President's Update - February 2024

Greetings, Aotearoa Handball Whānau

A belated welcome to 2024, Kiwi Handball style. It’s only the end of February, but already plenty has happened in 2024 on the New Zealand Handball front, and we are really excited about what the rest of the year holds in store.

Our Men’s Team doing New Zealand proud In the Middle East

What a fantastic way to finish an international tournament!

Our Senior Men’s Team knew they would be up against it when they headed to Bahrain in January for the 21st Asian Men’s Handball Championships. Our previous campaigns to the Asian Champs – Men and Women – have failed to produce a win, despite a couple of close results and periods of footing it with the best Asia had to offer.  After four years in the international wilderness, the Men kicked off the 2024 Championships with a lot of ground to make up.

That gap in the level of play we were used to certainly showed in the early games. By the final game of the Championships against India we were staring down the barrel of another winless campaign. But never count a Kiwi out! Superbly led by the ever-green Jimmy Cochrane and a player of the match performance from Paul Ireland, New Zealand powered to a five goal win to finally get the monkey off our back. With a mounting casualty list, it was a massive effort from our men and just reward for all the years of effort that got the team to that point. Congratulations to coach Roland Van Den Tillaar and all the squad for what they achieved. And thanks to our new-found supporters in Bahrain for getting behind the team!

National League

What the latest Asian Championships has taught us is that if we want to be competitive on the international stage, we have to increase the number of competitive games our players are exposed to. There is no substitute for game-time.

With the above in mind, and in response to feedback from around the regions of players hungry for more opportunities to flex their muscles, we are now putting the final touches on the National League concept floated last year. Keep an eye out for further updates over the next few weeks as we lock down the final logistics following consultation with the Regional Associations.

Meantime, we have a calendar of upcoming events. More details will be posted in our event page - https://handball.org.nz/events. Unfortunately, the Trans-Tasman  clash we had previously hoped to take place at the start of May has fallen through, but there’s still plenty coming up for everyone!

BEACH

2024 National Beach Womens Champion - Dirty Pigeons

2024 National Beach Mens Champion - Barad-dur Beach Bros

At this time of year, of course, Beach Handball dominates the domestic scene. Another superb programme on the sand has been put together, with the National Beach Championships having just successfully concluded in Christchurch. Congratulations to the Dirty Pigeons from Australia and the Barad-dûr Beach Bros for taking out the Women’s and Men’s titles respectively, and to all who took part. Fantastic to have a team from across the ditch taking part. We have a couple of teams looking to reciprocate for the Aussie Beach Club Champs in April – great to see the Trans-Tasman rivalry and Handball camaraderie thriving. Also pleasing to see the strong uptick in the number of female Beach players coming through, encouraging signs for the future of the Women’s game.

Next up on the Beach calendar is the North v South Championships taking place at the end of March. If you haven’t experienced the excitement of Beach Handball live, that should be a great event to get along to. 

Volunteers and admin

Now that we have got the NZ Exec organisational restructure bolted down - Organisation Structure, we are looking out for volunteers to help out with the various portfolio areas. The idea is that many hands make light work – and a heck of a lot more fun!

You can find the EOI details here EOI Form. No prior experience necessary, with each portfolio overseen by one of the Executive Committee. All we are after is people passionate about helping New Zealand Handball become the best that it can be. And there is no shortage of work to be done.

The other volunteer initiative underway at present is the appointment of coaches for our various high performance sides. EOIs are currently in circulation, and we hope to be in a position to make some announcements on that front later in March, with the immediate focus being the launch of the Junior and Youth Men’s campaign for the IHF Trophy later this year.

Of course, Handball in New Zealand is built on the backs of our wonderful volunteers all around the country, outside of the national Exec roles. It is great to hear news of various initiatives kicking off in our Handball centres to set up the year ahead. All the work you do to support grass roots Handball and keeping it going throughout the country is greatly appreciated. You are the life blood of our sport.

Last, and sorry to end on a negative note – we have been plagued by fake Facebook accounts of late, with various unfortunates trying to pass themselves off as NZ Handball. All we can ask is that you be wary, and check that any posting you are following or sharing is the real deal. Our official social media accounts can be found on the top right of our website - CONNECT WITH US. And remember, our livestream YouTube account is NZ Handball Live,we will not ask you to create an account nor pay subscription to view livestream games.

All the best for your Handball in the year ahead

David Ireland

President

President's Update - December 2023

Meri Kirihimete, Aotearoa Handball Whānau

Well here we are at the end of another year, with a host of great handball memories to tuck away. There’s lots to celebrate and much to look forward to next year, as well as some admin developments to help it all hang together.

2023 in the rear-view mirror

I thought I’d start off this final update of the year by reflecting on some highlights from 2023. Apologies if I miss out anyone’s favourite New Zealand Handball memory from the year – to avoid writing a novel, this is just a selection of what has gone on.

Beach – ome uncharacteristic inclement weather for Christchurch put a bit of a dampener on the summer’s beach programme to start the year, but we still managed to put on a great beach series and camps in the Garden City, with a new league successfully established in Wellington as well. The programme culminated in the Oceania Champs in Coolangatta in April. Both the New Zealand Men’s and Women’s teams finished runners up at that event, with the Men’s team coming agonisingly close in an extended penalty shoot out for the decider. New Zealand Beach Handball continues to go from strength to strength, with plenty to build on for the future.

Youth high performance – two great campaigns during 2023 saw our youth men take on the world in Croatia, and our junior and youth women take on the best Oceania had to offer in New Caledonia. While we didn’t come away with the results we had hoped for, the depth of teenage talent on display is super encouraging for the future. Plenty has been learned from those campaigns, and we will build on that experience in the years ahead.

 Youth development – some great work has been done in all the main centres to grow the youth base, with various school leagues in play and multiple exposures across a wide range of Schools. Special thanks to our good friends from our key strategic partner the Goethe Institut for supplying starter handball kits that have been deployed across the country, which makes a huge difference in ensuring our great sport gets the exposure it deserves.

New partnership – Earlier this year we were delighted to ink a deal with Select NZ/Freedom2Play to supply clothing and other kit for our representative teams. Not only is the Select gear top quality, we have a supplier that is super responsive and committed to supporting New Zealand Handball look as good as it possibly can on the international stage. It’s a highly valued partnership for us, and we encourage you all to check out their great range and kit yourself out in some NZHF-branded Select merch.

Tournaments – Fantastic to have all four of the regular national tournaments on the New Zealand Handball calendar (Queenstown Open, Auckland Open, Club Champs in Wellington, and Regional Champs in Christchurch) take place with solid numbers attending. Particularly pleasing was having over 200 players take part in Club Champs, and a team come over from Sydney to take part. Exciting times. Big thanks to the WCC Sports Event Partnership Fund for once again coming to the party with funding to support our Club Champs to help keep the attendance fees down

Strategic review – Yes, we can’t ignore the admin achievements! Throughout the year the NZHF has been working through a review of its strategic priorities, ensuring the organisation is focused on what matters to move New Zealand Handball forward in the right direction. There are lots of challenges to overcome, but if we can get everyone pulling together to support the plan I am confident we can get there.

Congratulations to all those who had a hand in the above, and those who contributed to all the other great handball work that hasn’t been mentioned

Looking ahead to 2024

Another action-packed handball year lies ahead. We are currently pulling together a calendar of known events that will be published on the website shortly, as we try to give everyone as much time as possible to plan their lives around what is in store. Here’s a snapshot of what’s coming up:

21st Asian Men’s Handball Champs – first up we have our Men’s Team head off to Bahrain for the Asian Champs (11-25 January) for our first taste of senior international handball outside Beach Handball in 4 years. Keep an eye out for posts and links to livestreams as the action unfolds.

21st Asian Men’s Handball Championship

Beach – another great summer of Beach Handball is lined up, this time culminating in the Aussie Beach Club Champs in April – with the tantalising prospect of more international opportunities later in the year.

National League  - we are currently putting the finishing touches on plans for a new national league, to increase the opportunities for regional teams to play each other, as signalled at our regional forum in October. This is a major initiative that we hope the New Zealand Handball community will get behind, coming to a climax at the Regional Champs to be held in the new Christchurch Stadium in mid-October.

Tournaments – wrapped around the National League we are still aiming to support the traditional tournaments, with the hope remaining that a national representative teams Trans-Tasman clash will be able to be pulled off in early May

Olympics – July/August 2024 is our 4-yearly opportunity to see our great sport on mainstream TV, with the Olympics in Paris. Planning is already underway for how to maximise the potential exposure from that.

IHF Trophy – details to be confirmed, but it’s the boys’ turn again this year for the Oceania Men’s Junior and Youth IHF Trophy qualifiers, to give our aspiring stars of the future something to aim for.

Organisational restructure

As part of the strategic review and with a change in the composition of the NZHF Exec, we have re-shaped our portfolio responsibilities. We believe the new structure will provide us with a more coherent framework to help grow New Zealand Handball to become the best that it can be, as well as create a structure that opens the door for greater involvement and helps spread the load.

The new structure involves a number of broad areas of responsibility overseen by a member of the Executive Committee, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the various areas sitting within each portfolio. It is all part of the evolving professionalism with which a sports body needs to be organised, and we hope that it will help provide greater transparency and accountability for what we are trying to achieve. The broad portfolios of responsibility are as follows:

•  Beach – covering all aspects of Beach Handball (Exec responsibility - Willy Silcock)

•  Communications and Outreach – covering media, marketing, membership and overseas liaison (Exec responsibility – Rowan Moloughney)

•  Competitions and Events – covers what the label suggests (Exec responsibility – Karl Fitzpatrick and Rowan Moloughney)

•  Development and Programmes – covering high performance, youth development, women’s handball, coaching and refereeing (this is a big one! Exec responsibility will be split between Frank Stoltenberg, Julien Pringot, and Karl Fitzpatrick)

•  Financial – covers the treasurer role as well as sponsorship and funding (Exec responsibility – Willy Silcock)

•  Governance and Ethics – covers policies, stakeholder liaison, Diversity & Inclusion, Complaints & Integrity (Exec responsibility – David Ireland)

Role descriptions are still being fleshed out to underpin all that, but this should give you a taste of how we are looking to operate. When he gets a chance, our Media Officer star Jun will weave his pictorial magic wand over things to make it more accessible for all.

Xmas wrap

That’s more than enough for now – hopefully there is something in the above for everyone to feel good about what has been achieved over the year past, and excited about what the year ahead has in store for New Zealand Handball.

Thanks to all our wonderful Handball Whānau for all you have contributed to New Zealand Handball this year - and for all you are going to contribute in 2024!

Safe travels and best wishes for the festive season

David Ireland

President

President's Update - November 2023

Kia ora koutou, New Zealand Handball whānau!

A fairly brief update this month, as we focus on planning for the year ahead. Some admin as well as some international action to report on, plus one last high performance treat to squeeze in before Christmas for you all to mark in your calendars.

Women’s Junior and Youth teams do NZ proud in New Caledonia

The handballing highlight of the past month has to be the performance of our girls at the Oceania IHF Trophy qualifiers held in mid-October. For a couple of squads dominated by players with minimal competitive handball experience, and a new-look coaching unit, they performed with distinction.

A couple of major achievements to bookend the tournament – a stunning win for the Juniors (Under 19s) over the Australian Juniors to open their tournament, and a nail-biter for the Youth (Under 17) team to finish off their campaign against Tahiti. The official result was a controversial draw on the scoresheet, but the girls had a triumph on the court for them all to celebrate. Congratulations to all involved – New Zealand Handball is super-proud of you all! Encouraging to see the future of the female game in New Zealand looking so strong.

2023 IHF Trophy Oceania - Youth Womens, 3rd place

2023 IHF Trophy Oceania - Junior Womens, 3rd place

Regional Meet

Thanks to those who tuned into the regional stakeholders meeting held at the end of October. There’s some good stuff happening around the country, with a real focus on growing depth at a junior level.

We are currently gathering feedback on a proposed national league initiative we are looking at running in 2024. Hopefully we will be in a position to announce something definitive next month, as we look to finalise the national schedule for the year ahead as much as we can. A key piece of feedback we have taken on board is the importance of needing to get tournament dates locked in as early as possible to help people’s travel plans, and we will do our best to deliver on that.

Strategic restructure

As signalled last month, one of the early tasks of your Executive Committee after each AGM is the allocation of portfolio responsibilities. This year we have decided to revisit the way we structure things, to improve the effectiveness of our delivery and spread the load. I know you are all hanging out for the outcome of that process, but you will just have to wait until next month’s update!

Exhibition Game 10 December – NZ Men v Wellington Barbarians selection

The final piece of high performance action for the year is scheduled for Ākau Tangi sports stadium in Wellington on Sunday 10 December at 11am. The New Zealand Men’s team will take on an invitational selection in an Exhibition game, which will be the closest thing we have had to a test match on home soil for four years. We have booked seating to cater for an audience and media, so come along and show your support!

This will be the New Zealand team’s last hit out before heading to Bahrain as Oceania’s sole representative at the Asian Handball Championships. We have drawn two of Asian Handball powerhouses in our pool – Iran and Korea – as well as China, who are always hard to beat. It will be a mammoth challenge for our boys, but it will also be the most internationally experienced New Zealand squad ever assembled, so we are hopeful of pulling off an upset. The cost per player for the trip is well over $10,000, so if you would like to help them out, here is a link to their Givealittle page:

Support the New Zealand Men's National Handball Team at the Asia Champs 2024!

2020 Asian Mens Handball Championship, Kuwait

That’s it for this month. Great to see Beach Handball back underway as summer starts to threaten, but more on that next month.

Ngā mihi,

David Ireland

President
New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - October 2023

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,

David Ireland

President
New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - September 2023

Kia ora koutou, Aotearoa New Zealand Handball Whānau!

It has been an action-packed past couple of months on the Handball front, but with just a few sleeps to go now until the NZHF AGM, I’ll stick to the highlights.

Club Champs – Wellington’s Ākau Tangi Sports Centre, 8-10 September

What a fantastic advertisement for Handball!

15 teams – five competing in the Women’s section and ten in the Men’s, including University of New South Wales to add an international flavour to things – with over 200 players taking the court over 42 games. Tremendous to see the New Zealand Handball community come together once again to enjoy some great competition and camaraderie over three action-packed days. Big thanks to the Bond Street Sports Bar for supporting the social event, the Brentwood Hotel for providing some great accommodation deals, Select NZ for chipping in a couple of backpacks for the tournament MVPs, Tom Paget & Habit Health for the physio support to keep everyone firing, and the Goethe Institut for supplying bags of Handballs for the winning teams and for its ongoing support for the development of New Zealand Handball. Great to have the Institut represented at prizegiving. And of course Jun Tanlayco for the amazing footage of the event, with livestreaming of all three courts beamed around the world! Thanks also to the WCC Sports Event Partnership Fund for the generous financial support that helped fund the event. 

Both finals were closely contested, and provided fine examples of quality Handball played in the best of competitive spirit. Congratulations to theHunters Handball Club, who dominated pool play and came out on top in the final after the Canterbury Quakes made them work hard for glory in the Women’s division. Even more evenly contested was the Men’s final, where the Otago Sheeps held their nerve and came out on top of the Purple Gounas.

Club Champs Womens Winner - Hunters Handball Club

Club Champs Mens Winner - Otago Sheeps

Congratulations also to the Canterbury Quakes Handball Club who were the inaugural winners of our brand new trophy, Kotahitanga – meaning Unity. This special award, kindly co-ordinated and gifted from the Hunters’ Tahndae Wyatt on behalf of her Ngāti Rangitihi iwi, celebrates being one with the community and the expression of selfless acts towards one another. There were many fine examples of the spirit of Handball on display over the course of the Championships, with no shortage of those taking part offering to help and coming together as one. But the unity, support and cohesion shown by the Canterbury Quakes made them worthy recipients of this special recognition.

Club Champs Kotahitanga award - Canterbury Handball

Referees

On a less positive note, we had a few instances of inappropriate challenging of referees’ decisions and dissent during the Club Championships, in some cases with that criticism carrying on after the final whistle. That sort of behaviour has no place in New Zealand Handball. Our referees are not hardened professionals. All do their best, but are never going to be perfect, despite the investment made in our referee training programme. We want to promote a Handball culture where all our referees feel supported and encouraged to pick up a whistle, without fear of abuse. It is the collective responsibility of the entire Handball community to call out poor treatment of referees, with zero tolerance for bad behaviour. Those who don’t get that message can expect to be on the receiving end of disciplinary processes.

Back to the positives, thanks again to Antoine Desnos for leading another round of our referee training programme. Congratulations to the 15 newly minted referees who worked through this year’s programme to earn the green shirt at Club Champs. As with last year, we are proud to have two of our cohort of qualified referees heading overseas next month to help officiate at the Oceania leg of the IHF Trophy. Congratulations Tahndae Wyatt and Langi Winitana.

NZ Youth Teams

On the subject of the IHF Trophy, our Women’s Junior and Youth squads are now all set to take on the best that Oceania has to offer in New Caledonia in October. It has been a mission getting everything organised for that, but exciting to see the two squads in action for an exhibition game at Club Champs. We wish them all the best for this qualifying event, with the winners going on to compete in the Intercontinental Championships next year.

U17 Team for 2023 IHF Trophy Oceania Womens

U19 Team for 2023 IHF Trophy Oceania Womens

U19 Men’s Team at the IHF Handball Youth World Championships in Croatia

And of course, we can’t overlook the efforts of our Men’s Under 19 Squad who took on the world at the Handball Youth World Championships in Croatia last month. While they didn’t come away with the results they had hoped for on the court, I am sure it was an incredible experience for all involved, and by all accounts they were fine ambassadors for New Zealand Handball off the court. It was a mammoth task to pull together, with plenty of lessons learned for next time. Thanks to all involved for your commitment to the cause. 

NZHF AGM 1 October

 All is set for the AGM being held online Sunday 1 October, commencing 7.30pm. Your Executive Committee is set for a bit of a shake up from that, with a couple of changes in our composition to take place. Please get in touch with your Club if you would like a link to the Zoom meeting – all members of the New Zealand Handball community are welcome (although only the Clubs and Life Members get to vote!). For those that can’t make it, details will be posted on our website after the event. But why would you miss it live??

Regional Champs – Christchurch’s Pioneer Stadium, 7-8 October

Hot on the heels of the AGM we have the clash of the Regions in Christchurch, as we gather together one last time for 2023 to finish off the regular domestic indoor season, before attention switches to Beach. Safe travels to everyone journeying to that.

The tournament and referees meeting will be held online on Thursday 5th October at 7 p.m.

That’ll do it for this month. As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if there are any Handball-related issues you would like to raise, ideas to share, or support to offer.

Yours in Handball

David Ireland

President

New Zealand Handball Federation  

president@handball.org.nz

President's Update - July 2023

Mid-winter greetings, New Zealand Handball supporters!

July has dished up its usual fare of Handball activity around the country, with the senior men’s and `national youth squads holding training camps and each Region’s Handball programmes in full swing. In some ways it has been the calm before the storm, with an action-packed three months ahead.  Those three months are book-ended by two major international tournaments New Zealand is taking part in, with some high octane domestic competition and a dose of organisational admin thrown into the mix - there should be something in it for everyone!.

In this month’s updates I touch on a few of the highlights coming up, plus offer a sneak peek at something truly special in store for next year.

NZ Youth Men depart to take on the world

Hard to believe the day has finally come. After an intense six months of training and fundraising, our Men’s Under 19 Squad has now left the country for the Handball Youth World Championships in Croatia, 2-13 August, taking in a high performance training camp with other nations in Hungary en route.

It has been a massive undertaking for Delegation Head Thomas Schmider, coach Hayden Juranovich and the lads, and now their time has finally come. New Zealand is up against Hungary, Morocco, and Slovenia in pool play. It is not going to be easy over there, but it is fantastic for a New Zealand  team to be a part of it. Check out the NZHF Facebook page for details and how to access livestreams (hopefully!) of our games, or check out the details here https://handball.org.nz/u19-mens-handball-world-championship-2023 . Give ‘em a taste of Kiwi, boys!

And it’s not all about the boys. Closer to home, the Women’s Junior and Youth squads are taking shape as they prepare to take on the best Oceania has to offer in New Caledonia in October. Delegation Head Laura Macready has been working tirelessly to pull it all together in a hurry, and we are looking forward to seeing them in action.

And now for the REAL excitement –

NZHF AGM 1 October

Yes, everyone’s annual highlight of the Handball calendar, the New Zealand Handball Federation AGM, has been set down for Sunday 1 October, commencing 7.30pm. As with the last couple of editions, we will be running this year’s AGM virtually. Please email president@handball.org.nz no later than 16 September if there are any items of business you would like raised.

Other than presenting our annual report and financial statements, the key item of business for each AGM is usually the election of Executive Committee members. As per the constitution, this year Tim Rayner, Willy Silcock and Maddie Stephen stand down by rotation as they end their current two-year term, with me and Rowan Moloughney continuing, and the Life Members’ appointee for the year ahead (currently Frank Stoltenberg) to be confirmed following the AGM. That means there are four spots up for grabs to be elected at the AGM. If any of our Clubs have someone in mind they think could make a positive contribution to New Zealand Handball by serving on the Executive Committee, please encourage them to make themselves available and put their names forward.

The deadline for nominations for Executive Committee members is Saturday 16 September, and the confirmed agenda for the AGM will be circulated 17 September.

Referee course 2023

This year’s online referee training course has now concluded. Thanks to all those who invested their time to take part, and the Clubs who supported the programme – and to Antoine for running it. We look forward to announcing the newly minted crop of referees who have qualified to wear the green at September’s Club Champs. Speaking of which -  

Club Champs – Wellington’s Ākau Tangi Sports Centre, 8-10 September

We have had 15 teams register for this year’s Club Champs by the deadline – ten competing in the Men’s section and five in the Women’s, including one team coming over from Sydney to take part. That’s two more teams than last year, and we are looking forward to another fantastic tournament and opportunity for the entire New Zealand Handball community to get together.

Further details to follow closer to throw off time. Meantime, for any teams travelling from out of town who are yet to secure their accommodation, we have secured a special deal for the tournament with the Brentwood Hotel, just a short stroll from the Stadium - https://www.brentwoodhotel.co.nz/. Contact secretary@handball.org.nz for more information about how to access that deal.

Regional Champs – Christchurch’s Pioneer Stadium, 7-8 October

To round off the upcoming dosage of Handball action we have the clash of the Regions in Christchurch, as we look to finish the indoor season in style. Regional Associations, please ensure you are liaising with your affiliated players in plenty of time to be able to take part.

Trans-Tasman Clash – Auckland’s Bruce Pulman Park 3-5 May

To round off this month’s update, I am delighted to announce that we are scheduling a trans-Tasman clash in May, for what we hope will become a regular fixture on our respective Handball calendars. The plan is to stage a contest involving Senior and Under 20 Teams, Men and Women, for the first leg of a home and away series. This is the first time we have attempted such a clash on this scale, as we look to increase the level of competition between New Zealand and Australia. We are still in the early planning stages, but save the date!

Yours in Handball,

David Ireland

President

New Zealand Handball Federation  

President's Update - June 2023

Kia ora koutou Aotearoa Handball Whanau

I am penning this month’s update hot on the heels of our first ever high performance super camp in Christchurch, with our men’s and women’s youth and senior squads coming together to make the most of the coaching resources on offer. It was awesome to see all that handball talent on display, and fantastic to have international coach Roland Nemes over here spreading his handball wisdom  - as well as the wisdom shared by our domestic-based coaching talent as well, of course! A big shout out to all those who juggled the logistical challenges involved to bring it all together so well.

The squads all now go their separate ways with their respective programmes, but the success of this first attempt at a multi-dimensional camp has encouraged us to try the initiative again when the planets next align.

Trans-Tasman Condolences

It was with great sadness that we heard of the shock death of Australian Beach Handball coach Patrik Weiss in Perth earlier this month. Very sobering to think that less than two months before his death he was playing a key part in orchestrating Australia’s victories over New Zealand in the Oceania Beach Handball finals in Coolangatta. Our thoughts go out to Patrik’s family and the Australian Beach Handball community, and we wish the Aussie national teams well as they deal with this setback on their path to the Beach World Games in August.

Regional Round Up

One of our strategic initiatives is to ensure we are connecting our regions together, and we had a good catch up with many of the regional reps earlier in the month. The fantastic mahi that Justin and the rest of the Canterbury Handball community are putting in to provide handball in schools is particularly encouraging, with some great structures in place. The future of handball in that region looks to be in great hands, and we hope to be able to replicate some of the initiatives that have brought success in Christchurch elsewhere in the country.

Other regions have their challenges, but there are some good initiatives in play - and good to see the Wellington Club league start up again at the start of the month. One area we are struggling with is numbers in Queenstown, so if any of you know of anyone in that area who might be interested in a hit out, please send them Leo’s way.

Tournament Survey

Another initiative we have under way is to gather feedback from the first three national tournaments that have taken place so far this year. Your views matter, and we are committed to making all New Zealand  handball events the best they can be. So if you were involved in the Beach Handball Club Nationals, the Queenstown Open or the Auckland Open, please take the time to complete the survey and let us know what you think.

You can find a link to the survey here: https://handball.org.nz/tournament-feedback. 

Youth High Performance

The details for the Women’s Youth & Junior IHF Trophy qualifiers have finally been announced - 16-20 October in New Caledonia. It was encouraging to see such a strong turnout of the youth squad at last weekend’s super camp, and it looks like we have some exciting new prospects in the mix. Relieved they now have a date to focus on - and it ain’t far away! Contact secretary@handball.org.nz if you would like further details.

Before that event takes place, we of course have our youth Men taking on the world in Croatia early August. The preparatory campaign has been massive. The delegation has had to deal with more than its share of challenges, but they are nearly there -and it’s not too late to donate to the cause or sponsor the team!! See https://handball.org.nz/youth/current-youth-mens-campaign for further details.

Referee training

Antoine’s excellent refereeing course continues each Sunday evening. If you want to be paid to referee at an NZHF national tournament in New Zealand, or be put forward to referee at international tournaments, need to take this course. On that note, we are seeking expressions of interest for a pair of referees to participate in the Women’s Youth & Junior IHF Trophy qualifiers in New Caledonia in October. Contact referees@handball.org.nz to get involved.

Coaching

 If you are interested in beginning your coach development, please reach out to high-performance@handball.org.nz. Tim and Roland will be running an entry level and a high performance focused coaching programme to upskill you and help encourage conversations and collaboration between our coaches doing their great mahi for the benefit of New Zealand Handball.

Club Champs

And last but certainly not least - There’s now less than three months until the pinnacle of the domestic handball scene - the NZHF Club Champs and registrations are now open! We’ll be starting early on Friday 8 September and going through until late afternoon Sunday 10th. Entry fee is $500 per team, with the WCC Sports Event Partnership Fund coming to the party once again to help subsidise the costs involved - big thanks to our friends at WCC and the fabulous Ākau Tangi Sports Centre for making the event possible.

Please register your teams here: https://forms.gle/7dtqWMnWZfjfcMRx9

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact secretary@handball.org.nz

That’s it for now. All the best for your Handball endeavours, whatever they may be, and take care out there.

David Ireland
President
New Zealand Handball Federation

President's Update - May 2023

Kia ora koutou, Aotearoa Handball Whānau!

A mixture of looking back and looking forward in this month’s update as the indoor handball season swings into gear.

Auckland OpEN

I am penning this month’s update hot on the heels of another fabulous Auckland Open. Good numbers attending, lots of tight matches and fierce competition. and some exciting handball talent on display, young and old - a treat to be there to witness the event. New Zealand handball looks to be in a good space.

Congratulations to the Auckland Women’s team for convincingly taking out their section of the event in a round robin competition, and to the Wellington Barbarians for taking out an all-Wellington final against the Vic Uni Turtles in a very closely matched 6 team competition. Congratulations also to Auckland Handball for organising such a smoothly run tournament.

Tournament feedback

With three major tournaments now under our belt for 2023 (Beach Club Champs and the Queenstown and Auckland Opens) we will shortly be circulating a feedback survey to ensure all involved have an opportunity to have their say. We feel there is some great handball product being delivered, but we know there is always room for improvement so would love to hear from you. And don’t feel you need to wait for the survey to have your say - please reach out to secretary@handball.org.nz at any time if you have any feedback you would like us to take on board.

Upcoming events

The Auckland Committee aren’t resting on their laurels with the Auckland Open now done and dusted. They are also hosting a male youth/under 20 tournament over the weekend of 8-9 July, and an equivalent female tournament over the weekend of 5-6 August.

If that age bracket is relevant to you, please do whatever you can to get along - Auckland has a track record of building great competitions, now it’s in the hands of under 20 players to get in behind the opportunity. 

Each major region is aiming to send a team to both competitions so please get in contact with your local region for more information on joining that team. 

Auckland:  info@aucklandhandball.com 

Wellington: admin@wellingtonhandball.com 

Christchurch: secretary@canterburyhandball.org.nz 

Otago: otagohandball@gmail.com

The next scheduled national domestic event is the Club Champs in Wellington on 8-10 September. It’s shaping up to be a great tournament, so make sure you have it locked into your schedule to come along.

We also have various training camps being held for our national representative squads, as well as local trainings taking place in each region. And on the international stage it is now less than ten weeks until the IHF Men’s U19 Handball World Championships…

NZ Youth High Performance

The men’s youth champs in Auckland in July will be the last hit out for our Under 19 Team before they head off to take on the world in Croatia.https://handball.org.nz/youth/current-youth-mens-campaign Thomas and the boys have run an amazing fundraising campaign to help cover the significant costs involved, and have really appreciated the overwhelming support they have received to date - but would also really appreciate any further support anyone is able to provide! They are still looking for a major sponsor to take advantage of the opportunity presented - for more information, contact youth@handball.org.nz.

Of course, it’s not all about the boys. We had a good level of interest in joining our female Under 17 and Under 19 squads, and we have assembled a great coaching unit to support them. The immediate focus of the girls’ campaign is on the IHF Trophy Oceania qualifiers being held later in the year, but longer term we are committed to building depth in this group - so the door remains open for new players to join the wider training squad for the campaign. Please register your interest through the EOI form on our website: https://handball.org.nz/youth-handball

Beach

The Beach Handball season reached a crescendo with the Oceania Beach Handball Qualifiers held in Coolangatta over ANZAC Weekend. The Men’s and Women’s teams played their hearts out, both making the finals but fell just short, sadly missing out on qualification to the World Beach Games in 2023 and the Beach Handball Championships in 2024. While these results were agonising for all involved, our players gave it their all and did their nation proud. Congratulations to the Australian teams going on to represent Oceania at the upcoming world events. But we’ll be back!

The NZHF management team is now looking at options to give our young and hungry sides the best available international experience and opportunities. We remain committed to moving from strength to strength in the beach handball scene, despite the disappointment in Coolangatta. In the coming months we will be finalising our national calendar for next year with some exciting changes, so for those who prefer their handball action on the sand, keep an eye out for what’s in store.

Referee courses

Switching from the playing side of the fence, one of our key ongoing initiatives is to improve the quality of our refereeing and overall understanding of the rules of our wonderful game. Antoine will be kicking off this year’s referee education programme on the first Sunday evening of June. It’s all run virtually, and we would love as many of our community as possible to take part - including those who went through last year’s programme and would like a refresher. For those completing the course, there is NZHF referee accreditation up for grabs, which brings with it eligibility to be paid for games you referee at national events.

The course is an essential building block for anyone interested in refereeing at a higher level - and is great for anyone just wanting a better understanding of the game. Look out for further details being posted later this month, or contact referees@handball.org.nz if you would like to register your interest in taking part.

Regions

Part of our strategic initiatives includes improving the information flows between the regions. We will be looking to convene a regions’ hui in the next few weeks, and will report further on what’s going on handball-wise around the country in next month’s update.

That’s it for this month – best wishes to you all for your various handball endeavours, whatever they may be.

David ireland

President

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

President's Update - December 2022

Meri Kirihimete, Aotearoa handball whānau

Hard to believe we are nearly at the end of another year – and what an action-packed year it has been for New Zealand Handball!

First up, congratulations to our men’s junior and youth team’s for a fantastic showing at the IHF Trophy Oceania qualifiers held in the Cook Islands at the start of December. While the boys weren’t able to bring home the silverware they had hoped for, they still posted some very creditable results and can hold their heads high with our U18 youth team finishing 2nd, coming agonisingly close to top place with a one goal loss to winners Tahiti, and the U20 juniors finishing 3rd, also coming agonisingly close to finishing one place better with a one goal loss to New Caledonia. Many thanks and congratulations to Cook Islands Handball for hosting the tournament. The result for the U18 Team was good enough to secure them a spot at the 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championships to be held in Croatia, so possibly more action in store for them next year.

We wish Tahiti (Youth) and Australia (Juniors) all the best as they go on to represent Oceania at the intercontinental phase of the IHF Trophy next year.

The future of New Zealand Men’s handball is looking bright with the way our boys performed in the Cooks. Now that they have had a taste of success on the international stage, we hope all the members of both squads have a long handball career ahead of them, and will share their experiences to inspire their peers to get amongst it. Eyes now turn to our youth and junior women’s teams to prepare for the equivalent Oceania qualifiers next year, date and venue yet to be confirmed. Look out for more communications and expressions of interests to get involved in that in the New Year.

Sticking with the international theme, the Men’s Handball World Championships will be held in Poland and Sweden in January. While New Zealand didn’t quite make the cut to take part, I will be attending the finals weekend in my capacity as NZHF President to wave the flag for New Zealand Handball, so look out for me in the stands. For those of you having a flutter on that international event, please do so at TAB NZ. There is a surprising level of betting placed on handball games from New Zealand, and an even more surprising proportion of that is placed with overseas betting agencies. While NZHF does not wish to encourage gambling, we do benefit financially from handball revenue generated by TAB NZ, for which we are extremely grateful and is how we get to fund our development grants programme. Any bet placed on handball that is not made through the TAB in New Zealand represents money lost to growing the sport here.

On the subject of our development grant programme, a process plea for those looking for funding from us. We have had a few applications come through of late that relate to expenses that have already been incurred and initiatives implemented. While we encourage initiatives aimed at developing and promoting the sport and its players, and are committed to funding initiatives that meet our fairly wide criteria, we won’t usually fund things retrospectively. So for our Clubs and Regional Associations, if you have an idea for something that will develop handball, and it will cost some cash to make it happen, please talk to us about how we can help before you get too far down the track. That way we can help make sure we can maximise the impact of the funding we provide, and have opportunity  to assist with whatever you have in mind. Contact Willy at treasurer@handball.org.nz if you want further information.

Looking back on the year that has been, it is encouraging to have been able to roll out a relatively full programme in 2022 after a couple of years of frustration, with all the major domestic tournaments ticked off: Queenstown in April, Auckland Open in May, the Wellington League from June to September, Auckland’s youth tournament in August, Club Champs in Wellington in September and Regionals in Christchurch in October, on top of the School leagues in Dunedin and lots of other handball being organised throughout the regions and green shoots developing in Bay of Plenty and Wanaka. And of course, the wildly successful beach programme saw our Men and Women compete on the Gold Coast over ANZAC weekend and the Men go on to the Beach World Champs in Crete and World Games in Alabama with a cheeky round of the European Beach circuit in France in between. We were also able to kick off our inaugural referees training course, giving us something to build on as we look to improve the quality of our play. The year ahead is shaping up to be just as big, with hopefully the days of COVID-19 disruptions consigned to the history books meaning we get a clear run at an uninterrupted programme in 2023.

Talking of planning for the year ahead, we had a well-attended region-wide strategy meet on 11 December, thanks to Billie from Spartanz HC for facilitating that. There are a few initiatives and strategies that will flow from that session aimed at ensuring Handball in New Zealand is able to move forward on an even better organised basis, so thanks to all who took part, both in terms of participation in the session and in anticipation of you helping to follow that through in 2023.

Last, a huge shout out to all our wonderful handball community for all you have done over the year to make handball Aotearoa as good as it has been. The year has not been without its challenges, but we continue to benefit from a fantastic cohort of hard-working volunteers throughout the country. Thanks for all that you do – and for all that you will continue to do!

Safe travels, and best wishes for the holiday season, whatever it may mean for you

David Ireland

President, New Zealand Handball Federation