We've had a great time in handball this year!

Juniors

Handball at Logan Park this year has shown a great increase in popularity, especially in the juniors. The Junior Girls team this year all showed a positive attitude towards the other teams and improved drastically. A major highlight for the girls this term was being able to compete in the junior tournament on the 18th November. The girls got to experience playing on a bigger court with a full team of 7 players on a court which is a big change to the normal 6 players on court at schools league. The girls won their first game of the day against East Otago then went on to draw against the favourites to win the tournament, Kavanagh. Their third game was a great win against Columba which put the girls in first place before the semis. Another win against the 4th place team Columba put the girls into the finals against Kavanagh. The girls showed that they were competitive and the final match went into extra time. Although the girls came out with second place, they were all thrilled with the performance on the day, all of them having showed amazing improvements. The girls also played in schools league on Wednesday afternoons in which they came 5th behind teams like Logan Park Junior Boys and Kings. Overall this term has been a great success for the Junior Girls. 

The Junior Boys team have improved significantly this year this was especially the case for our Yr 9's who were learning Handball for the first time. As a team they have had ups and downs but we knew they had potential. The highlight of the year was winning the Junior Mixed Final against Kings High School. The boys played outstandingly. At full time both teams were drawn. The game was decided on penalties with Logan Park dominating. Nico Alvarez Rey-Virag scored first then John Braham our goalie made a fantastic save. Kings scored then Yannick scored for Logan Park. Kings missed the next one and Logan Park team, coach and supporters erupted in celebration.

Seniors:
Senior handball has shown massive improvement among all players. Term 1 started off with the girls and boys in separate teams and venues. The boys showed a competitive spirit while the senior girls team played strong with help from junior players who stayed after their game to help numbers wise. Term 1 finished off with senior players Laura Graham (year 12) and Joe McKee (year 13) travelling to Christchurch to each represent Logan Park at a national level. This was a great experience for the two who have been representing Otago in handball for the last few years. In Term 4, we had a combined team of senior girls and boys playing in the highly competitive boys grade. Even without being able to practice as a team this term, everyone stayed motivated and positive throughout the season. The last game of the season showed the senior team playing for 5th/6th against Kings in which they came out with a narrow victory against Kings Senior B. This term Laura got to umpire junior games at the Junior Tournament midway through November. The next goal for the seniors is to have both girls and boys teams attend Nationals Tournament in Christchurch next year. 

Big thanks to our coaches Joe McKee and Laura Graham, the words of wisdom from Pablo Alvarez Rey to our teams, Eion Murray from Otago Handball for his support, training of coaches and providing 10 new handballs for our teams.