Handball eyes basket, volleyball players
Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday December 14, 2017 14:20
He said there are some students who are not good in basketball and volleyball who can join handball.
“Recruit players from there. Some players may not make the schools basketball or volleyball teams, but you find that a person can spike very well in volleyball and can be a good shooter in handball,” Onyewadume said. “In basketball, you find a player who is good in footwork and you just have to give them little instruction for them to adapt to handball. That way, you will develop clubs quickly.”
He called upon the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) to assist HAB financially. He said as a new code, they need a lot of assistance to build infrastructure. Onyewadume said the current grant from the ministry is not enough.
He was speaking during the closing ceremony of a 10-day International Handball Federation (IHF) Olympic Solidarity Coaching course at the University of Botswana (UB) yesterday.
One of the participants, Witness Rantswela, a teacher at Tlogatloga JSS said he learnt techniques of how to win a game and other concepts such as passing, dribbling, blocking and shooting. He said handball is a fast sport and needs quick reaction.
“You should also remember to defend when you attack. When you lose a ball, your opponent wins the ball and shoots. Players should always follow the coaches’ instructions,” he said. “Normally, in a handball match, there are six players but in the new rules, there are seven players.”
Another participant, Kesegofetse Tatedi from Newton School said she attended level one course on handball last year and this time around she got another chance to proceed to level two. She said infrastructure to play the sport remains a challenge. The IHF instructor, Dr Khaled Hammounda intends to introduce zones, which will be used to hold qualifiers for Africa Handball Championship. Egyptian Hammounda was in the country to conduct a 10-day IHF Olympic Solidarity Coaching course at the UB.
Twenty-four coaches from various schools attended the level two course. Hammounda said he intends to use his position as IHF coaches commission chairperson to introduce the zones.
He said there should be zonal matches before going to the final of the Africa Championship. He said he was hopeful of seeing Botswana competing at the Championship.
“The participants did a good job and now they need the Handball Association of Botswana (HAB) to come up with competitions, or else everything that they have learnt will go to waste,” he said.
Hammounda said the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) should request the Olympic Solidarity for funding to develop the structures for Handball.
“We cannot depend on the government to assist us. We need aggressive marketing that can attract sponsors. There are many companies out there that are willing to assist,” Hammounda said.