Klaus Feldmann, a German handball expert is leading the six-week roadshow to conduct workshops with school teachers, university coaches and NGO volunteers in the Western Cape. Handball is a dynamic, fast-moving Olympic team sport that incorporates elements of running, passing, throwing and team-tactics.
10 workshops are being held across Langa, Mitchells Plain, Ocean View, Franschhoek, Malmesbury, George, Zoar, Swellendam, Bredasdorp and Grabouw. Training will also be offered to prison inmates. The beginner-level workshops aim to train coaches to enable them to kick-start handball in their community; and in the long-term, form their own teams and build clubs. Each team consists of 6 field players and 1 goal keeper. The game takes 60 minutes (two times 30 minutes) and an average of up to 50 goals per game is scored.
Says Gregor Küpper, MD of SolarWorld Africa: "We are delighted to support the professional development of handball in South Africa, to enable local communities to learn this sport from an internationally experienced handball expert and broaden local appreciation of this popular team sport at grassroots level."
This short-term handball development project from the German Olympic Sports Cooperation is financed by the German Federal Foreign Office and supported by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Solarworld Africa's participation in the project includes amongst others, sponsorship of accommodation and meals for the Handball Roadshow team.
Klaus Feldmann is an A-license coach of the German Handball Federation and has a Masters degree in sport and social science. He lectured handball over the last few years for the International Handball Federation (IHF), the European Handball Federation (EHF) and the German Olympic Sports Confederation in over 35 countries.
Opportunities for the youth
Locally the project has been initiated by Nicola Scholl, founder of Play Handball ZA, a sports and development organisation focusing on handball to create further opportunities for the youth in South Africa and to empower girls.
Nicola lives in Cape Town and is a former handball player of VfL Oldenburg. Through "Play Handball ZA" she also hosts volunteers to work as trainers in schools and communities as part of either a three- or six-month stay in South Africa.
Says Nicola: "We are excited about the wave of energy that Klaus creates within communities. The first workshops in Mitchells Plain and Ocean View have taken place and the level of interest is growing. Our intention is to take advantage of this momentum as directly as possible with follow-up actions to help sustain the energy and help mature the sport with ongoing transfer of skills and capacity building."
Says Feldmann: "On Roadshow, we spend three days in one place to conduct the training before packing up all materials and exiting to the next station." The programme structure is similar to the "Handball at School" courses facilitated by Feldmann in Bangladesh and Singapore in 2013 for the IHF.
However, Feldmann says that in South Africa the cost of materials is significantly higher since the overall condition on the ground is not always optimal and therefore he always carries two inflatable beach handball goals.
For more, go to www.play-handball.org.
