U16's National County Final's Tournament.

This weekend we were lucky enough to be asked by the England Handball Association's Performance Department to help assist with the running of the Under 16's National County Finals, being held at our Home Court in Wellington, Somerset.
We got to see first hand the progress and potential of the UK's youth development system and what the Olympic legacy has started to produce through grassroots handball.
FYI the future looks good!

The volunteers manning the scoring table for the matches

The Tournament:

From start to finishes the tournament ran smoothly without a hitch. The atmosphere from the spectators watching in the stand was superb and all the teams involved were very professional on and off the court.

How the county finals worked; The five teams in both girls and boys tournament will play each other once in a league style table to determine a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place. Once this is done the top four teams will enter the play offs: 3rd vs 4th and 1st vs 2nd teams

Each match run for a straight 18mins, with each team having one optional 1min time out card they can play while their team has control of the ball.

The girls tournament ran first throughout the morning below is how all the games played out;

Cheshire vs Dorset: 4 - 2

Kent vs Staffordshire: 3 - 7

Warwickshire vs Cheshire: 1 - 5

Dorset vs Kent: 4 - 1

Staffordshire vs Warwickshire: 9 - 4

Cheshire vs Kent: 7 - 3

Dorset vs Staffordshire: 6 - 11

Warwickshire vs Kent: 3 - 1

Staffordshire vs Cheshire: 8 - 4

Warwickshire vs Dorset: 3 - 3

Playoffs

3rd vs 4th) Warwickshire vs Dorset: 6 - 3

1st vs 2nd) Staffordshire vs Cheshire: 13 - 3

 

Staffordshire Girls are the New U16's National County Champions!



Staffordshire Girls Team with Trophy

After the girls had received there well deserved trophy and a presentation by the tournament co-ordinator from the EHA Scott Harrington, It was on to the Boy's tournament. Which kicked off with a high scoring match! Here's how the afternoon played out;

 

Bucks' vs Cheshire: 10 - 12

Devon vs Middlesex: 6 - 10

Notts' vs Bucks': 8 - 6

Cheshire vs Devon: 8 - 11

Middlesex vs Notts': 12 - 7

Bucks' vs Devon: 10 - 7
Cheshire vs Middlesex: 9 - 10

Notts' vs Devon: 11 - 5

Middlesex vs Bucks': 12 - 8

Notts' vs Cheshire: -

Playoffs
3rd vs 4th) Notts' vs Bucks':  -

1st vs 2nd) Cheshire vs Middlesex:  -

 

Apologies we had to leave before the playoffs began so currently unsure on the final couple of scores once I have these confirmed from the EHA I will edit these in.

 

Having said that we know Cheshire are now the Under 16's County Final Champions! Congratulations to them.

 

Cheshire Girls Team with Trophy

Overall this was a fantastic day of Handball and great to see so many people showing their support for the game. Thank you to everyone that was involved and helped the day run smoothly, I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Looking forward to the next one, hopefully we will see a Bristol based team attending in the near future.

One final note; I would like to praise the Princess Royal Sports Complex, Wellington School. These facilities our top class and were the perfect setting for the County finals. The atmosphere was great from the stand which gives everyone a clear view of the court.

"One of the best handball venues we have been too would highly recommend and look forward to returning in the future."

- Spectator from Staffordshire -

 

 

We will be returning to Wellington as a team for our Men's and Women's final league home games of this season against Southampton on the 10th of May 2015. If you would like to come down and watch please feel free to come and show your support.

To see the day as it happened please check out EHA_Performance

All Images shown were taken by the EHA