“I play handball, and I also protect the environment.” This was the message passed on by children who dream about having a career in the sport over the past few weeks in a pilot programme tailor-made to boost awareness of the need to protect the environment.

This programme was co-signed by the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Environment and Energy, with a clear focus on the protection of the environment, the preservation of biodiversity and green development, areas that are also of interest to the International Handball Federation.

This Memorandum of Cooperation underlined the promotion and implementation of sports and sustainable development activities of various forms to enhance public awareness in dealing with climate change, but also the need to develop handball, an emerging sport in Greece.

The Greece men’s national team has just sealed their first-ever berth for the EHF EURO, qualifying for the EHF EURO 2024, marking a return to the biggest of scenes for the first time since 2005, when they finished sixth at the 2005 IHF Men’s World Championship.

The first activities under the new programme were organised on 6 and 7 May in the Schinia National Park – Marathon, where children aged 8 to 14 played handball and beach handball in the protected natural park, with three-hour activities taking place in both days.

One week later, the Kotychi – Strofylia Wetlands National Park, a verdant wildlife reserve, also played a part in the programme, with over 300 children playing handball and having fun.

In total, over 600 children took part in the handball activities in the Schinia National Park and the Kotychi – Strofylia Wetlands National Park, marking the success of the first edition of the programme, which aims to get bigger and bigger as handball becomes more popular in Greece.

Photo: Hellenic Handball Federation – OXE