21 federations participated in the 1st Annual Continental Conference of the North America and the Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) over three days at the end of May. The virtual conference was focused on education of coaches and addressed a variety of topics.  

“The conference came as a reaction to the social isolation and forced lockdown that some of the governments in the region of North America and the Caribbean implemented as sanitary measures during the pandemic,” NACHC President Mario Garcia De La Torre told ihf.info, adding that the confinement measures have “forced our handball communities to look for alternatives to enjoy information exchanges and education processes from a distance until we can grant conditions to meet again on the courts.”

The conference was held to ensure communication among federations within the NACHC is maintained despite the situation, and for federations to share experience that will be useful when handball returns to the court. Garcia says the NACHC is focused on creating learning possibilities to facilitate bidirectional communication among the member federations in the region. 

In that vein, the conference covered different topics relating to coaching. Guest speakers included a number of well-known coaches and members of the IHF Commission for Coaching and Methods (CCM), such as current Argentina national team coach Manolo Cadenas, 1999 World Player of the Year and now coach Rafael Guijosa as well as USA junior national team coach Julio Sainz. Topics covered included attacking and defensive systems, as well as goalkeeper training. 

Although the conference was designed for national federations in the region, registration was open for coaches in all countries in the Americas. 

The conference for coaches followed a video seminar for referees organised by the NACHC during the lockdown period, as well as a conference for women on 5 June. Chairwoman of the IHF Women’s Working Group and IHF Executive Committee member Narcisa Lecusanu participated in the latter.

For more information, visit the NACHC website.