Women’s handball team step up preparations

Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Under-20 women’s team last week trooped into camp for preparations for the Zone Six International Handball Federation (IHF) Trophy Africa.

The team have been staying at Girls High for their three-day camp, which ends today.

The tournament, slated for May 23-27 in South Africa, will be used as qualifiers for the continental phase of the Women’s IHF Trophy Africa, which, in turn, will have a bearing on the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship.

At least nine countries — Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, as well as hosts South Africa – will be battling it out for supremacy.

“We intend to sit down as a technical team and draw up a programme for our training camps, as well as specific schemes for each of the players who will have made the grade,” said the teams’ head coach, Sipho Mahlangu.

“The plan is to have at least two more small training camps before the main one, which, in turn, will lead up to our departure for South Africa.”

Unfortunately, the team’s first meeting has been anything but rosy.

Apart from challenges with resources, there are concerns over the make-up of the team.

In past editions, the Zimbabwe Handball Federation relied on the National Youth Games and NASH competitions as scouting platforms for their age group national teams.

In fact, players from these competitions have usually made up the bulk of the teams.

However, handball has been one of the sports hugely affected by Covid-19, as most, if not all, of the competitions were either put on hold or are just returning.

“To assemble a team for this age group is a challenge,” said team manager Emmaculate Matimbe.

“We are having to rely more on athletes who are in schools, as ball games in schools are usually second-term activities.

“The problem with this is that we have then been forced to rely on past performances, which is not a good measure of the current level of competitiveness.

“A continuous camp is also not possible as the players have to balance their school commitments or studies and training.

“We have an obligation to ensure that the athletes are doing well in school.”