Inter-Borough Tournament Proves Big Hit

Barking Abbey School was crowned champions of the London Inter-Borough Girls Handball Competition last week after an exciting set of matches between teams from across the capital.

A series of games played over ten minutes took place at Newham Leisure Centre, and Barking Abbey ran out winners after a thrilling final against Hackney Free School who were competing in their first ever handball competition.

Not to be missed out, the boys event took place at the same venue later in the week, and it was Carshalton Boys who took the top spot, with Harris boys finishing as runners up and Hackney Free third.

“It was another fantastic event,” said London Handball Development Officer Aranka Bekker. “Every time we run these competitions there are more and more people wanting to play handball.

“And because more and more schools are now putting handball on their curriculum, the standard of competition is ever-improving.”

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!”

Great Dane Women Record First European Victory

GREAT Dane Women beat Greek side AS Aris Thessalonikis 31-20 in the European Challenge Cup last weekend to become the first British women's team to record a European victory in over 20 years.

The London club were playing in the competition for the first time after qualifying as English League champions, and travelled with a squad of 17 to Leiria in Portugal for their two matches in the second round of the tournament.

“It was a fantastic and memorable experience for everyone,” said player Anne Kandler. “The final whistle was lost in jubilation and we won the title for the most passionate celebration for sure.”

Hosts Juvelis provided their first opposition, watched by more than 300 spectators.

Great Dane started nervously, and every technical mistake was immediately punished. But the Danes fought themselves back into the game and kept a 4-5 goal difference for most of the first half.

“The Portuguese team proved to be a physically strong opponent and their aggressive and clever 5:1 defence caused some problems,” added Kandler.

The second half followed a very similar pattern – a passionately fighting Great Dane team playing some good handball, forced the Portuguese to show their best until the end when they were 32-19 winners.

“We learnt our lesson that we can keep up with the other teams, now we only need to reduce our own technical mistakes,” added Kandler.

After some intense sessions with osteopath for all the Great Dane players, they took on Thessalonikis in their final match, and looked a different team from their opening game with variable and aggressive defence.

“The first half was relatively equal and the team played probably their best handball: beautiful goals from the wings, powerful shots from the back, impressive goalkeeping and fast breaks lead to a half time score of 16-13,” explained Kandler.

“And the second half proved that youth cannot replace experience - the oldest player of the Greek team was younger than the youngest player of our team!” she added.

Great Dane extended their lead gradually to a comfortable 31-20 victory, while in the final game of the tournament, Juvelis beat Thessalonikis 36-25.

Kandler scored 12 goals in their two games, while Iris Manu scored 11, including ten in their victory over Thessalonikis.

“It was a great experience,” added Kandler. “And the team would like to thank our coach Paulo Silva for inspiring us to a great result, Karin Modig for doing a great job in organising our Challenge Cup adventure, and our osteopath Alexia Lescure for ensuring that everyone survived it.”

London Schools Event Proves a Big Hit!

DOZENS of youngsters from across London took part in the London Inter-Borough Handball Tournament staged at Newham Leisure Centre recently.

The event was for year seven and eight pupils, and after some thrilling matches was won by Westminster City School and Barking Abbey School in the boys and girls competitions respectively.

With six boys teams and five girls team, for many it was their first taste of handball - but most left hooked on handball and wanting to play the game more!

Teams from Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Haringey, Westminster and Greenwich attended, and London Handball Development Officer Ari Bekker said: “To involve more and more teams and schools in a competition like this and to see their fantastic play is great.

“You could see from the excitement on their faces just how much they enjoyed the games. It’s great to be able to get young people together from different boroughs and play in a handball competition.”

In the boys event, after some close group matches, it was Westminster City and Thamesmead who reached the finals, with Woodside High and Newham Flames just missing out by one goal in the semi finals.

Both teams in the final were playing for the first time, but after a great match it was Westminster City School who won.

And in the girls competition, runners-up St Angela’s School were beaten by Barking Abbey, who didn’t lose a match all day.

More handball events will be staged in the London area shortly. Handball coaching sessions take place at Newham Multi Sports Club Hub every Tuesday evening from 3-6.30pm.

For more information contact Ari Bekker, London Handball Development Officer, on 07738 385515 or e-mail her at aranka.bekker@newham.gov.uk

Newham Flames Light The Way

THE growth of handball in the London region was demonstrated at the recent under-16 Inter-Borough Competition - and it was Newham Flames who dominated the event.

The event, organised with support from Newham Borough in partnership with Leyton Orient Community Sports Partnership (LOCSP) as well as England Handball, saw several good games of handball played which showed the rapid growth of the sport in the capital.

Held at Newham Leisure Centre, the event was also supported by Olympic gold medallist Tessa Sanderson, who is a big fan of handball.

Newham put home advantage to devastating use their first team winning the event and their second team finishing as runners-up.

Waltham Forest finished were third, while other teams who took part included Hackney, Barking and Dagenham.

Ari Bekker London Handball Development Officer, said: “It was great to see so many players from the same age group in friendly but competitive games.

“Handball has shown great development in London and I hope we can continue this with help from the Newham Activity Team. The organisation was fantastic - a special thank you for Abul Hussain who managed to put everything together.”

And Thomas Laquan, 17, who has played for Newham since 2007, added: “I started to play handball at school. A coach came to our school and showed us and told us about handball. I haven’t heard about it before.”

Most of the players with Newham Flames were picked during a talent indication programme set up by Newham Council and LOCSP. Newham players have competed in international tournaments across Europe, and have travelled to Gothenburg, Manchester and Berlin to compete against Europe’s best youth handball teams.

Olympic Gold medallist Tessa Sanderson, who is helping the Newham Sports Academy to provide everybody with elite coaching, mentors, training and sport equipment, said afterwards: “Handball is about speed, agility, and communication. You don’t really need contact. It’s a sport that everyone can enjoy and good for everybody.

“I can see definitely there’s a future for handball in the UK. The more you promoted the more people get involved in it and the better it gets.”

And Chairman of England Handball, Mike Briers said: “We can see there is a lot of natural talent here which just needs coaching. It’s always fantastic to see young people playing sport together. And they progressed a lot during the late years.”

Local Sports Legacy Advisor, Alan Skewis added: “It’s good to see these children playing again and again and see how they developed over the last 3-4 years. Even those who have only come once are already skilled.

Skewis outlined plans for a handball league: “We have to make sure before the Olympic Games that the Olympic facilities will be used. The idea that all people from these boroughs can come together in the Handball Arena strengthens our plan to establish a strong Handball League later.”