21 Handball
Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, Reading
Enjoyment - 70%
Success - 30%
Will try again - No
First timer’s recommendation – You don’t need anything more than t-shirt, shorts and trainers to get started and there are plenty of clubs online with Facebook pages to contact them. The seasons generally run from September to April.
This was my first real foray into team sports, so I went for something a bit more unusual in the UK, but popular on the continent. France are the current Olympic handball men’s champions, and the game is also popular in Scandinavia. There was no club in Basingstoke, so I travelled to the Loddon Valley Leisure Centre to join a training session with the Reading Lions. The captain and manager were both French, as were a few other members of both the men’s and women’s teams, but there were some Brits involved too, including one with the unenviable task of being a handball goalkeeper. From watching games on TV during the 2012 Olympics, it looked like the goalkeeper was mainly picking the ball out of the net, but apparently even one save out of every 10 can be seen as a good result, and he can get involved in an attacking sense a lot more easily than in other team sports.
The game is seven-a-side, and played over two 30-minute halves, and played with a ball around the size of a size-3 football, which is not fully inflated, which improves grip, and stops it hurting so much when it hits you. You also cover your finger tips and palm in a sort of resin, which again improves your grip. The game is fast-paced and is characterised by fast breaks where you can run with the ball (as long as you bounce it), and slower-paced structured attacks where the defenders line up around the edge of the 6-metre zone, with the attackers passing the ball between them (you cannot hold the ball for more than three seconds), trying to find an opening. Most shots take place from a jump from the edge of the 6-metre zone, releasing the ball mid-air before landing in the area, and games are generally high scoring, although not as high as basketball.
There was more contact involved than I had first realised, with defenders almost wrestling attackers if they get too close and deliberate fouls being a common way to break up play. It’s a shame it isn’t played much in schools as once you have the goals set up, it is a cheap sport to run, and one that suits a range of abilities, although being quick and being able to jump high in the air seem to be important. I was knackered after a two-hour training session, and although I definitely prefer other small-sided team sports such as basketball or five-a-side football, it’s one I would recommend.
