2022 marks six years since the IHF Education Centre was launched, providing a free online platform for the education of various members of the handball community – mainly coaches, referees, teachers and officials. This year is also two years since the first IHF Online Symposium was held in the wake of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, signifying the opening of the IHF Virtual Academy, which has so far offered eight comprehensive courses open for everyone for free. 

Over the course of 2022, the IHF has been working towards the launch of a new website for the Education Centre, providing an even more comprehensive and modern learning platform for the handball community. 

While the IHF aims to continually build on the educational resources provided to the global handball community, a great deal of material is already available within the current Education Centre – and will also be on the new platform, which is coming soon. 

Now, the IHF aims to bridge any existing gap between users and the opportunities provided on the platform by providing detailed explanations of the Education Centre and its various components. 

Now available on the IHF Education Centre

Within the IHF Education Centre, users can currently find extensive learning materials divided into six categories: coaches, referees, teachers and delegates, as well as a separate coaches’ library designed for teachers and a section about top players in the sport. Between all the categories, materials for teaching and coaching handball from an early age all the way to the highest level of adult competition are provided, as well as the vital areas surrounding management of the game. 

The teachers section focuses on the Handball at School programme, providing teaching materials and rules for the adapted children’s game, as well as 3D animations to serve as visual aids. The coaches’ library features two different sections: handball for beginners, concentrating on playing and training methods for the introduction of handball to children aged six up to 12, and basic training, for 12- to 15-year-olds. 

Moving up in age bracket, the coaches section of the Education Centre provides materials for working with all levels, from basic to the top. This section includes technical analyses of different events such as World Championships and Olympic Games, detailed explanations of tactical elements in attack and defence, and a tactics school for individual, group and team tactics. In addition, the coaches’ symposium section provides theoretical lectures and practical demonstrations. 

The players section serves all coaches, teachers and handball athletes no matter the age bracket or level, by providing profiles of the game’s standout players at different events as well as leading stars like World Players of the Year.  

Surrounding management of the game, the referees and delegates sections provide comprehensive breakdowns of what each of these roles requires. Referees will find rule explanations, training information and rules tests, and also have the chance to directly contact rule experts with specific questions. Delegates can find overviews of the basic tasks within this role as well as information on the specific rules and regulations with which the position is concerned. 

Alongside the six main categories of training materials, other sections of the IHF Education Centre include terminology, information on the IHF Virtual Academy and an extensive video library featuring all past Virtual Academy courses. 

The revamped IHF Education Centre platform, including the IHF Virtual Academy, will be linked to the new IHF Rule interpretation app, which was released on 1 July.