Kia ora koutou, New Zealand Handball whānau!
Hard to believe another season of the formal domestic Handball programme has come to an end, and a summer of beach handball is just around the corner. This month’s update has a focus on governance admin, with a bit of international Handball to keep it interesting
AGM and Executive Committee
Thanks to all those who tuned in to the AGM on 1 October. A solid turnout from around the country, with all Clubs represented and all going to plan.
Draft minutes have been posted on the website https://handball.org.nz/annual-general-meetings-agm and will be put to next year’s AGM for formal approval. You can also find the annual report covering the period between AGMs and the financial statements for the latest financial year in the same section of the website. Please get in touch if you have any queries.
The Key governance development from the AGM was a change in a couple of the members on the Executive Committee, with Karl Fitzpatrick (Auckland Handball) and Julien Pringot (Canterbury Quakes) the newcomers elected to join me and Rowan Moloughney as the continuing Executive Committee members and Willy Silcock re-elected for a further two-year term. The incumbent Life Members’ appointee, Frank Stoltenberg, has been duly re-appointed by the Life Members as their rep to complete the make-up of the Executive Committee. Tim Rayner and Maddie Stephen opted not to seek re-election at the end of their two-year term, and we thank them for the services to New Zealand Handball.
We have now had our first post-AGM Executive Committee meeting, with the existing office bearers and constitutional role-holders confirmed to carry on for the year ahead, as follows:
President – David Ireland
Secretary-General – Rowan Moloughney
Treasurer – Willy Silcock
Complaints & Integrity – David Ireland
We are now going through a process of re-defining the various portfolios of interest the Executive Committee will oversee, ensuring those are properly aligned with our strategic plan. We will update you on those portfolios in next month’s update. The focus for the year ahead is on making sure we have an effective framework in place to implement the strategic priorities hammered out in the previous term. As always, we will be making several appointments from outside the Executive Committee to take responsibility for overseeing some of the portfolios. The door is open to anyone with a passion for improving the way New Zealand Handball works to put your hand up to assist with any area where you feel you can add value – just get in touch.
A Regional Associations and Club stakeholders’ meeting will be scheduled for later in the month to flesh out how people would like to see the year ahead playing out, as we once again tackle the challenging task of coordinating the national schedule.
Regional Championship
The other big event to take place over the past month was the Regional Champs held in Christchurch on October 7 and 8. Another great effort from the Canterbury Quakes Handball organising committee who put on a fantastic tournament at Pioneer Stadium. Good numbers and a couple of great finals in each division, and some top quality handball on display throughout. Congratulations to the Otago Men for defending their title as the national Men’s regional champions, and to the Canterbury Women’s team for also defending their title. A big thank you to all those that made the effort to get to this pinnacle event to conclude the indoor season.
International
Our women’s Youth and Junior teams are currently competing in the IHF Trophy Oceania qualifiers in New Caledonia – look out for images and updates from that event on our usual social media channels, with the tireless Jun Tanlayco on the spot once more to ensure there will be no shortage of action shots from our girls. Our Youth girls have their jobs cut out, up against New Caledonia and Tahiti, while the Juniors have a bit more variety as their division has Australia and the Cook Islands added to the mix. There are unlikely to be any easy games, but tremendous for our girls to experience some international competition, and a real credit to our Youth Handball organisation that we have been able to field teams in both divisions. Regardless of the results, it bodes well for the future. The winner of each age division will go on to represent Oceania at the Intercontinental Championships next year.
The New Zealand Men’s Team has also committed to their next international experience, with tickets booked for the squad to make the trek to the 21st Asian Handball Championships in Bahrain in January. For New Zealand Indoor Handball, the Asian Championships is as good as it gets, and the men have been putting in some great mahi domestically and abroad to give themselves the best chance of chasing that elusive international win. As for our Junior and Youth Women it isn’t going to be easy, but massive to be able to compete on the international stage once more.
Tracking further ahead to next year, we are looking forward to a Trans-Tasman clash to be held in the Bruce Pullman Arena in early May. The hope is to have both a Men’s and Women’s senior and Under 20 competitions, with planning well underway to make this a memorable event.
Beach
Of course, as we try to do our best to shake off winter, it’s not all about Indoor. We also have the 2023-24 beach handball programme kicking off next month. It will be another action-packed summer of Beach Handball ahead, with the climax of the programme being another tilt at the Australian champs in April. Keep an eye out for further updates as the programme unfolds.
Ngā mihi,