Members of the IHF Women’s Handball Working Group met on the fringe of the 2018 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship in Debrecen, Hungary to discuss various aspects related to the target of the group: the global development and promotion of women’s handball. Chairperson of the Women’s Handball Working Group Narcisa Lecusanu, Liudmila Bodnieva and Leonor Mallozzi were all in attendance at the meeting on Friday July 13.

Also in attendance were President Dr Hassan Moustafa, Chairperson of the Commission of Coaching and Methods Dietrich Späte, Executive Members Frantisek Taborsky and Anna Rapp, and Managing Director Amal Khalifa.

“I’m really very positive and I hope that in the future we can take steps,” said Chairperson of the Women’s Handball Working Group (WHWG) Lecusanu, while Mallozzi added: “It was very productive, fruitful. I think we’ve come one more step forward and I think we’re all happy with the outcome. There was very good participation and obviously the President and the Commissions are very much committed to this cause, so we think we are all going in the same direction and we’ll get there.”

 

Working hand in hand with national federations

Topics on the agenda included strategies for the promotion of the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship in Japan; the continued development of the Former Players’ Project; and the presentation of findings of a survey from national federations around the world, which, among other topics, addressed the current situations in women’s handball in different nations.

Working in collaboration with national federations across the globe to address each specific situation most effectively is a key focus of the WHWG, something the survey results provided invaluable insight into.

“I think that for this group and to develop women’s handball, it’s a big step if we have very good cooperation with the national federations because they are the most important people who can apply [the strategies] in all countries, and of course for the promotion,” said Lecusanu.

“The national federations here play an important role, and they are our main and first partners, because without the national federations we cannot reach anyone,” agreed Mallozzi.

The Former Players’ Project is also a critical project for the WHWG, who aim to get more female players involved in various roles in handball after they finish their careers on court.

“It was nice talking with the Chairperson Dietrich Späte about the project, how we can develop and improve and support the women in handball, as delegates, as trainers, referees of course,” said Lecusanu. “We are planning to have courses and workshops in Qatar [on the fringe of the IHF Super Globe] so we are really asking the Federation to nominate some women to participate in this.”

The promotion of the 2019 World Championship is also an important focus for the WHWG.

“We paid attention to the promotion before the coming World Championship in Japan, so we can start with this in time. We tried to find the ways for promotion because it’s a very specific task due to different cultures and different countries,” said Bodnieva.

“We will try to promote the World Championship in Japan at all events before that, so then it becomes very visible for everyone in the world to see – to make it more attractive than it already is!” said Mallozzi.

“At the end, if it’s women’s handball or men’s handball, it’s handball, so everyone can be part of this,” said Lecusanu. “All people can do something. If everyone can do some things so it is moving, we can build the pyramid.”