Holly Lam-Moores on life as a Handball Player

Interview with Holly Lam-Moores in Denmark

Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme - TASS NEWS

Life with the British Handball Team

'Over the past year, TASS has been working closely with a number of our sports to help develop and strengthen their support team. One of these projects has been the introduction of Lee Ottey as The Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach for British Handball. Lee has been kind enough to give us an insight into life in the Handball camp' Read the full article

Salford Topple League Leaders

THE last two unbeaten teams in the English League’s northern section locked horns on Sunday, and fought out a superb match at Sugden Sports Centre in Manchester.

Manchester were top of the league, while local rivals Salford were second and snapping at their heels.

Salford began at a good pace and were playing some exciting handball which opened up a Manchester defence which was not performing as efficiently as in their past few matches.

After 15 minutes, Salford had forged into a 13-4 lead, forcing Manchester into a timeout to reorganise.

Manchester came back into the game and stopped Salford from every corner of the court, with clinical fast breaks from Georgiou and Hammache, thus levelling at 13-13 with an on-the-buzzer shot from Girost.

The second half started well for Manchester who took a two-goal lead. But the Mancunians began to accumulate mistakes, with poor ball circulation leading to too many ball losses, poor shots from the wings and almost no initiative from nine metres.

In the meantime Salford had reorganised, and equalised soon before taking a deserved lead, and extending to a 29-25 victory.

Josh Hampson scored nine times for Salford, as did Georgiou for Manchester.

Unsung Hero Award for Jacobson

LIVERPOOL Speke Garston handball coach John Jacobson has been nominated for the finals of the BBC Unsung Sporting Hero Award after winning through the North West regional stage.

His nomination comes after 42 years of dedicated service to handball development in the region, but he has not just been involved in coaching.

He was captain of Great Britain and played in Olympic qualifying rounds for the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, and played in the World Championships in 1976 and 1980 before moving into coaching to pass on his vast experience to new generations.

*After winning the West Cheshire and Chester Coach of the Year Award recently, Deva handball club coach Gary Kelsall has won the County award and is on a shortlist of three for the National Coach of the Year Awards later this month.

Nottingham University Bounce Back in Style

AFTER suffering their first defeat of the season the previous week, Nottingham University returned to winning ways when they secured a comfortable 30-18 victory over strugglers Wirral on Sunday.

Matches between the two sides have rarely been quiet in the last few seasons, with Nottingham needing a late comeback to sneak a draw in their last encounter.

But with Wirral only having five fit outfield players, Nottingham dominated this match and bounced back from their defeat to leaders Manchester seven days earlier.

However, they did not have it all their own way.

After Nottingham took an early three-goal lead, Wirral hit back to level and the scored remained tight, with Nottingham edging ahead 11-10 at the break.

The students had wasted good scoring chances, and conceded some frustrating goals. But a tactical switch in the second half soon began to pay dividends.

The players came out looking more determined and aggressive, and a good spell of pressure saw them extend their lead to 18-11.

The pressure was kept up, and Nottingham pulled away to their biggest win of the season so far.

Ten goals from Ahmed Louhichi, plus seven from Ruben Wolff, helped Nottingham secure the win.

In other results in the Northern Section, Deva climbed off the bottom of the table when they secured a close 24-23 victory over Liverpool Speke Garston on Sunday.

Four goals from Stephen Jameson helped Deva to victory, while Steffan added six. Speke Garston’s Roscoe scored five, but it was not enough for victory.

And Manchester University kept up the pressure of the top two with victory over Liverpool Wolves to remain third in the table.

They won 26-22, but only after edging to victory from a 12-12 scoreline at half time. Manchester University’s win sees them remain third, just three points off the top of the table.

Nine goals from Rudolf Balla and six from Lukasz Berezowski helped them to victory.

England Awaits Regional Championships

SOME of the best young handball talent England has to offer will be on show this weekend at the EHA Regional Youth Championships in Birmingham on Saturday.

The event is being staged at the Birmingham International Futsal Arena in Handsworth, and will see teams of boys and girls from counties across the country do battle in the first round of matches.

Schools up and down the country have been busy unearthing their most talented athletes, who are now representing their counties.

Mick Hegarty, the EHA’s Director of Performance, said: “Last year's regional championship was a tremendous success with the most talented players going on to represent England at the Partille Cup in Sweden.

“Fifteen of those players are now in the AASE Programme studying handball for the next two years, and we certainly expect to find more players in this second year.

“On top of that, the Government's announcement to allow the EHA to grow the AASE programme for the foreseeable future brings in an exciting era for our National Teams.”

Registration for the event is at 9.30am, with the first match starting at 10am and going through to 2pm.
Teams from Staffordshire, Cheshire, Bedfordshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside will take part.

Newcomers Bath Secure First Win

BATH University climbed off the bottom of the table with a close 28-27 victory over Southern Section rivals Ruislip Eagles.

Securing their first victory of the current campaign, Bath battled well to take a victory which underlines just how close that league looks set to be this year.

The game started well for Bath and they were three ahead by half time. Ruislip Eagles reduced the gap after the break but could not really turn the match in their favour, whereas Bath remained composed.

An intense effort in the final couple of minutes from the Eagles saw the scoreline stand at 27-28, but a last second six-metre save from Bath's goalkeeper ensured they held on for victory.

Elsewhere in the Southern Section, Great Dane maintained their lead with victory over Cambridge, but it was mightily close, with the Danes finally winning 32-29.

Great Dane Back to Winning Ways

TRAILING 5-1 after the first ten minutes, Great Dane Women recovered to notch up a 29-25 victory over Thames in the English Women’s League on Sunday.

Thames, comprised of new players almost throughout the team with little match experience, started the match well managing to surprise the Great Dane players surging ahead.

But Great Dane soon regained their composure and got it back level midway through the first half.

Great Dane managed to bring their playmaker Anne Kandler more into play, and many of their goals came from their back court players. For Thames new signing Maria Kourdoulos managed time and again to threaten from the left wing and was on occasion only stoppable by fouls, resulting in seven-metre penalties.

The half time score of 16-15 in favour of Great Dane reflected very fairly much of the action on both sides of the court.

In the second half, both teams tried to gain the upper hand and several fast breaks from Great Dane lead to a four-goal advantage but tactical changes, including man marking the playmaker and most prolific scorer, helped contain the danger from the back court for a while.

However, Thames missed many chances by giving the ball away too soon or by individual action, trying shots without having created clear scoring opportunities.

Many of their shots were deflected by the Great Dane defence or parried by their in-form goalkeeper Daniela Coelho.

Kandler ended as top scorer with ten goals in the 29-25 victory, while Mariana Huisquara added six and Delphine Morel and Alesandra Garaloska four each. For Thames Maria Kourdoulos scored eight, Olimpia Lopes da Veira seven and Anine Hansen five.

Manchester beat Rivals to go Top of the Table

WITH both teams yet to drop a point this season, Sunday’s English League clash between Manchester and hosts Nottingham University proved to be a thrilling encounter which lived up to expectations.

Both sides were determined to get the three points at stake which allowed the winner to take the lead on the table.

The usual fast tempo implemented by these two teams got slowed down, as both defensive formations were solid and experienced.

Nottingham started this game with a high 5-1 which perturbed Manchester’s ball circulation. However the Mancunians managed to score by playing between their defensive lines.

Manchester defended as a unit, forcing Nottingham to take shots on the wings mainly. The outstanding performance of our goalkeeper Zolt Deak, allowed Karim’s men to enjoy their break with an advantage of five goals at 11-6.

After the break, Nottingham came back on the pitch with an even higher defensive system (4-2), which encouraged the Manchester halves to provoke one on one duels.

The ball was released to the wings when Manchester could not break through the centre.

A red card for a Manchester player and two two-minute suspensions for Nottingham men, the orange and black fought hard to close up the gap that was separating them on the score board. But they couldn’t overhaul the target, and Manchester ended up 24-17 winners.

In other Northern League action at Greenbank, Salford beat Deva 36-23 to remain as the only other unbeaten team and take second in the table, while Liverpool Wolves beat Merseyside rivals Wirral 21-15 and Liverpool Speke Garston lost out 41-17 to Manchester University.

And in the southern section, Great Dane won 28-23 against title rivals Olympia, and Cambridge battled to a 33-25 win over Bath University.

Deva Fever! League Newcomers Beat Champs

DEFENDING champions Great Dane suffered a shock 19-21 defeat to league newcomers Deva at Leyton SCORE Centre in London on Sunday.

After winning the Northern Development League for the last two season, Chester side Deva travelled to London to take on a Great Dane side who secured their first European victory in the European Challenge Cup just a few weeks earlier.

But they got off to an excellent start with 17-year-old England Youth international Ellie Whitehead banging in a powerful finish from the left wing.

Throughout the first half it was neck and neck, with neither side converting several one on one fast break opportunities as defences dominated, and Great Dane edged ahead 10-9 at the break.

The second half continued where the first half left off, with Anne Kandler of Great Dane and Florentina of Deva trading blows with several jump shot goals.

With around ten minutes remaining Great Dane took a three-goal lead, but Deva refused to give in, showing why they were undefeated for two years in the development league.

A time out and a change of tactics worked wonders, and 18-year-old National League debutant Nicola Quick threw herself into the area to win a penalty, coolly converted by Florentina.

This was followed by two inch-perfect passes by Charlotte Robinson which allowed Loewnau to finish expertly from the right wing and edge ahead to win 21-19.

"This is more than we could have hoped for and hopefully sends a clear message out that Deva have arrived,” said coach Donna Hankinson.

“We have been working towards this for the past three seasons, we consistently have 25 girls training with us, a couple of excellent European players and the rest young English girls.

“We wanted to enter the National League this year to give these young players some role models, players and a team to aspire to be in - and what better start could we have had?

“Some will look at the result and maybe think we were lucky, but you make your own luck.”

Top Coach Award for Deva's Gary Kelsall

DEVA Handball Club coach Gary Kelsall received a Coach of the Year Award at the second annual Cheshire West and Chester Sports Awards ceremony.

As well as his work with Deva, Kelsall (pictured) also coaches across the Chester School Sport Partnership area, and his award citation read: “Gary’s commitment to the sport is second to none and his dedication was rewarded earlier this year when he was asked to join the national team coaching staff.”

Deva were also presented with a certificate in recognition of achieving ClubMark status this year.

Universities: Embrace Handball!

BRITISH Universities Handball are offering aspiring table officials and new players an opportunity to experience Tournament Handball at Nottingham on Saturday, December 4.

Aimed at those new to the sport or looking to learn how to officiate, the Beginners Tournament underlines a desire to promote and enhance handball at our universities.

Further information is available from admin@britishuniversitieshandball.com

Manchester March on in English League

MANCHESTER Handball Club recorded their fourth straight victory to go top of the English League on Saturday, but they were made to work for the win by Liverpool Wolves.

Six first half goals from Girost helped Manchester to a 15-9 lead at the break, with their halves creating gaps between the defenders by moving the ball around and taking several six-metre shots.

But Liverpool hit back hard and out-scored their opponents in the second half, but it was not quite enough to overhaul the deficit.

The Wolves brought a new defending tactic into the second period, and Manchester struggled to adapt their attacks. But despite their motivation and success at shooting, Liverpool could only close to within four goals.

* This Sunday, Manchester will be aiming to keep their winning run going when they take on Nottingham University at their Sutton Bonnington Campus.

In other scheduled matches, Salford play Deva, Liverpool Wolves take on Wirral, and it’s Speke Garston v University of Manchester, all at Greenbank.

In the Southern Section, Great Dane will play arch-rivals Olympia at Leyton, while Cambridge and Bath University are due to play at Moulton in Northampton.

Hosts Scotland Win Four Nations Tournament

AN experienced Scottish side came out on top after a thrilling Four Nations Tournament saw them play host to England, Ireland and a Scottish Select team at Inverclyde last weekend.

The hosts faced some stiff opposition, but the experience gained by several members of the Scottish team - who are former GB players who trained out in Denmark - gave them the edge.

Scotland began with a 26-23 victory over the Scottish Select side, and it proved to be a close match with many of the players knowing each other from Scottish League encounters.

Allan Stokes scored six and Brian Bartlett five for Scotland, while for the Select team Kris Szulc scored seven and Jens Frederikson added six.

Also on Friday, Ireland beat a young England side 37-31. Trailing 18-11 at the break, England came out strongly for the second half and reduced the deficit to two goals, before the Irish hit back to win by six.

The top scorer for Ireland were Hichem Sefroun, while for England Stuart Latchford scored six and Aden Woodall five.

Saturday opened with England edging a close match with the Scottish Select team.

Level at 13-13 at half time, the match looked to be swinging the way of the Scots with England receiving a two-minute suspension with just four minutes still on the clock. But they failed to capitalise, and England held out to win by two goals.

Aden Woodall was top scorer for England with seven goals, while for the Select Jens Frederickson added eight and Kris Szulc five.

What turned out to be the match of the Tournament came next, and Scotland clinched a decisive 32-18 win over Ireland.

Ireland were unable to cope with the pressure defence that the Scotland team applied and were continually frustrated.

Leading 15-6 at the break, Scotland continued to keep up their advantage in the second half and every time Ireland reduced the deficit by a few goals Scotland would again take their lead back.

Top scorers for Scotland were Gary McCafferty with 10 and Allan Stokes with six, while Alan O’Brien scored six for Ireland.

Narrowly ahead by just one goal at half time, Ireland went on to beat the Scottish Select team 34-25 in their final clash on Sunday, but Oisin O’Brannagain scoring 11 goals and Jens Federickson seven.

Scotland took on England in the final match of the Tournament, with both sides still in with a chance of overall victory.

Early in the match the teams were close but then the pressure defence from Scotland started to take its toll on England and their scoring rate dropped and the Scots were 18-12 ahead at half time.

The experience of Scotland began to tell in the second half, but the younger England team still played very well, although they were certainly missing Stuart Latchford who was unable to play due to an injury in the previous match.

The Scottish team kept up a high intensity throughout the match and the team spirit throughout the weekend really contributed to their success.

Univ of Manchester overwhelm Deva in National League

UNIVERSITY of Manchester overwhelmed newcomers Deva 36-13 in their English Men’s League (North) clash at the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool on Sunday.

After a slow start to the season which saw them without a win for the first three weeks, the University of Manchester notched up their second consecutive victory to move up to third in the early league table.

Eight goals from Rudolf Balta led the way for the students, while Patryk Homa, Lucasz Berezowski and Andreas Papelia all added six each to keep the score ticking over.

Elsewhere in the North, Liverpool Speke Garston beat Wirral 24-19 in the day’s other match at Greenbank.
The Wirral side had only six players, but battled well against a strong and determined Liverpool Speke Garston team.

The game was goal for goal throughout the encounter and, when pushing to try and bring the game equal, the Wirral team were caught with a number of fast breaks which meant that Speke Garston pulled away in the closing stages to take victory.

In the Southern Section, Ruislip Eagles beat champions Great Dane 29-28,, while Olympia beat Cambridge 25-19.

Ruislip Open Season with a Win

Ruislip Eagles got their season off to a great start with a convincing 39-12 win over Thames on Sunday.

The Eagles are determined to make a significant push for the league and cup this year having lost both titles to rivals Great Dane last season, and have been boosted this season with the return from long-term injury of Lenka Kocisova as well as strengthening in the goalkeeper position.

Thames were fielding a new-look team and got off to a good start, with speed in their attack. But Ruislip’s new goalkeeper Elizabeth Solhaug was in fantastic form, with an 80 per cent save rate in the first half.

Ruislip soon settled and were dominating from fast breaks where Kocisova and Telek were unstoppable. The Eagles built a commanding half time lead of 21-5, largely due to the efficient fast breaking and Solhaug’s commanding performance and although Thames were more effective in the second half, the game was over as a contest and Ruislip ran out 39-12 winners.

Top scorers for Ruislip Eagles were Telek with 12, while Kocisova added 11 and Dani Sposi 6.

This Sunday, Great Dane open their defence of the National League title with a match against Chester side Deva at Leyton SCORE Centre in London.

Expert Help for London Handball Players

YOUNG handball stars of the future got some expert advice during a training session last week, when they joined in with a training session with the Great Britain men’s team at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

The youngsters came from across London, and were brought in by Handball Development Officer Ari Bekker who liaised with British Handball to make the session happen.

“Everyone paired up with one of the GB players on each position, and they helped them out with learning some new tricks and passing on their skills,” she said.

“The team just made my young players’ whole year! They’re already asking when they can do it again!”