB Centre 8-11 September. At this stage we have yet to make a call as to whether we will need to use the afternoon of Thursday 8th to fit some opening games into the schedule. All depends on the number of teams who register, with the possibility of an exhibition game against an Australian selection late afternoon on the Thursday to kick off the tournament still on the cards. For our developing Clubs – thinking BoP, Queenstown, Wanaka, Southland – you are welcome to combine resources to make up a Barbarians team or two. Clubs/combinations can register by emailing me at president@handball.org.nz, with a registration fee of $400 per team payable no later than 7 September. Registrations close 15 August. 

Further details regarding the Regional Champs to be held at Christchurch’s Pioneer Stadium in the 1st weekend of October will follow closer to the time. Regional Associations should be thinking about their selections for that event now, to ensure they are able to follow a proper process. Contact Tim at high-performance@handball.org.nz if you want a hand with that.

 As notified in last month’s update, the NZHF AGM is going to be run virtually from 7pm on Sunday 25 September. The key advance task for Clubs is to think about anyone they would like to put forward for election to the three spots on the NZHF Exec that will come available at the AGM. Nominations for election to the Executive Committee must be received by NZ Handball (secretary@handball.org.nz) before 10 September. Get in touch if you would like further details.

 Amongst all that, we had our Referees pathway programme kick off on 17 July, with the 2nd  session scheduled for 24 July. Co-ordinated by Antoine Desnos, this programme sets participants on the path to become a qualified referee, potentially opening the door to blow your whistle at overseas events (or at least, get paid for doing so at the NZ Club Champs!) with your very own official referee shirt thrown in, thanks to the generous support of the Goethe Institut. Contact referees@handball.org.nz for further details.

 Last, a plea on behalf of our developing clubs. To get handball up and running effectively outside the main centres, we need the numbers to make it happen. Please reach out to anyone you know in the BoP, Queenstown Lakes District or Southland, regions, in particular, who you think might be interested in getting into our great sport and encourage them to get in touch. And of course, there are always openings and a warm welcome for newcomers at all of our established clubs around the country!

David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - June 2022

Kia ora koutou katoa e te whānau Aotearoa Handball

Middle of the year already, so time for some admin!

First up, National Club Champs. These are being held at Wellington’s fabulous ASB Centre 8-11 September. Yes, that’s right, we are scheduled to start on the Thursday and go through to Sunday afternoon. Our thinking is that in the ideal world you need at least four days to run an event of the highest quality and manage player welfare. We also figured a four day event would make it a more enticing proposition for Clubs from outside Aotearoa. Unfortunately we do not live in an ideal world, and some of our stakeholders have expressed concern about needing to take an extra day’s leave to attend.

To cater for everyone, here's how it will work. Any Clubs based outside Wellington will NOT be scheduled to play a game on the Thursday UNLESS they request that. Please just plan on needing to be ready to jump into action from 9am on the Friday. Wellington-based Clubs – please plan on the possibility of needing to fit in a game on the Thursday afternoon. If we can get a Club or two from Australia arriving for the Thursday and their players are up for it, we may even try to run a Trans-Tasman selection clash to close out the day. All depends on the number of teams who register to take part, so the sooner we can hear from Clubs the better so we can firm up the schedule – let me know at president@handball.org.nz. Registrations close 15 August.

Big shout out to Wellington City Council for providing us with a sizeable wedge of cash to support the Club Champs happen in Welly. Thanks to that funding, we are able to keep team registration fees down at $400 each, with NZHF funding any remaining shortfall. COVID-19 has caused the event to be cancelled for the past two years: third times a charm.

In the shorter term we have the Auckland Under 20 Open coming up. Latest intel we have is that there were insufficient female teams to make a women’s draw a goer, but the youth men are all go. Really looking forward to seeing the next generation of New Zealand handball show their stuff, with an eye on selection for the Oceania IHF Trophy qualifiers at the end of the year.

Looking further ahead, we have the Regional Champs at Christchurch’s Pioneer Stadium at the start of October to round out adult indoor handball for the year.

In between Club and Regional Champs we have everyone’s annual highlight – the NZHF AGM. We are going to run it virtually again this year, pencilled in for 7pm on Sunday 25 September. I hope you are all as excited about it as I am. There will be three spots on the NZHF Exec up for grabs, so get in touch if you think you have something to contribute to the running of our great game, and are prepared to do a bit of heavy lifting. More details to follow.

Final piece of admin – player registration,. The new system is all up and running, so every player taking part in a competitive handball game should now be registered with us. If in doubt, liaise with your Club or contact membership@handball.org.nz.

Last – the Beach Handball Champs in Crete kick off on 21 June. You can access livestreams of all games on the NZHF Supporters Group Facebook page. All the best to Tim, Jimmy and the rest of the Kiwi team carrying the hopes of the nation on their shoulders. We’ll report on how they got on there and on the European Beach circuit and at the World Games in Alabama that follow in next month’s update.

David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - May 2022

Greetings NZ Handballers

What a historic month April was for NZ handball! Not only did we consummate our partnership agreement with the Goethe-Institut that will set NZ handball up for years to come, after a three year hiatus we finally got to take on the Aussies in their own back yard (or should that read sandpit?!). Congratulations to our Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball squads for their outstanding performance in the Australian Beach Handball Champs on the Gold Coast over ANZAC Weekend. Taking Australia to a third deciding game for both genders taking part was a massive achievement for us on its own. However, the men were able to put the icing on their cake to triumph in their game 3 penalty shoot out.

This is the first time a New Zealand handball team has come out on top in an adult Oceania qualifier to attend a World Champs as of right. Our best Aotearoa handball wishes go out to Tim, Jimmy and the team as they head to Crete where they have drawn reigning world champs Brazil in pool play, and then go on to the World Games in Alabama in July. The team has already enjoyed great support from the NZ Handball community, so big thanks to all  those who have contributed in some way to date. Go to https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/nz-mens-beach-handball-world-champs-and-games if you would like to contribute or contact beach@handball.org.nz for further info.

Closer to home, we are looking forward to the Auckland Open on May 20-21. Auckland Handball always put on a great event, and after so many lockdown disappointments over the past year it will be tremendous to see our handball community gather together on the Shore once more.

And the international opportunities aren’t all about Beach. The Oceania Continent Handball Federation has just announced that the Australian Club Open from 30 June-3 July on Australia’s Gold Coast will double as the Oceania qualifiers for Super Globe in Saudi Arabia in October. Any Clubs itching for some international action are encouraged to get amongst it.

Looking further ahead, we have the Auckland Youth Open (for those Under 20 at the start of 2022) in the 1st weekend of August. NZHF will contribute $1500 towards the travel costs of each of the 1st 8 teams from out of the Auckland region to register to take part, so get in quick if you want to access that funding.

The Auckland Youth Open will most likely be the last opportunity for eligible players to show their stuff in competition before we need to confirm selections for the Oceania Junior and Youth Men’s IHF Trophy qualifiers. These are  provisionally set down for end of November/1st week in December in the Cook Islands. It’s a fantastic opportunity for our future stars to taste international competition with all its pomp and ceremony, and I expect competition for places to be fierce.

For our Junior and Youth Women, your turn should come next year, to fit with the IHF intercontinental championships schedule. It might seem like a long way off, but the Auckland Youth Open is a great opportunity to get started on the pathway.

Last, on the admin front we now have our new player registration system up and running. All players should have heard about that from your Club by now - if you haven’t, please contact your Club’s NZHF contact to make sure you are registered by 31 May. Any queries, contact Daniel at membership@handball.org.nz.

Take care out there - and don’t forget to track the fortunes of our Men’s Beach Handball Team as they take on the world!

David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - April 2022

Kia ora koutou katoa e te whanau Aotearoa Handball

Here were are, Easter been and gone already,and the indoor handball season is upon us – along with a switch to the orange traffic light setting. Good times!

Fantastic to see Queenstown Handball  pull off a successful central Otago tournament earlier in the month. Good numbers from the length of the country, and thanks to Jun for keeping all of those unable to travel to the event up-to-date with results and some more great action shots for the family albums.

Next up we have the Auckland Handball Open, 21-22 May. That’s shaping up to be another doozy, and the perfect opportunity to celebrate a lightening of COVID restrictions. Registrations don’t close until 9 May, so there’s still time if your Club has yet to commit. Pepe, Thomas and the rest of the Auckland Region Handball team are sure to put on a great event on the North Shore, so get along if you can.

The big news for NZHF from the past month is the signing of our strategic partnership agreement with the Goethe Institut. Handball traces its origins back to Berlin over 100 years ago, so forging an alliance with Germany’s cultural institute was a bit of a no-brainer for us. The Institut’s support for New Zealand handball has already been fantastic, with a shipment of handballs and other kit already on its way, and Das Kiwi Handball Projekt enjoying good traction in schools. We are really excited about this collaboration, and what it could do for handball in New Zealand. Keep an eye out for further updates on how Clubs can directly benefit from the initiative,

Another thing we have been working on is a new online player registration system. We are very keen to get a better handle on who regards themselves as a handball player in New Zealand, and where they fit in. Plus we need to wrap a bit more formality around Club affiliations to meet IHF Regulations requirements. We will provide Clubs and Regional Associations with a briefing on this in the next few weeks.

Last, best wishes to the New Zealand Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball Teams, off to battle the Australians in Coolangatta on 21-24 April for the Oceania spot in the Beach Handball World Championships in June and the World Games later in the year. Regardless of the outcome, after more than two years in the wilderness it’s great to have some international handball competition again. Our squads have enjoyed a great beach handball programme over summer to prepare and are in great shape for it – no pressure, guys, but the handball hopes of the nation are on your shoulders!

David Ireland

President, New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - March 2022

Kia ora koutou, New Zealand Handball Whanau!

 Here we are, end of March, and handball for the first quarter of the year has largely been all about beach.

 Congratulations to the Men’s and Women’s North Island teams for taking out the annual North-South beach handball clash on the sand at Pioneer Stadium and Sumner Beach in Christchurch. Originally scheduled for a contest over three legs, Aunty COVID put paid to the 2nd and 3rd legs, so with the North triumphing in the first outing, they get to lock up the silverware (or should that be Kauri-ware?!) until next summer. Shout out to Willy Silcock for making this summer’s handball camps happen in trying circumstances at a new venue for us.

 Next summer should see the opening of the new beach courts at Hataitai in Wellington, providing a bit of venue variety, which will add another dimension to what is already a quality programme. With Auckland convening weekly beach handball sessions as well this summer and strong support from Otago, I can’t wait to see what summer 2022-23 has in store for beach handball.

 Even with the end of summer, the 2022 beach programme is still going. We have teams lined up to take part in the Aussie Beach champs at the end of April, with the prospect of New Zealand going head to head with Australia in both the men’s and women’s divisions in a winner-take-all Oceania Qualifying tournament. The prize? The Beach Handball World Champs in Crete at the end of June. Both of our squads are looking strong, and they will have everything to play for on the sand at Coolongatta in a month’s time. NZHF wishes all those taking part all the very best as we finally get some international competition into the programme after a two year hiatus.

 Sadly, the competition we weren’t able to make happen was the Junior Cup scheduled for Easter. With COVID concerns and the absence of a Wellington Schools league suppressing numbers, we weren’t confident we could pull off a quality experience for the next generation so our youth players will have a bit longer to wait for their next opportunity.

 What is definitely going ahead, however, is everyone’s favourite event, the annual pre-season Queenstown Tournament on 9-10 April. We are delighted to have the Holiday Inn Express & Suites get in behind us with a great deal on accommodation for those traveling for the event, and huge thanks to Queenstown Lakes District Council for providing the venue for no charge. We know COVID concerns still present a hurdle to overcome, but we look forward to seeing a good turnout in the heart of the South. And don’t forget, the Auckland Open Championships is now less than two months away, by which time travel and attendance restrictions will have hopefully had their day.

 On the admin front, we have reached out to all the Clubs to let them know about the restructure of national subs commitments for the year ahead. We are moving to a teams-based fee structure, which will result in a reduction in subs required from most clubs, regardless of player numbers and participation in national events. Hopefully that will make planning and admin easier for all concerned. What should also make things easier this year is new sets of portable playing lines we have provided Auckland and Otago. Shout out to handball stalwart Claire Guest for her sewing efforts in helping to make that happen.

 We are also looking to implement a new approach to maintaining a national player membership register, so look out for further comms on that. We still have our ambitious target of 5,000 players involved in New Zealand handball by 2025, and without a reliable membership database we won’t be able to monitor how we are tracking – so your cooperation with making that register work will be most appreciated.

 On the international front, there are a couple of rule changes from IHF coming into effect from the start of July. Look out for a briefing on those closer to the time, along with some added focus on supporting our referees. We have also been approached on behalf of IHF to see if there is interest in establishing wheelchair handball in New Zealand. If anyone is aware of any potential interest in that variant to our great game, or wants to know more, please get in touch.

 Stay safe out there,

 David Ireland

President, New Zealand Handball Federation

2022 NZHF Fee Structure Update

Kia ora Koutou Katoa e te whānau Handball,

With the Indoor Season fast approaching it seems like a good idea to let you know about changes to the fee structure for Clubs and Regions for the next season.

Please See this Link for the Fee Structure Document.

If you wish to discuss this further or have any feedback for us, or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via email. Treasurer@handball.org.nz.

President's Update - February 2022

Kia ora koutou, New Zealand Handball Whanau

 First update of the year, and already there’s been plenty happening, on and off the court, indoor and outdoor. The current red light setting makes things a bit challenging, but it is good to see the handball community getting on with it.

The key national initiative we are working on at present is Easter’s Junior Cup at the ASB Centre (16 and 17 April). That’s a club-based tournament for Under 18 boys (born 2004 or later) and Under 19 girls (born 2003 or later). This will be a New Zealand Rep selection event to identify talent to represent us for the anticipated IHF Trophy qualifiers later in the year – the international programme is still up in the air, but if we don’t put in the spadework now we won’t have anything to build on if the Trophy goes ahead. It would be fantastic to see some good numbers taking part at Easter. 

One area where we have been seeing good numbers (when weather and COVID-19 infections have permitted!) has been the Beach programme in Christchurch, which has continued the success of last year’s programme. The weekend ahead sees the annual Beach Club champs which should be a doozy – catch all the action live at NZ Handball Live (Click here for the livestream link for 26 February). Championship Details can be found in the Facebook Event

 The High Performance Programme for our national training squads kicked off at the end of January with a weekend camp coordinated by Tim Rayner, who had his work cut out juggling both the Men and the Women’s squads. It was tremendous to see players from Auckland to Invercargill gathering for this first hit out, with some encouraging signs. International opportunities may still be limited for the next wee while, but we remain hopeful of pulling off a Trans-Tasman clash later in the year.

 On the admin front the NZHF has decided to move away from the previous approach of levying subs from clubs based on numbers of players and the level each player participated in. Each club will still be levied an affiliation fee, but instead of charging additional subs per player we will just levy a sub per adult team training or playing under the club’s banner. This will hopefully make life simpler for both us and the clubs to administer. The NZHF Treasurer will be in touch with clubs to confirm details.

 We are also looking to tighten up on player registration and transfer processes, to better align with IHF rules. All players recognised as registered with a club last year (which formed the basis of the subs we levied last year) have been recorded by our membership registrar, with those details forming the provisional base of for us to determine club affiliations to start 2022 from. Transfers from one club to another are able to be freely made up until the end of May each year simply by notifying us at membership@handball.org.nz. After that date transfers between clubs require approval of the NZHF. Free transfers commence again at the end of the year.

 That’s about it for now. Check out the NZHF website for the latest schedule of handball events taking place this year. In addition to an intensive final month of the Beach handball programme, we have the prospect of the Aussie beach handball club champs later in April. That won’t be part of the NZHF High Performance programme, but hopefully our wonderful beach handball enthusiasts will be able to organise a team to head across the ditch to take part. Other than that, the next big handball event on the New Zealand indoor front is the annual Queenstown Tournament 9-10 April. Book your tickets now!

 All the best

 David Ireland

President, New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - Christmas 2021

Kia ora koutou, New Zealand Handball Whanau

Just about time to wrap up another handball year. The outputs weren’t quite what we had been hoping for a year ago. 2021 started with much promise as we secured Sport NZ Investment Eligibility status and concluded arrangements with the TAB, and naively thought that the COVID-19 disruptions of 2020 were behind us. This time round we won’t be tempting fate again by claiming that 2022 can only be better. However, you have to hope that the worst is behind us in terms of event disruptions, and we have a jam-packed plan lined up for 2022 that should deliver something for everyone, no matter what Greek numbered COVID variation we are up to by the end of it!

Speaking of COVID, we have now placed NZHF’s official policy regarding the subject on our Constitution and policies page on the website.

On the international front, I took part in the Commonwealth Handball Association congress at the start of the month. This is a grouping of handball-playing Commonwealth nations that has historically struggled to gain traction. There is now a renewed sense of purpose, with an ambitious goal of having handball at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. The Commonwealth is largely limited to 2nd and 3rd tier handball playing nations, making a Commonwealth Games tournament possibly a lower standard event than the Asian Handball Champs that we have already been blooded at. However, the boost to the sports’ profile in having it included in the Commonwealth Games schedule, especially if New Zealand takes part, is pure gold – no matter where we place. It’s early days for the rejuvenated CHA, but it has the potential to open up new international competition pathways for us, which is super exciting.

Speaking of international excitement, as I write this the Women’s World Cup in Spain has hust wrapped up Another action-packed tournament with some incredibly talented athletes on display to inspire our own Women’s Training Squad. We also have the Asian Men’s Handball Champs in Saudi Arabia coming up next month. While travel restrictions prevented us from fielding a team, there will be some great overnight action for you all to catch on the live streams in the back half of January. 

Beach Handball has swung into full gear for the season with our first high performance camp held successfully early in December that showed a high level of skill on display and some young talent shining through. We look forward to continuing to grow the beach handball scene with our North vs. South 3 game series starting in February and our flagship event, the National Beach Handball Championships, on 26-27th February, Pioneer Stadium Beach Court, Christchurch.

With more venue opportunities opening up across the country in the future we are eager to work with the regions in the New Year to develop long term strategies to create regional opportunities to experience beach handball.

The other key event coming up on the domestic front is the Under 18 Club champs, 16-17 April, ASB Centre, Wellington.  This event kicks off our youth campaign as we prepare ourselves for anticipated Oceania IHF Trophy qualifiers later in the year, with the prize we are aiming for a place at the Junior or Youth Intercontinental Champs in 2023. Details are up in the air at present, but we can at least control the first leg of our own destiny by running a high quality tournament at Easter, from which we can select boys and girls training squads to push for that prize. We want to run the Easter Tournament as a Club-based championship. To encourage Clubs to get amongst it and recruit an Under 18 Team, there will be a decent financial incentive in the form of a 2022 subs rebate if you are able to enter a team, with an increased rebate if you are able to enter both a boys and a girls team. Details will be confirmed early next year once we have crunched the numbers and set next year’s subs. What we can confirm now is there will be six development grants available of $1,000 each for teams travelling from outside the Wellington region to help cover accommodation costs, and we have secured some pretty good rates at the Brentwood Hotel, a five minute stroll from the venue. Get in quick if you want a piece of that. Terms & Conditions apply.

Another initiative we are working on for 2022 is to run an awards evening, where we recognise those that have contributed the most to our sport over the past year in various categories. That will be coordinated with either Club or Regional Champs. Our sport has many unsung heroes trying to make a difference, so we figured it was high time we started singing about them. Included in the list will be Club of the Year, with points available for those Clubs who get themselves organised to enter teams into the Easter Tournament. The points system will recognise that while they deserve to be acknowledged, performances on the Court are less important in the long term than performances and commitment off the Court. And unless we build the foundations for future success, the achievements of today may count for little.

Now, to finish on a high note. We are now putting the finishing touches on a long-term arrangement with the Goethe Institute, which will see us partner with that organisation to grow handball in New Zealand. The Goethe Institute has already committed to arranging for a significant supply of handballs, training bibs, referee shirts, goals and other equipment to be imported into New Zealand, to be rolled out around the country. They are thrilled to be able to leverage off the opportunities we provide to raise their profile, and we are even more excited about the volume of kit they are able to provide and other opportunities this partnership presents. This could be the start of a new era in the way we are able to support handball in the community, so a hugely exciting way to be able to finish the year: while we had some limits on what we were able to achieve on the Court, off the Court we have been able to make great strides.

Meri Kirihimete to all, and Roll on 2022!

David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - November 2021

 Kia ora koutou, New Zealand Handball Whanau

Summer might be just around the corner, but that doesn’t mean there has been any let-off on the handball admin front – and for those with a Beach Handball focus, another action-packed season has just got underway! The Beach Programme can be found on our website at High Performance Beach - New Zealand Handball Federation, with the next planned event a National training camp in Christchurch on 4-5 December. Contact NZHF Beach Handball beach@handball.org.nz if you would like more details.

 On the indoor front, the end of a season that promised so much ended up full of disappointment, with all our planned events cancelled one by one as a result of the ongoing Covid alert level restrictions. Ironically the last formal ‘indoor’ tournament of the year, VUW Club’s Hurra Handball event was held outdoors at Wellington’s Waitangi Park on 20 November. Meantime, it is great to hear of the hard core enthusiasts still continuing with Club trainings around the country.

 For those feeling starved of NZ Handball gossip, please check out the NZ Handball Korero YouTube channel for some great chats. We are hoping to load more content over the coming months, so if you have some handballing news you would like to share, get in touch and we will sick intrepid NZ Handball Korero interviewer Cam Ross onto you. Huge thanks to Cam and the amazing Jun Tanlayco for pulling that together and keeping us all entertained – as well as those who have put their reputations on the line to be interviewed!

 Thanks also to the Regional Association and Club reps who took the time to take part in a State of the Nation and 2022 hui last month. It was really encouraging to hear about all the initiatives planned or under way in each of the regions. We are currently constructing a calendar of events for 2022 to help our community plan for the year ahead. Hopefully there will be something in it for everyone, although the youth programme will be a key focus for us over the next 12 months. On that note, lock Easter Saturday and Sunday into your diaries for the Junior Cup, to be held as an Under 18 tournament at Wellington’s ASB Centre. This is planned to be a club-based event, allowing more than one team to take part from each region. Subject to the borders opening up in time, we also hope to be able to host some international participants for that. This is all part of the plan to prepare for the next running of the intercontinental IHF Trophy, with details to follow next year.

 There’s another major development currently being put in place that has the potential to completely change the face of New Zealand Handball. We are super excited about what this could mean, and hope to be able to report further next month.

Last, speaking of the face of New Zealand Handball – you may have seen the odd person around sporting a NZ Handball facemask. These are now available for purchase at NZHF-sanctioned events for $10. Keep an eye out for your chance to snaffle one before we run out of stock – and before the next wave of Covid hits.

Stay safe out there

David Ireland

President, New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - September 2021

Kia ora koutou, New Zealand Handball supporters!

Thanks to all those who tuned in to our first ever virtual AGM on 11 September. A couple of virtual mishaps, but great to have such a good turnout and participation from our voting members.

Draft minutes have been circulated to all member clubs, life members and Regional Associations, and will be put to next year’s AGM for formal approval. Please get in touch if you would like to see the draft meantime.

The Key governance development from the AGM was the election of a new Executive Committee, with myself, Tim Rayner, and Willy Silcock returned to office where we have been joined by new Exec member Maddie Stephen. Thanks to our members for supporting our nominations. For the first time each member has been elected for a two year term in line with May’s SGM constitutional changes, subject to rotational requirements. We have now had our first post-AGM Exec meeting, where we were joined by our Life Members’ nominee to the Exec, Frank Stoltenberg. I am pleased to confirm that our office bearers and portfolio holders for the year ahead are as follows:

• President – David

• Secretary-General – Frank

• Treasurer – Willy

• Complaints & Integrity – Frank

• High Performance & Club Development – Tim

• Women’s Handball & Youth – Maddie

• Beach & Tournaments – Willy

• Policies & Partnerships – David

• Media – Jun Tanlayco (outside Exec)

• Membership – Daniel Triebsch (outside Exec)

Thanks again to our retiring Exec members Sarah Malledant, Gaston Fuso and Daniel Triebsch – albeit with Daniel continuing on to support the Exec as our membership registrar. While we have identified particular portfolio to make all the good handball stuff happen. We will aim to coordinate a stakeholders’ meeting in October to flesh out how we see that playing out.

Sadly, our first action as the new Exec was to cancel the Regional Tournament that had been scheduled for Christchurch on 9-10 October. We had held out as long as we could, but with no prospect of Auckland being able to attend it wouldn’t have been a true national event, and at Level 2 much of the benefit of running a tournament are lost. That means the last chance we have to put on a signature event falls to the rescheduled Bite Nite at the Ashburton Events Centre on 6 November when the Men’s National Training Squad will take on a Canterbury selection. Fingers crossed that one will actually go ahead – and that our representatives from Tamaki Makaurau will be released in time to be able to join us.

Congrats to Thomas Schmider for the winning handball design in our pre-AGM poll – you may have seen that appear on the bottom of the livestreams of the Wellington League. We have separately created a design for some NZHF face masks that have been ordered and will be available in October – so keep an eye out for your opportunity to order those. Huge thanks to Willy and Jun for their efforts in making that one happen.

Looking ahead, I am delighted to announce that we have just been allocated grant funding from the WCC Sports Event Partnership Fund to help cover the costs of hosting next year’s club champs in Wellington. We’d applied for the funding to help with this year’s event, but when that was cancelled WCC kindly agreed to switch the grant to next year. Super exciting to have secured a chunk of cash this far out, which means we can plan ahead with confidence. Big thanks to outgoing NZHF Treasurer Sarah Malledant who put in the hard yards on the application – and to WCC  for supporting New Zealand Handball!

And now for some international handball news with a Kiwi flavour. The IHF Super Globe 2021 (Handball’s Club World Cup) kicks off in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on 5 October. As we post this message, NZ rep Luke Ireland has just arrived in Saudi to take his place in the Sydney Uni Team. It’s a composite team  whose players were invited to represent the Oceania Continental Handball Federation by the IHF, ensuring the event features teams from every continent, with Luke the only player actually travelling from our region. More info on the Sydney Uni Team and the event can be found here - https://www.ihf.info/media-center/news/make-shift-team-trying-improve-australian-handball. Our Oceania team open the event with a quarterfinal qualifier against German super power club SC Magdeburg at 4.30 pm local time on the 5th (at present they are ten hours behind NZ). We hope to post a link to that on the NZHF Facebook page, along with the other games. With the Wellington League final weekend being livestreamed this Sunday (as always, huge thanks to Jun for bringing handball into our homes), it’s a big week of Handball coming up. While it’s not quite the same as playing for those stuck in lockdown limbo in the Auckland Region, at least you will have a chance to get your fix of competitive handball action from the (perhaps all too familiar for some) comfort of home!

 Meantime, closer to home it’s all not doom and gloom with the 2021-22 beach handball programme kicking off on 9 October in Christchurch with a regional camp, in place of indoor regionals. Willy has pulled together another quality programme for the summer ahead, so get amongst it if you can.

 All the best

 David Ireland

President, New Zealand Handball Federation