School children get first feel for handball

As part of the school handball project 'Andebol 4 Kids' developed by the Portuguese Handball Federation, over 1,000 local school children recently had the opportunity to get to know and play the sport during the Olympic Week 2013.

The event took place in the northern town of Guimarães from 7 to 9 November in a joint venture developed by the Olympic Athletes' Commission and the Town of Guimarães, one of nine European Cities of Sport 2013, with the help of specialised youth handball coaches.

The European Handball Federation supported the event by offering the Portuguese Federation material such as inflatable goals and soft balls.

The children had the opportunity to play handball and get to know national handball players who play in the local clubs ABC Braga/U Minho, AC Fafe and CD Xico Handball - a possibility that made their day a very special one.

Besides playing handball and performing handball exercises they also had the opportunity to visit the Olympic exhibition in which the Handball Federation of Portugal was also represented.

 More than 3,000 spectators visited the exhibition over the course of the three days.

Important partnerships with local schools were established in order to enable the federation to pursue this project in the future and develop the practice of handball more actively among children in the future.