NSW had a strong presence at the Intermediate/Advanced Referee course run in conjunction with the senior Australian Handball Championships in October. Alex Gavrilovic, Richard Ridley, Adrian van Bessel and Robert Ridley, along with administrator Bronwyn Thompson, represented NSW. The IHF supplied Swiss referee and trainer Felix Raetz to run the course. The course was made possible by a Solidarity grant via the AOC, Felix’s travel by a Handball SA grant and by participants themselves.

The weekend of October 19-20 sees camps for both Men and Women in Sydney. New Men’s coach Jan Ottosen (from Faroe Islands) was in Australia for the Senior Nationals and staying on for the camp based out at Dural. The women are preparing for the World Championships in Serbia in December and have sessions at Sydney Olympic Park and Dural over the weekend. Congrats to our NSW players in the squads and best wishes for a great weekend.

NSW Men fought a hard final against Victoria – starting strong and then chasing within a two goal difference before Victoria pulled away at the end. The women won their 3rd place play off. The event was held at ETSA Stadium in Adelaide, hosted by Handball SA. Congrats to all! See some pictures on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.515789625180260.1073741834.350769085015649&type=1&l=ae2b9cf84f

NSW Senior players are gearing up their final preparations for the Nationals in Adelaide. They’ll be competing with teams from QLD, VIC, WA, SA and even a Wellington NZ teams in the women’s comp at the ESTA Stadium (SA Netball) in Adelaide. The nationals event begins with an Advanced Refereeing course led by Swiss Ref trainer Felix Raetz on October 9, with the Nationals starting in earnest on the evening of Thursday October 10-13. Best wishes to all – go NSW! SA is hoping to webcast the Sudnay finals through their website at http://handballsa.com.au

After the Sydney Uni women won their final a fortnight ago, the Sydney Uni men were trying for the double but the men from the Hills had different ideas. Sydney Uni led 10-8 at half time and scored the first two goals of the second half. Hills dug in and played an aggressive style of handball to claw back the lead. With 3 seconds to go before full time, Hills led 20-19 but conceded an easy goal to tie things up again for the tenth time in the match.
The match went into extra time with the Hills team taking a small but significant lead to win 25-24 and regain the title they last won in 2011.
It was a match worthy of the final and NSW Handball congratulates the Hills Handball Club on their title.

Trials for Senior National State teams commence on Tuesday 27th August. The men’s trials will be at the Sports Halls on Tuesdays from 7:30 to 9:00 and on Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:00. The trials for the Senior Women’s team will also be at the Sports Halls on Tuesdays from 8:00 to 10:00 pm and on Fridays from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

On Saturday 24th August Sydney University will play UTS/Hills in the final of the women’s competition at 9:00 am
This will be followed by the men’s play-off match between UTS and Harbourside at 10:45 am.
In the men’s semi-finals Sydney University defeated Harbourside 40-28 and, in the other semi, Hills defeated UTS 25-26

The semi-finalists for the 17th August have been decided.
At 9:00 am, Sydney University will play Harbourside in the 1 v 4 semi while at 10:45 am, Hills will play UTS in the 2 v 3 semi-final

The Aussie’s begin their Beach Handball games at the World Games on August 2. Follow their progress, see player profiles of our NSW players in the teams and find the details for the live streaming via their Australian Beach Handball Team Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/australianbeachhandballteam

The Australian U14 and U16s nationals is planned for September 14-15 in Brisbane. Training is currently being organised. Could players interested in participating contact Claire Dennerley (Junior Development Officer) at Claire@www.nswhandball.com.au