The 2026 edition of the ‘Nordic Beach Week’ took place last month (5 to 13 April) in Angola, with international cooperation, development, education and sustainability the main themes centred around sport.

Held in the coastal city of Lobito, south of capital Luanda, Nordic Beach Week features beach handball and beach volleyball and is led by the Norwegian and Swedish embassies in Luanda. The event was the second edition of the international event, following its debut in September 2025. 

The Norway and Sweden women’s national beach handball teams travelled to west Africa to join up with the Angolan and Senegalese younger age national teams for a week of beach handball, educational initiatives, children/youth activities and sustainability work, with referees, officials and youth leaders also involved.

New developments for 2026 saw a Mini‑Beach Festival for children and Blue Beach Day, focusing on environmental awareness and beach clean‑ups, plus the addition of the support of the Norwegian Sports Federation who contributed content about values, safe activity and the role of sport in society - themes that form the basis of the entire project.

 

“Norway’s beach handball programme, through the Norwegian Handball Federation (NHF), is involved in Nordic Beach Week because beach handball is seen as a development tool, not only a competitive discipline,” explained Julie Aspelund Berg, Head of Beach Handball at the NHF, to ihf.info.

“The project aligns closely with NHF and Norwegian sport’s broader goals around capacity building, inclusion, sustainability and international cooperation. The NHF’s involvement included the transfer of competence (players, coaches and referees), long‑term local anchoring, ensuring learning continues after the event, creating safe and inclusive environments for children and young people, building international relationships between federations and cultures, strengthening multi‑sport collaboration, including closer cooperation with beach volleyball, which participated actively during Nordic Beach Week.

“The Norwegian and Swedish delegations were invited by the Norwegian and Swedish embassies in Luanda, and the project received financial support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD),” she added.

“This underlines that Nordic Beach Week is also part of a broader sport‑for‑development and international cooperation framework with several Norwegian players, referees and staff returning for this second edition, highlighting continuity and commitment to long‑term impact.”

Mini Beach Handball

Over 100 children and young people participated in beach handball and beach volleyball as part of a ‘Mini-Beach Festival’.

From a beach handball perspective, Norwegian and Swedish athletes worked alongside Angolan coaches to develop and deliver Mini Beach Handball sessions with the aim for coaches to establish a simple, transferable model for them to use independently in the future, and the aim for players to create joy of movement and inspire more people to start playing the sport.

For the coaches, the Mini Beach Handball sessions started with Sweden’s team manager Heléne Bernhardtz and men’s national team coach and player Jesper Knutsson introducing the sport and how to approach and interact with young people, before progressing onto specific coaching aspects.

 

“It was really enjoyable to see how the coaches immediately engaged in the task, discussing, testing ideas, and thinking creatively about the exercises even before the children arrived,” said Tony Carlsson, Beach Handball Project Manager, Swedish Handball Federation.

“The level of engagement from the Angolan coaches was incredibly high and very inspiring to see – the energy truly spread to both us and the children.”

Training sessions were also held for referees too, also with the aim of strengthening the development of beach handball in the region and creating conditions for continued operations even after the event in Lobito.

Sustainability at the heart

Another key theme of Nordic Beach Week is sustainability and participants had the opportunity to participate in lectures and joint activities linked to the environment and coastal environment.

Over 100 volunteers from Norway and Sweden – including players and coaching staff – complete with gloves and bags, took part in a beach clean-up event in Lobito. Over 100kg of waste was collected, including plastic, metal, paper, wood and biological waste, washed up on the beach from the sea.

“It's great to be able to contribute off the court,” said Norwegian player Elisabeth Hammerstad to handball.no, with Lobito part of a wider, global issue which sees around 11 million tonnes of plastic ending up in the ocean. “Being able to contribute a little means a lot,” added Hammerstad’s teammate, Ine Grimsrud, who plays her club handball for Sola HK. “Nordic Beach Week is more than playing beach handball.  We get so many experiences here, so giving something back feels good.”

 

Surplus Norwegian Handball Federation clothing and player‑donated kit was donated to the Senegal and Angola national teams, plus local community members in difficult living conditions.

Strengthening of mutual respect

Cultural evenings were also held throughout the week where each nation presented elements of their culture to each other. 

Norway’s players presented bunads (traditional folk costume and symbol of Norwegian cultural identity) while explaining Nordic traditions and outdoor culture, while Senegalese and Angolan participants showcased their national dress, dance and music.

On the sidelines, meetings with the Angolan Handball Federation, including with its president and vice president, were held to discuss challenges and future collaboration.

‘Representing Norway with pride’

The week also coincided with the start of the European beach handball season, providing a key opportunity for training, matches, team building and development for not just Sweden and Norway, but all four teams, who competed against each other in a three-day friendly tournament at the end.

The focus of the tournament was “…clearly developmental rather than result‑driven, emphasising equal playing time and experience, competitive learning in an international setting, application of skills developed through training and workshops,” explained Aspelund Berg.

“Angola showed clear and measurable improvement compared to last September. Many of the same players returned, having trained systematically on previously learned elements. The players themselves emphasised how much they had learned and how they had transferred this knowledge back to their clubs, while Senegal’s junior national team made a strong impression. As a team preparing for the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar in November, they were identified as a group with significant potential and an exciting future.”

 

For Norway’s new coach Katinka Haltvik Tvilde Nordic Beach Week 2026 also represented her first competitive matches in the role.

“We played Sweden, Angola and Senegal, and it was a great way to start my first games as head coach. The matches gave us valuable variation in style, tempo and physicality, and I really enjoyed seeing how the team adapted throughout the week. We had already trained well together and with the other nations, so stepping into match play felt like a natural extension of the work we had done,” explained Haltvik to ihf.info.

“The team was a combination of experienced players, new players and junior players. The newer players integrated very well, both on and off the court. They handled the intensity of the training week, the heat, and the long days with impressive focus. On court they showed confidence, willingness to learn, and the ability to contribute in different roles,” she added.

“It was encouraging to see how quickly they adapted to our systems and how naturally they connected with the more experienced players. Overall, I was pleased with the level we showed in most of the games.”

With Haltvik able to see her squad in action on the sand, Nordic Beach Week also provided a crucial team camp and bonding experience. 

“From a performance perspective, the training sessions and matches gave us the chance to test combinations, refine our defensive and offensive structures, and build consistency under challenging conditions, but equally important was everything that happened off the court,” said the IHF World Championship silver medallist.

“The players took part in several activities, like beach cleaning and activities with children, and they represented Norway with pride, and built strong relationships across the group. Spending this amount of time together—travelling, training, competing and participating in local events - strengthened our team identity in a way that simply isn’t possible at home.

“It feels meaningful and motivating to be part of a project that goes beyond the sport itself. The players gave a lot of themselves throughout the week, and seeing them engage with the local community and the wider purpose of the event made me very proud. It reinforces the idea that we represent something bigger than just our performance on the sand. Being involved in a project that combines sport, culture and connection adds depth to our work and strengthens us as a team.”

Sweden’s team manager Heléne Bernhardtz echoed Haltvik’s thoughts about the importance of the week.

“Nordic Beach Week is an important part of our long-term work to develop Swedish beach handball,” said Bernhardtz to handbollslandslaget.se. “Beach handball is developing rapidly internationally, and for us it is important not only to adapt to this development but also to be an active part of it.”

Nordic Beach Week 2026 – Four Nations Tournament

Ranking
1 Sweden
2 Norway
3 Angola
4 Senegal

Videos from ‘Nordic Beach Week’ can be found on the ‘TV Belas’ YouTube channel.

Credit photo: NHF; Tony Carlsson/SHF