President's Update for March 2023

Kia ora koutou, Aotearoa Handball Whānau!

March already, and time for a quick update as another summer of beach handball draws to a close and indoor training starts to crank up around the country.

First up it’s youth handball. Fantastic to see the latest initiative to grow our secondary school playing base throw off last month, with the successful launch of the Porirua Secondary Schools League. Exciting to see some fresh new talent experience the fun of handball. Big shout out to Porirua Handball and Ben Potaka for making that happen.

At the same time, our established programmes for supporting youth handball in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin continue, with some great mahi being put in by our wonderful volunteers around the country to nurture our emerging talent. We also continue to enjoy great support from our key strategic partner The Goethe Institut supplying kit for Das Kiwi Handball Projekt and other initiatives at the intermediate school level, with some exciting plans afoot in that space. If you have connections with a primary or intermediate school that you think would be interested in experiencing some fun handball to start the kids on a lifetime handball journey, please get in touch.

At the high performance end of our youth programme, our Men’s Under 19 Team’s preparations for the 2023 Men’s U19 World Champs are well underway. With the tournament scheduled to take place in Croatia in August it’s a massive commitment from all those involved, but they are up for the task and early signs are encouraging. With around $12k per player needed to get them there, a major fundraising campaign is under way – https://nzyouthhandball.raisely.com. If you have connections with any organisations that might be interested in sponsoring the team, please reach out to youth@handball.org.nz – we’d love to hear from you.

On the beach front, we have had another well-attended series in Christchurch over the New Zealand version of summer. Congrats to the Northern men and the Southern Women for taking out the best of three North-South clashes, and to the Parrots (Men) and Otago Toroa (Women) for taking out the Beach Club Champs. Eyes now turn to the international front, where the Men’s and Women’s Teams will have their jobs cut out for them as they compete at Coolangatta over ANZAC Weekend in the Oceania qualifiers for the World Beach Games and next year’s World Champs. Another fundraising campaign is underway to help with that, so once again keep an eye out for opportunities to support your national teams go out and do it for New Zealand.

Looking ahead to the indoor season, the major tournaments schedule for the year is now all locked and loaded, and first up it’s everyone’s favourite, the Queenstown Social Tournament on 1-2 April. See 2023 National Tournaments for the schedule. As a nearly heads up, National Club Champs will be held at Wellington’s fabulous renamed Ākau Tangi Sports Centre on 8-10 September – as with last year, it’s a full three day event. We are scheduled to throw off from 9am on the opening Friday of the tournament, with finals likely to be mid-late afternoon on the 10th. This year we have booked for games to take place on the Friday evening so we can allow teams a bit more rest time between games. If you are planning on travelling to Wellington from out of town, please factor in that timing. And we have already had interest in attending expressed from an Australian Club, so looking forward to some international competition on our home turf – it’s been a while!

Last for this update, the NZHF Exec is working through the outputs from last December’s strategy session – thanks again to all those Club and Regional Association reps who took part in that. It’s clear we have some challenges ahead, but encouraging to have depth in our volunteer base across the country to take on those challenges.  Our plan is to share the key updates to NZHF’s strategy next month, along with confirmation of the subs and affiliation fees for the current year. I’m sure you are all hanging out for that.

Yours in handball

David Ireland

President, New Zealand Handball Federation

National Beach Handball Day Two and Finals Summary

Day Two in the books for the National Beach Handball Championship for 2023 and we saw the best of New Zealand’s Stock of Beach Handballers play outstandingly in adverse conditions. The rain really came down but this didn’t take away from the quality beach Handball. Due to the adverse weather and seeing as the draw worked out as such, the last round of found robin matches for both the Men’s and Women’s would determine placing in the tournament.

The Third vs. Fourth Playoff in the Men’s was a very closely fought affair, between the Masters of Spinjitsu and The Pekapeka Men with the Pekapeka Men coming out on top.

The next game played on the day was the women’s final’s between the Pekapeka Women and the Otago Toroa in a Defensively dominated affair that the Toroa fighting through the weather and getting revenge from the first round of games and winning the final in two sets. The Toroa Goalkeeper, Kristina Hames, was named both Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Goalkeeper in a dominant display over the two day tournament. Kira Marpert from the Toroa also was dominant as the Top Goal Scorer with no other player within 10 of her tally.

Kristina Hames, Most Valuable Womens Goalkeeper and Player

Kira Marpert, Women’s Top Scorer

The next games played were the Final North vs. South Games and The North Men and South Women completed clean sweeps in the series in very closely fought matches.

The Final Match of the day was the Barad-dûr Beach Bros matching off against last years Champions, the Parrots Men. The Final was an extremely close affair with only a goal separating the sides throughout the whole match. Inevitably the Match went to penalties and the experience of the Parrots took the side to victory. Thomas Roxburgh of the Parrots showed this experience and the ability to make big time plays in big time moments taking the Most Valuable Goalkeeper. Paul Ireland from the Barad-dûr Beach Bros took out both Most Valuable Player and used his last penalty to take the Top Goal Scorer from Max Brookes of the Parrots by 1 goal.

Thomas Roxburgh, Most Valuable Men’s Goalkeeper

Paul Ireland, Men’s Top Scorer and Most Valuable Player

That concludes the 2023 National Beach Handball Nation Championships, Thanks to all the people who travelled, who helped with setup, packdown, benched and refereed. And a HUGE shout out to Jun Tanlayco and Aaron Bell to ensure that the games were livestreamed and photographed, keeping a record of Beach Handball in New Zealand.

All Match Results, Statistics and the schedule are on our Events page.

National Beach Championship - Day One Summary

Parrots vs Masters of Spinjitsu

Day one in the books for the National Beach Handball Championship for 2023 and what a cracker of a day it was. The weather held out (not looking good for tomorrow though… ) and the handball was top notch! With almost 80 players out on the sand over 13 games we saw some top notch handball on the sand. And to top it all off the National Youth Squad kept all the troops fed with an excellent sausage sizzle.

The Women’s competition is hotly contested with 3 of the 4 games going to penalties. After the first round of games there was a 3 way time at the top with only periods won to differentiate between the teams. The Pekapeka have put themselves in a good position to make the final with a win to start off the second round of games but considering the first day anything can happen with all teams showing that they are capable of beating anyone on their day.

The Men’s competition has been a clean cut competition not one game going to Penalties. Parrots sit in the box seat with 3 wins from 3, showing their grit and experience by winning tight halves against both the Pekapeka Men and Masters of Spinjitsu and keep games from going to penalties. The Barad-dûr Beach Bros were the only team to have two games today but looked strong in both. They have the most ability to swing positions with 2 pool games left on day two so their destiny is in their hands with Pekapeka Men and Masters of Spinjitsu on their heels with one win apiece from 3 matches.

All Match Results, Statistics and the schedule are on our Events page.

National Beach Championship kicks of with Social Mixed Beach Handball Games

What a great start to the National Beach Handball Championship for 2023, with nearly thirty players out on the sand we kicked off the Championship with a double elimination Mixed Tournament. There were some excellent skills on display from both our old hands and some great new talent. The first round of games ended with clear victors but then every game following this ended in penalties. The Toru team after getting beaten in the first game fought through the loser’s bracket and won 3 penalty shootouts in a row to take home the Crown.

For more details of the National Beach Championships go to Events pages

EOI for Junior & Youth Women's National Coach and Manager

Attention NZ based handball coaches and managers! An exciting opportunity has arisen for those interested in coaching and managing the New Zealand Youth women's handball team. We are seeking individuals who are passionate about the growth of the women's game at the high school level and are dedicated to building up our player base for many years to come.

If you have experience coaching or managing a handball team, or if you are an enthusiastic newcomer with a desire to learn and develop your skills, we want to hear from you. This is a unique chance to be part of a team that is focused on empowering young women and helping them to achieve their full potential in the sport.

As a coach or manager, you will play a critical role in shaping the future of handball in New Zealand. You will have the opportunity to work with talented young athletes and help them to develop their skills and reach their goals. In return, you will gain valuable coaching and management experience, and the satisfaction of knowing that you are making a positive difference in the lives of young people.

To express your interest in this exciting opportunity, please fill out the link attached. Please complete the following Application Form to register your interest, applications close 24th March 2023.

Any questions please email high-performance@handball.org.nz & youth@handball.org.nz

Beach Handball Championships 2023 - Friday Night Mixed Social Teams Announcement

Tena Koutou Katoa,

Please see the event page for an important update regarding the mixed social evening on Friday Night before the main event over the weekend. The 4 teams have been randomly selected with some consideration to balance especially around goalkeeping and gender.

2 Women will be required to be on the sand at all times. Other than this special consideration all normal Beach Handball rules will apply.

Patience will be required for the first two rounds games as we will be light on referees and bench staff.


Beach Handball Championships 2023 - Friday Night Mixed Schedule Update

Tena Koutou Katoa,

Please see the event page for an important update regarding the mixed social evening on Friday Night before the main event over the weekend. The Format and Schedule has been posted This will consist of a double elimination bracket for 4 teams.

These teams will be drawn (with consideration of gender, and GK ability evenly split) by the tournament management staff with the help of a good old fashioned number generator.


Beach Handball Championships 23 - Schedule Update

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

Please see event for schedule. If you notice any issues please raise with your Team Manager in the first instance.

We welcome the following teams who will be competing on the Sand in March.

Men’s

  • Masters of Spinjitsu (Canterbury)

  • Otago Shags (Otago)

  • Pekapeka Men (Canterbury)

  • Barad-dûr Beach Bros (Various)

  • Parrots Men (Wellington)

Women’s

  • Pekapeka Women (Canterbury)

  • Otago Toroa (Otago)

  • Parrots Women (Wellington)

North vs South Beach Handball Series Team Announcement

NZHF Beach Handball is proud to announce the teams playing in the North vs South Beach Handball series. The first game is on Saturday, 4th of February at Pioneer Stadium Sand Courts. The Men’s game starts at 5pm and the Women’s game at 5:45 pm. The livestream links will be announced later. Check the event page for details and updates - North vs South Game 1