 A new experience for the Danish Handball Federation
With just under a hundred days to go until the European Beach Handball Championships taking place in Randers, Denmark in July, the preparations are running according to plan, says head of the championship Søren Simonsen, from the Danish Handball Federation.
“In the Danish Handball Federation we have a lot of experience arranging indoor handball events, but this outdoor event has been a new challenge for us.
“Simple things such as getting electricity and internet for the venue have produced a challenge, but so far we have overcome all obstacles, and the preparations are running as scheduled.
“At the moment 25 people, 15 of them volunteers, are working on the event and when the championships take place in July, there will be around 90 volunteers and 15 from the Danish Handball Federation involved – plus, of course, the personnel the EHF will be providing,” Søren Simonsen told eurohandball.com.
He is in no doubt that the championships will be a great event, also when it comes to the spectators.
“We will be doing a lot to involve the spectators. We have a youth camp along with the championships, and those young people will be playing a big part in the stands, together with our DJ and our American announcer.
“We have a fine cooperation with the events department of the city of Randers who will be announcing the event in several websites, as well as there will be big screens at the all roads which lead into the city, telling about the championships.
“Furthermore, we will be present at fairs and festivals around the country up to the event, informing of the championships, and we are also going to be active in the cities with many students.
“Of course, we also advertise the event on the Danish Handball Federation´s Beach Tour, where we have around 13,000 players playing every summer,” added Simonsen, who promises a lot of activity around the tournament.
“In the event area there will also be a market place with commercial stands from a lot of companies. Right now we are in the process of closing the contracts with the companies involved,” he explains.
The only factor, on which the organisers have no influence over, is the weather.
“A beach handball tournament is not like a rock concert, where you can continue to listen to the music under an umbrella, if it starts to rain.
“Of course, we do have a “rain concept”. There are extra terms, where we can put in matches in case some of them have to be postponed due to rain, and as soon as the first raindrop falls, our rain concept steps into function.
“However, I hope we will not need the rain concept. First of all, because I hope for ten days of sun, of course – but also because the young people in our youth camp have access to the courts in the morning, where we might have to place postponed matches,” concluded Simonsen.
The championships for the young categories will take place from 5 to 7 July, while the senior championships for women as well as for men are being played from 9 to 14 July.
TEXT: Peter Bruun / cor
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