The ABUHC Championships

If I could give my teenage self two words of advice, it would be “Get Involved.” Why? When I was a teenager, I was under the mistaken belief that if you simply worked hard, people would recognise your talents and things would come your way. Whilst working hard is clearly important, without that drive to “Get Involved” and make things happen for yourself, you’ll only get so far.

This past weekend was a prime example of what can come from getting involved. It was the weekend of the national universities Handball tournament, which was held at SportHouse in London. I am not currently a student, nor am I likely to be again in the future, so I didn’t really need to be there. Yet I ended up spending pretty much the entire weekend there. My main reason for going was to catch up with some of my friends from Coventry Handball Club who were coming down with the Coventry University team, and it was great to see them again. I could have just come along as a spectator I suppose, but I wanted to be an active part of the championship, and the amount that I gained from the weekend was staggering. Here are just a few things I took away with me.

Pleasure from repaying the generosity of others

When I decided to try to found a club in Coventry, I had lots of ideas but fairly limited knowledge of the sport and particularly how it was organised in this country. Throughout my time with the club, Anselm Plummer from Warwick University had been a great help in this area in particular, and it’s certain that without his help Coventry HC wouldn’t have grown as fast as they have to date. Anselm was one of the organisers of the ABUHC championships, and so it was good to get the opportunity to repay the favour.

Becoming known to the referees

Every referee in every sport will deny this, but when it comes to 50:50 decisions, as a player it pays to be known for the right reasons by the referees. Socialising with them, helping them with the officiating by being a table official and simply knowing them by name are all things that might help me and my team in the future.

Establishing contacts at other clubs

A few sports clubs, particularly towards the top levels of professional sports, are under the mistaken impression that they don’t need other clubs, that looking after their own affairs is all they should concentrate on. But it doesn’t matter whether you are Real Madrid or Newham Flames, every club in every sport relies on other clubs in order to have competitive matches and a viable league/knockout tournament. Therefore it is always good to build some alliances with other clubs, and so being at a tournament where dozens of clubs were represented was a valuable way to spend a weekend.

Learning the game

I am still a relative novice in the sport, and so despite now being 26, the scope for improvement in my game is huge. Watching so many matches over the weekend was a great experience for my development as a player, as I gained even more appreciation of the difference between good and bad in terms of movement, technique, tactics and a few other areas that if I can learn from and put into practice should help me contribute positively to the team more regularly.

Food

I would have quite happily paid for the food, but as a man who never needs a second invitation to some free food, the fact that I was rewarded for volunteering with two meals per day was a particular plus.

Downsides to the weekend? Well, I didn’t get to watch any of the Six Nations, which was a bit of a shame. And I didn’t really sleep on Saturday night, but overall it was a great experience, and easily my best weekend in London to date. And for anyone who says Handball is a minority sport that people in Britain don’t care about, come down to next year’s tournament and see if you still feel the same way.

Inspire A Generation

Inspire a generation. It’s been the phrase of the British summer, and whilst it might have sounded like corporate jargon a few months ago, there have been enough appearances from the likes of Dave, Boris and Seb on the TV recently to give us all a pretty strong idea about what the message means. The aim is to inspire kids to get into sport. Some may become future sporting champions, but at the very least if we can inspire them to live active and healthy lifestyles, that will be of great benefit to the country. The direct cost of physical inactivity to the NHS is over £1 billion per year, with estimates of the indirect costs in excess of £8 billion. It’s therefore in everyone’s interest to get kids active and keep them active, so that over time those costs come down. The question is, what can YOU do to help?

Note: Chris Fisher, if you’re reading this, yes I did steal your photo.

We couldn’t really have asked for more in terms of staging the Olympics. Brilliant venues were built, they were filled with enthusiastic crowds that got behind all of the athletes, not just the British ones, and those factors definitely contributed to the sheer volume of memorable performances we witnessed. World records were smashed in so many sports, and of course it helps that Team GB and Paralympics GB put in incredible performances. Alongside Wiggins’ victory in the Tour de France and Murray’s victory at the U.S. Open, if this summer hasn’t inspired British kids to take up sport, nothing will.

Clearly here parents have a huge role to play. They are ultimately the ones who have to give up the most time and money to allow their children to play sport, so it is important that they appreciate the value of doing so. But even those of you who, like myself, are currently without children have a huge role to play. Here’s just a few of the ways that you can inspire a generation.

Set up a club

Without wanting to blow my own trumpet too much, this is vital. In Britain we are well served in terms of clubs in a number of sports – football, rugby, cricket, athletics, swimming – but beyond that the distribution of clubs is somewhat more sparse. If, for example, there was a volleyball club more-or-less on a child’s doorstep, they’re probably fairly likely to give the sport a go. If the nearest club is 50 miles away, not so much. Some clubs are expensive to establish and run, but a lot are easier and cheaper than you might think. National Governing Bodies will often provide grants for equipment, and you may well find that you are able to share resources with another club in the area.

Volunteer at a club

I appreciate that setting up a new club is probably more than most people would be willing to do, but even if you don’t go that far, you can still play a big role as a provider of sport. Clubs need volunteers to do a variety of different tasks, from roles like secretary or treasurer to playing a role in spreading the message of the club to relevant groups. You might get involved to create a viral video to create a buzz about the club, or utilise some contacts to bring in sponsorship to pay for some new kit. Basically whatever your skills, you can use them to help a local club become a successful one.

Become a coach

If you’ve got the skills and the passion, this is possibly the most significant way you can help to inspire a generation. Quality coaching makes a huge difference, especially at a young age when people can improve at a rapid rate, and even in the most popular sports like football we still don’t have enough qualified coaches at junior levels. And if you look at the British success in a sport like cycling, you can see the value of quality coaching, and its coloured gold.

Volunteer with a sporting organisation

It’s not just clubs that rely heavily on volunteers. National sporting organisations need them too, especially when it comes to putting on events. Whether it’s taking the personal details of the competitors or acting as a route marshal, there are many different roles which, if it wasn’t for volunteers, the events themselves would either be not economically viable or a shambles in terms of organisation.

Join a club as a player

My final tip might not sound as if you’re ‘Inspiring a Generation,’ but stick with me. Community clubs rely heavily on getting numbers through the door. The more members a club has, the more money they will have available to invest in things like facilities, equipment, and at a higher level coaching, and these are things that will benefit the entire club, not just the adult teams. Therefore if a club has a thriving adult membership, it makes it far easier for them to provide quality sessions for junior teams. So, if you join a new team, you too are playing your part in inspiring a generation.