adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
IN A move that will go a long way in promoting handball at grassroots level in this country, eight junior teams, who have been drawn from a number of local primary and high schools, will next week travel to Johannesburg, South Africa, to play in an invitational tournament.
Bradley High School from Mashonaland Central Province, Harare’s Girls High School, Haig Park Primary School, Alfred Bait Primary School, Prospect Primary School and Zengeza 8 High School from Chitungwiza will field boys and girls teams in different age-groups at this invitational tournament which is set to run from November 30 to December 5 at Charles David White Stadium in Johannesburg.
The seven schools, who are scheduled to leave for Johannesburg by road on Monday, will be joined at this tournament by AM Handball Academy who are based at Harare’s Girls High School.
Amon Madzvamuse, the president of the Zimbabwe Handball Federation, said yesterday that the seven schools and AM Academy have all confirmed their participation at this invitational junior tournament where they will play against different teams from South Africa.
“In fact, AM Academy, Zengeza 8 High School and Haig Park Primary School will be making their maiden tour outside Zimbabwe while Prospect Primary School were once picked to represent the country at the Partille Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2012.
“Harare’s Girls High School have made several handball tours outside Zimbabwe and are no newcomers to this tour of South Africa and they will be fielding two teams — one in Under-15 age-group and another in the Under-16 section — during this invitational tournament in Johannesburg next week. All in all, we will have a total of 10 teams — six boys and four girls sides — at this tournament where they will play in the Under-10, 14 and 16 age-groups and this is all part of our efforts to develop the culture of handball in our schools,” Madzvamuse said.
The ZHF boss said they will also be using the invitational tournament in Johannesburg to select a number of boys and girls who will be included in the national Under-14 team that will play at the 2016 Hanse Cup in Hamburg, Germany, in March next year.
“We have already committed ourselves to sending a boys and girls Under-14 team to next year’s Hanse Cup in Germany and we are taking our preparations for this event seriously thus our decision to take some of these teams to this invitational tournament in Johannesburg.
“AM Academy will also be conducting trials from December 15 in Harare as they also intend to send a girls Under-16 team to the Hanse Cup in Germany in March next year,” said Madzvamuse, who added that most schools wanted to be part of the travelling party to South Africa next week but could not do so because of the current exam period.
The ZHF, according to Madzvamuse, have already drawn up a calendar for 2016, which he said will be a very busy season for them.
“As the president of ZHF, I’m already foreseeing a very busy season for us in 2016 and my technical department has already provided us with a calendar of events for next year and that all tournaments will be treated equally.
“2015 has been a good year for us in terms of invitational tours. We have teams that are heading to Zambia to cap the end of this season and we also intend to host an end of the year tournament which will see some of our top senior clubs fighting to be included to play in next year’s continental events.”
Online Reporter