The German Olympic Sports Confederation assists with handball development around the world through the running of the German Sports Cooperation Programme, designed to present handball as a new sport in schools, and to develop national teams, coaching and refereeing. IHF Expert Klaus Feldmann is part of the project, funded by the Federal Foreign Office, and has previously run courses in FYR Macedonia, South Africa and Jordan.

 

Feldmann is currently undertaking a German Sports Cooperation Programme project in Papua New Guinea, which began on October 17 and will conclude on November 26. This project comes after an IHF Handball@School course led by Helmut Martin in PNG in 2016.

 

“The interest was enormous; many schools came with more than 40 children who wanted to be taught. It was always fascinating to see how children who had never seen and heard anything about handball could start a game in a very short time,” said Feldmann.

 

The current programme includes four weeks of work with schools in the capital of Port Moresby, and one week each in the provinces of Bougainville and Madang. The conditions for the course vary between location, with Port Moresby home to two large playing halls complete with handmade goals. For the smaller locations in Bougainville and Madang, equipment such as inflatable goals donated by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) are used, while playing courts are adapted from netball, basketball and even rugby fields.

 

The German Sports Cooperation Programme project for handball development is one way the Confederation upholds its statutes, as outlined on the official website:

 

“In accordance with its statutes and articles, the DOSB is obliged to safeguard, promote and further develop the Olympic idea. It commits itself in many ways to foster an Olympic education and the transmission of humane values in and through sport.”

 

The next DOSB project for handball development will be held in Togo in from November 19 to December 16.