The Handball@School motto is ‘Fun, passion and health’ and aims to make handball an integral part of school curriculums in physical education at an early age, to increase the commitment towards handball and pave the way for an involvement in the sport through to adult age and beyond.

 

Federations where the programme is delivered are asked to nominate a local expert who supports the IHF expert prior to the course and on site.

 

IHF Handball@School expert Helmut Martin, who is well-experienced and already held courses in Armenia, Mongolia, Faroe Islands, South Africa and Papua New Guinea, visited Zimbabwe earlier this month to deliver a series of courses and workshops from 7-17 April. As per all Handball@School delivery, the course followed a three-day schedule and took place at three different venues to ensure as many teachers as possible from across the host federation country can be reached.

 

Harare in the north-east, Kadoma in the centre and Bulawayo in the south-west, were the three cities in Zimbabwe chosen after the IHF were invited to deliver the course by Zimbabwe Handball Federation (ZHF).

 

Harare

In the capital, Queen Elizabeth School was the first port of call for the 67-year-old Martin who took a class available to local coaches and school teachers from Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central, Harare and Manicaland Provinces – 20 participants signed up as soon as it was announced and a further 32 joined just before – resulting in 52 taking part in total and 50 of them gained their IHF ‘D’ coaching licence, the minimum qualification for coaching handball.

 

Kadoma

After Harare, Martin moved to Jameson High School in Kadoma (11-13 April) to deliver the programme to coaches and school teachers from Masvingo, Midlands and Mashonaland West Provinces. In total, 33 of the 34 participants gained their D licence.

 

Bulawayo

From 14-16 April, Martin ran the final Handball at School programme at the Northlea High School with handball coaches and schoolteachers from Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo Provinces taking part and 54 of them receiving their D licence, resulting in a total of 154 new handball coaches in Zimbabwe after just 10 days.

 

“It’s very important these new coaches go into schools and train the children,” said Martin to local media after completing the Harare part of the programme. “They must come up with competitions, one school against another. They have to find the best schools, for example, in Harare and the best players, and then they can build a national team.

 

“I have to say that this was the best course I ever had because I had more than 50 teachers. They were very interested, they all completed the practical, the exercises and were very engaged and punctual. It was a wonderful course and I think they have learnt a lot.

 

“The coaches were quick to learn and I hope the ZHF will invite me in three years’ time and I will see a lot of improvement because they are working and showing a lot of commitment.”

 

Harare Participant Chipo Matutu added to local media: “We want handball to reach to the national level just like soccer, netball and cricket. We have cricket at national level, we have netball at national level. But handball only ends at cluster level, mostly in schools, but we want it to go as high as the national level just like any other sport.”

 

Thembani Nkala, coach of top Zimbabwe handball club side Black Rhinos, was happy with what he learnt over the three days. “One thing I liked about this course is that it helps us to coordinate as club coaches and teachers,” he told local media. “It has just been teachers and club coaches separately, but with the running of this course I think we are going to work together in promoting handball from grassroots to whatever level. The sky is the limit.”

 

ZHF coaches association chairperson Farai Gwisai added; “We want these coaches to train their local districts coaches also and to produce high international rated players. We want them to be registered under the ZHF so that we can put everything in order.”

 

Zimbabwe Handball Federation President Sanhewe concluded the final day by dreaming of the 2024 Olympic Games and a possible Zimbabwe handball team participation.

 

“I am happy all the courses have been performed well,” he said. “All coaches understanding and taking in information concerning coaching and our aim is to start Handball at grassroots levels from small ages up to adults. 

 

“My vision is to see Zimbabwe participating at the 2024 Olympics and we are not going to rest – a lot of things have to be done,” he continued. “The course was well organised and everything went well, as the ZHF we are working hard for handball to take shape in the country and soon we will reach our targets – only commitment is needed.”