The Oxford University Handball Club left early on Saturday morning to play in the British University Championships, organised for a second year in a row by the ABUHC (Association of British Universities Handball Clubs), although the Championships themselves have been going on for over ten years now. Perhaps because of the better organisation or the impact caused by the Olympic Games, this year’s Championships included over 50 teams and 600 people, a great improvement. This is especially true for the northern teams, which include now a considerable amount of British players (something unthinkable only five years ago).

The championships took place at the Sports House in Barking, which had been one of the training centres during the Olympics. On Saturday, the group phase was played, with 15 minute games simultaneously played in the four available courts non-stop, so all the teams played their four matches that day. The Oxford men’s team came second in their group, with an overall result of 37-14, after beating Coventry, Bangor and Sheffield, losing only in their last game against Imperial College HC. The women drew their first game against UCL, but finished with an overall score of 46-19 after winning against Warwick, Cranfield, AECC, and Dundee. Both teams were thus in very good positions for the final phase of the tournament which was played on Sunday at the same venue.

During the second group phase, played in the morning, the women recorded a victory, a tie and a defeat, so sadly they could not make it beyond the quarter-finals, which is a great result, not only because the results was very close, and the level of the competition very high, but also because the team was basically started from scratch this year.

The men’s team passed through the second group phase easily, after defeating Lincoln and Warwick, but only after a very tight game against Manchester Uni. Then came the quarter finals against Dundee (winning 13-5), the semi finals against good old rivals Imperial College (winning 17-11), thus qualifying for the final. The final turned out to be a very tough game, in which not only the physical fatigue, but also the psychological pressure, after two whole days of intensive handball, came to the fore. To make things more interesting, the final was against Essex, who were playing basically on their home turf, and thus had an important number of supporters on the side.

Oxford offered a tough fight, and managed to secure always at least a two-goal difference, which gave only the slightest feeling of security, especially in a game as quick as handball. However, the Oxford team managed to keep focus all throughout the game, so when the referees signaled the end of the game it was a great relief. It was also a great surprise, because the coach actually convinced us that the game was 5 minutes longer than expected, which helped the team to keep focus until the very end. With a final result of 12-9, Oxford won its sixth title in this competition, celebrating it back in Oxford that very same evening.

PHOTO/ JAVI MARTINEZ

http://oxfordstudent.com/2013/02/04/handball-blues-celebrate-national-success/

For the first time the University of Roehampton attended the University Handball Championships. With almost 700 players, 40 men’s and 24 women’s teams Roehampton Women’s Handball was ready to have some fun and play some great matches.

The University Championships were held in Sporthouse, Barking on the weekend of the 2nd/3rd February. With a lot of excitement the nine girls from Roehampton Handball Club met up in the Sporthouse ready to play their first game as a team.

The first game was played against Bedford. This game ended 7-0 in favor to Roehampton. With six teams in every group four more matches was played on Saturday. The Second game Roehampton lost 6-2, a game which was played against Middlesex. Then Roehampton won two games in a row, first against Imperial 10-1 and then against Loughborough 5-2. Against Loughborough Roehampton had one player hurt and a second player became sick. In the last game Roehampton lost against Bath 5-8. In this game Roehampton played with only seven players.

After five matches on Saturday Roehampton were on a split second place in the group. Bath got to the best group because they beat Roehampton by winning their last game.

A social night out was arranged in Barking with all the teams on the Saturday night.

Sunday matches did not go too well and Roehampton came 12th place out of 24. Overall the whole experience was a great first tournament and all the girls found playing handball again thoroughly enjoyable.

By Anette Wiraas Karlsen – Handball Captain 2013

Story posted: Tuesday, 12 February 2013

http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/Sport-Roehampton/News/Roehampton-12th-at-National-Handball-Championships/

Twelve months ago the Handball community was eagerly awaiting the start of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic year and enjoying the memories of GB Women beating Angola in their first international match at the Copper Box in front of an invited audience to the London Cup.

One month later Angola finished 8^th in the International Handball Federation’s (IHF) World Championships to prove the GB performance was one of quality against world class opposition and that with the right preparation GB Handball teams can be successful on the world stage.

Twelve months later eagerness and excitement has reached new levels as the achievements of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games,  schools, clubs and GB Handball teams confirm that Handball has made its mark in the UK and is here to stay.

Thank you 2012 Welcome 2013 “Better Never Stops”

Team GB gymnasts and athletes produced their best performances, British feats of engineering rose majestically from green parkland garnished with floral decoration and the Copper Box the “Box that Rocks” presented a new sport to the British public which captured the imagination.

394,814 spectators enjoyed Olympic Handball in the Copper Box buoyed by the support of the volunteers, members of the armed forces and emergency services on a summer days out in the park.

One and a half million people tuned in to BBC Three, a digital television channel, to watch GB men take on France (Olympic, World and European champions) in GB’s first match of the competition and 200,000 viewers also watched games online on the BBC’s interactive TV channel as seats in the Copper Box became one of the hottest tickets of the games.[i]

Thanks to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) the years of planning, preparation and tireless work behind the scenes resulted in a stunning presentation of Handball and an outstanding spectator experience in our country.

Thanks to UK Sport supported by the British Olympic Association the GB Handball teams were given the necessary funds to ensure preparation and participation in the London 2012 Olympic Games through the Team 2012 sponsorship scheme presented by Visa which also ensured the inclusion of Intellectual Disability competition in the Paralympic Games. [ii]

Congratulations to Alex Gavrilovic London 2012 Handball Competition manager and his team who had the responsibility of delivering what he and many hoped would be the best Handball competition ever.  He was able to build on his Sydney 2000 achievement and produced one of the major successes of the London 2012 Games.

British Handball’s website jumped to 38,000 hits per day as enthusiasts up and down the country eagerly sought places and people to play Handball with.  London Handball Association and London clubs enjoyed great immediate interest too and as the 2012 Handball competition progressed to the knockout stages so the number of emails and visits to the website increased.

New enthusiasts followed up their enquiries with visits to club sessions and then committed to regular training and as a result most clubs now have new men’s and women’s teams almost doubling the number of adult teams playing in London competitions.

In 2013 the superbly designed and crafted Copper Box will re-open, the newly developed  Handball competitions for beginners and university teams currently taking place at SportHouse (the London 2012 Handball training venue) will develop to reach a resounding crescendo and new Handball winners and champions will be crowned.[iii]

The growth in Handball at youth level in London has been under way for some time. At the start of the last Olympic cycle Handball was demonstrated at the London Youth Games by three teams on grass pitches at Crystal Palace. Since then thirty-one borough teams have enjoyed taking part in three years of competition and the 2012 winners were Barking and Dagenham (Girls) and Greenwich (Boys).

In 2009 new university teams were created, schools began playing friendly fixtures against each other and teams from the Olympic boroughs reached the national finals of inter-county and school competitions. Early in 2010 London Handball Association was formed and began offering Introductory Handball courses to schools, school sport partnerships, universities as well as competitions.

Since then more than 500 candidates have attended London Handball courses which have supported borough teams winning the London Youth Games competition, London school teams reaching national finals, two National Schools titles, Head Teachers creating Handball clubs in the community and in 2012 Chris Higgins (St Mary’s University College) became the first candidate to become a full international player when selected for Ireland.

The 2012 National Schools results make particularly impressive reading with two London schools reaching the podium in each England Handball Association competition. Ark Academy (Brent, London) took the bronze medal in the U13 Girls Championship and Barking Abbey School (Barking, London) bronze in the U15 Girls Championship while Harris Girls Academy (Southwark, London) took the silver medals in both the U13 and U15 Championships.

In the U13 Championship Harris Boys’ Academy (Southwark, London) won the gold medal match and Ark Academy (Brent, London) took the bronze medals. All Saints School (Barking, London) in their first appearance in a national final were crowned U15 Boys National Champions and Harris Boys’ Academy (Southwark, London) took the bronze medals.

Thank you 2012 Welcome 2013 “Better Never Stops!”

London clubs have been at the forefront of Handball performance in our country for a number of years.  Ruislip Eagles a club based in Hillingdon have won the Women’s National League and Cup competitions for 16 consecutive years leading up to 2007.  Since that year the squads have regrouped and raised their game to reclaim the titles and in 2012 the club added another double of League and Cup Champions to its unique history.

London G.D. are the club that regularly contest National Finals with Ruislip Eagle’s men and are the reigning National League and Cup Champions. Both clubs regularly compete abroad in European competitions in search of higher accolades and join with the other leading clubs in London (Thames H.C., Olympia H.C. and Newham Flames H.C.) to help develop participation in Handball at grassroots level.

The BT London Live events brought the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games closer to the audiences and the clubs supported this venture by delivering have-a-go-handball sessions in Hyde Park and Victoria Park as well as providing “GamesMaker” volunteers for the London 2012 Handball competition.

Much seamless and tireless work behind the scenes has been taking place to ensure the success of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Handball has been fortunate to be a major beneficiary. In February 2010 a significant health investment was made by the National Health Service in the form of “Change4LifeSports Club” administered by the Youth Sport Trust.[iv]

Selected schools were given the opportunity to create a sports club at their school and receive training and support. Fifteen per cent of the invited schools chose Handball which brought a further investment of £850,000 to the sport created 400+ new clubs and introduced 45,000 more children to Handball. [v]

In London the County Sports Partnerships have provided valuable local support and funding to create new coaches for schools and clubs and have helped to establish mentoring schemes for teachers and coaches.   They have been the critical link to generous Sport England programmes enabling the inception of regular handball activity which has acted as the platform for the birth of new community clubs.

Sport England has recently announced record figures of investment in Handball for the next four year Olympic cycle. £1.15m for the 2013 – 2017 cycle more than doubles the previous award and if progress can be achieved there is the opportunity to benefit further. The re-opening of the Copper Box is planned for 27th July 2013 and the prospect of being able to access the iconic sustainable venue to enjoy playing Handball is now a mouth-watering prospect for many more enthusiasts. [vi]

Handball owes a great debt of gratitude to the British Olympic Association and UK Sport for supporting our best Team GB Handball athletes to their greatest opportunity to date. [vii]   Also to the National Health Service for a health investment which was financially larger than the 2009 – 2013 Handball whole sport plan funding, to the County Sport Partnerships for their local support and Sport England for showing trust in our sport and record levels of investment going forward.

In May 2012, the first School Games National event was hosted by the Youth Sport Trust in the Olympic Park.  The School Games are designed to build on the magic of 2012 to enable every school and child to participate in competitive sport, including meaningful opportunities for disabled youngsters.

The Youth Sport Trust has been at the forefront of sport development for school aged children for a number of years and have been instrumental in helping sports develop programmes and appropriate competition pathways for young people.

Staff from the Youth Sport Trust have held taster sessions, provided Handball teaching and after-school club opportunities and have organised festivals and competitions to support the development of Handball in London over the last four years.

The new School Games competition brings an opportunity to grow Handball through local, regional and national levels of competition and build on the great work done by the Youth Sport Trust over many years.  Entering the competition may offer the chance to compete in the Olympic Park in the future if the competition returns there.[viii]

The wave of enthusiasm from the British public wanting to find places to play Handball has been followed by a second wave of enthusiasm from students causing a “double-tip progression” for Handball.

Repeating the pattern seen earlier in August 2012 the number of students wanting to play Handball rose sharply when university terms began in October. UCLU and Imperial College the established London universities with handball clubs struggled to deal with large numbers in cramped facilities but have managed to retain enthusiasts and double their number of teams.

Universities in the UK have been keen to organise themselves to help achieve access to the prestigious British Universities and Colleges Sport competitions and have formed the Association of British Universities Handball Clubs.  The first major Handball championship of 2013 is the University championships and London teams will be competing on 2nd and 3rd February at Sporthouse, Barking in London.[ix]

The end of the most amazing and thrilling sporting event which was “The Greatest Show on Earth” was most keenly felt in the days immediately after the stunning closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic games. However progress in bringing more televised Olympic sports to wider audiences has already been made.

BT have recently announced that they are to become a long term anchor tenant of the former International Broadcast Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, now part of iCITY.  BT want to create jobs in the area and explore sporting links with local schools as well as look at how they can offer production facilities to other companies and lead the way to securing the Olympic sporting legacy for the community.[x]

The cocktail of Youth Sport Trust support, Olympic partner programmes and new legacy initiatives offers an unrivalled opportunity for Handball and other sports in 2013.

Thank you to the inspirational GB teams for their years of dedication, preparation, performance and  sacrifice.  Team GB Handball players showed us that skill, determination and tenacity achieves success on the world stage.

Congratulations to the clubs, universities, Head Teachers and supporters in the community who have worked tirelessly to promote and progress the exhilerating, exciting sport of Handball in London.

THANK YOU 2012

IT WAS A PRIVELIGE

WELCOME 2013

“BETTER NEVER STOPS”

]]> http://www.londonhandball.co.uk/thank-you-2012-welcome-2013-better-never-stops/feed/ 0 http://www.londonhandball.co.uk/handball-gets-a-boost-with-sport-england-investment/ http://www.londonhandball.co.uk/handball-gets-a-boost-with-sport-england-investment/#comments Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:36:27 +0000 Chris http://www.londonhandball.co.uk/?p=2191 The sport that caught the nation’s imagination this summer, has secured £1.2 million of funding to help it capitalise on the interest generated by the Olympic Games

Across Northern Europe handball is a popular sport played at professional level, but in England it is still in its infancy with only a few thousand regular players. It has to compete for indoor space with several more established sports and, while the attention generated by the Games is welcome, the small governing body, England Handball, does not currently have the infrastructure to ensure supply meets demand.

Over the next four years, funding worth £1.2 million will help to develop the governing body and the sport.

This includes the appointment of a CEO and senior staff who will run the organisation on a day-to-day basis, as well as four strategic programmes:

• A club and community programme designed to recruit and retain players through taster sessions, working with schools, colleges and partners such as StreetGames and Premier League 4 Sport as well as growing the number of handball clubs
• Structured competitions in schools, colleges, universities and clubs which convert informal participants into regular players
• Workforce development to create and support a network of leaders, coaches and tutors from entry level through to performance
• A sustainable talent programme including talent identification and player development as well as keeping talented players within the sport by moving them into coaching

Lisa O’Keefe, Sport England’s Director of Sport, said: “Handball’s profile has been transformed this year and the sport has a real opportunity to grow. It’s proving particularly attractive to younger people who are keen to try out this edgy new contact sport. England Handball now faces the challenge of turning interest into regular play.”

Courtesy Sport England.

The following is the fixtures and results for the SportHouse London Handball League organized by the London Handball Association. For more details on this league do not hesitate to contacts us.

Teams from northwest, southwest, central, south and east London were joined by Cambridge and produced outstanding passages of play in a closely fought competition in the outstanding facilities at SportHouse.

The teams were organised into two groups and played a round robin of matches before proceeding to the knockout stages. London GD drew 8-8 with Cambridge in the first match of Group A and went on to finish top as Olympia held Cambridge to a 2-2 draw in the final match after first losing to London GD.

Drawn matches were also a feature in Group B where Thames and Ruislip Eagles drew 3-3 and then UCLU and Thames drew 2-2. Ruislip Eagles achieved the important decisive result against UCLU winning 3-2 to head Group B moving into the play-off stages.

A great battle took place between Thames and London GD in the first play-off match which really saw the teams light up the court with fast breaks and sizzling shots from all angles. At full time the score was 6-6 and the first penalty competition was held to decide the winner. After five penalties each it was London GD who moved forward to the finals and Thames to the 3rd & 4th place match with the scoreline 9-8.

Speed, strength and stamina produced outstanding attacking and scoring in the second play-off match between Ruislip Eagles and Cambridge and it was Ruislip Eagles that ran out winners 8-3 as balanced attacks from both sides of the court proved too much on this occasion for Cambridge.

The final matches to decide placings saw teams and players raise their performance yet again. UCLU ran out winners against Olympia to finish 5th and Cambridge raised their game to give Thames their first defeat of the tournament in normal time to take 3rd place.

In the final match between London GD and Ruislip Eagles the score changed hands a number of times throughout the match until with 30 secs to go the match was tied 6-6. After the ball was parried by the Ruislip Eagles goalkeeper from a strong London GD shot the Eagles outfield players launched one more fast break attack.

The goalkeeper delivered a pass to halfway with pin-point accuracy and after some clever passing the Ruislip left half made a scything run between two defenders and attempted to launch himself and a shot but was pulled down by the defence.

The referee had no choice but to award a penalty and with four seconds remaining Ruislip Eagles took the lead which they held onto for the few remaining tense seconds to win the match 7-6 and the first post Olympic London Handball tournament for new players.

Congratulations to all the teams for taking part and producing an excellent Handball competition. Thanks to SportHouse for hosting and to Marc Fayemi (Ruislip Eagles) for promoting, organising and running the tournament.

The next beginners tournament will take place on Saturday 15th December at SportHouse. Final places:

1. Ruislip Eagles
2. London GD
3. Cambridge
4. Thames
5. UCLU
6. Olympia

This challenging role would be unpaid (for now) and ideal for someone with 4-8 hours of free time per week. The duties would include (but are not limited to), day to day running of club affairs, liaison with partners, applications for funding, financial issues etc.

If you feel that you have the energy and are capable to help out and in development of handball club to create long lasting London 2012 legacy, or for more details please feel free to get in touch with us at nf.coach@hotmail.co.uk.