The New Zealand Handball Federation is looking for expressions of interest from all those keen to be involved in the campaign to qualify for the Beach Handball World Championships, 2012. We are looking for both male and female players and also coaches for each team. We are also interested in hearing from any prospective referees.

The qualification tournament will be held on Sunday 29 January 2012 at St Kilda in Melbourne, Australia and will be run in conjunction with the Australian Beach Handball Championships (27 – 29 January).

The winner of the qualification tournament will go on to represent Oceania at the Beach Handball World Championships 2012 (details to follow).

Interested people will be expected to attend trials and training camps (likely to be one mid-December and one mid-January) prior to departure. Details will be given as soon as possible. You must be a New Zealand passport holder in order to represent the NZHF at this tournament. If you are interested in playing, coaching or refereeing, please email with your name, date of birth, club and contact phone number by Wednesday 23 November.

Thank you to those who have expressed an interest in playing at the Australian National Champs. We are still interested in hearing from anyone keen to play or who is interested in coaching the women's team. You do not have to be a New Zealand passport holder in order to play at this tournament, although the tournament rules do place limits on the number of foreign nationals permitted per team. The Championships will be held at Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush, Sydney from Thursday 27 October to Sunday 30 October.

The first training camp for those interested in traveling will be held in Wellington on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September. We apologise for the short notice, but it is important that we start preparing as soon as possible. The second camp is likely to be held on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 October. Please email to confirm your attendance at the first training camp.

Daniel Triebsch will be coaching the men's team. Daniel brings considerable experience to the role and we thank him for the time and effort that he will be putting in.

THANKS :)

The NZHF has been offered the opportunity to send teams to the Australian National Champs (27/10/2011 to 30/10/2011). We are keen to send a men’s team and a women’s team and we are seeking expressions of interest. We’d like to hear from:

•  players interested in trialling for the teams
•  anyone interested in coaching the team(s)

The teams will be selected with the aim of developing New Zealand Handball.

Please be aware that this trip will be self-funded. The team will be expected to meet for at least two training camps before departure. The costs of travelling to and from these camps must also be met.

If you are interested in playing or coaching, please email with your name, date of birth, club, position and contact phone number by Friday 19 August.

As you may have noticed, the website has not been updated in a few weeks. We have resolved the problem and are planning to update more regularly from now on. Thank you for your patience.

Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua
28 - 29 May 2011

The Australian Women's side traveled to New Zealand in May to contest the qualification for the World Championships.

The New Zealand team had a number of new players and had been working hard in their training camps with new coach, Ben Birkenhake. The Australians, under the guidance of coach Katsu Kinoshita, had spent a number of days prior to traveling in a camp and brought a mixture of youth and experience to the first women's qualifiers to be held in New Zealand.

It was a nervous start to the first game, with both sides missing their first attempts at goal. New Zealand was first to score from a penalty shot, which was immediately equalised by the Australians with a well executed fast break goal. After being tied at 4 all after 16 minutes, the Aussies put away 6 unanswered goals before Langi Winitana scored for the Kiwis resulting in a halftime score of 11 - 5.

The second half was marked by some solid goalkeeping from the Australian's Jemima Harbort, resulting in several fast break goals. Nicole Odermatt top-scored for New Zealand, netting 6 goals, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Aussies taking out the first game 22 - 13.

The second game opened with strong defense from both sides, and the teams traded goals, with the score being 9 - 7 to the Australians after 23 minutes. The Aussies scored two more goals to finish the half with an 11 - 7 lead.

The Australians started the second half strongly, nailing their fast break opportunities and shooting incredibly well from both wings, courtesy of the Kelly sisters, and were soon up by 10 goals. The Kiwis continued to fight, but eventually went down 25 - 15. With their second win, Australia qualified as the Oceania representative and the upcoming World Championships, to be held in December in Brazil.

It was fantastic to have the Norwegian referee pairing of Kjersti Arntsen, Ida Gullaksen controlling both matches. It was a long way for them to travel to referee two games, but we are grateful to Kjersti and Ida, and to the IHF, for making such an effort.

A very big thanks is also owed to tournament organiser Laura Carter for her efforts and to those that assisted her.

We wish the Australian National Team all the best for their preparation for the World Championships and we look forward to seeing them participate. We are sure they will represent Oceania well.