Cape Town / South Africa, 05.12.2016

The 1st climate-neutral handball tournament series in South Africa is aiming to reach out with sport to the youth, bring kids from various schools and cultural backgrounds together and to educate them at the same time about the environment. PLAY HANDBALL ZA hosted the 1st PLAY HANDBALL SuperCup on the 24th of April 2016, 9am-5pm at the German International School in Tamboerskloof, Cape Town. Over 600 youth in twenty-two youth teams in three age categories from Cape Town up to Franschhoek participated in this educational tournament; the groups were Primary School Mix U14, High School Girls U16 and High School Boys U 16.

„We are very happy how the schools and children reacted to the idea of an environmental friendly handball competition. The teachers are grateful to learn new methodologies how to integrate environmental topics into physical education lessons, and for the children education becomes fun”, explains Nicola Scholl, organiser and director of PHZA.

In 2016 three tournaments were hosted. In April was the first tournament of its kind in Cape Town and was serving as a pilot. Afterwards some improvement on the concept was done and two more tournaments were hosted in Cape Town and Johannesburg at the end of the year in October and November 2016. The Supercup series is supported by the German International Schools, who hosted the tournaments on their outdoor-fields and supported as well with numberless volunteers to help out on the days. This innovative project initiated by PLAY HANDBALL ZAis carried out in partnership with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), the Deutscher Handballband (DHB), the environmental organisation Waste-ED, as well as the Deutsche Sporthochschule Koeln (DSHS),

18 teams competed at the tournament in Johannesburg, on Saturday the 29th October 2016. The teams came from eleven different schools form Pretoria, Johannesburg and as well one team out of the province Mpumalanga. The last Supercup of the year was hosted at the German School in Cape Town on the 19th of November 2016. 19 teams from 13 schools from Cape Town, Franschhoek, Paarl, and Stellenbosch took part in the handball and environmental challenge.

But it was not all about handball at his unique tournament series. The idea of the tournament is to enhance environmental awareness among our youth, with special emphasis placed on educating environmental issues, waste management solutions and sustainable living. To translate this idea into action, tasks were given to the teams prior to the tournament; Teams are challenged to develop ideas of how they can contribute to a clean and healthy environment. In this regard, teams collect waste in their communities, schools and/ or aroand their handball field and find new innovative ways how to dispose or recycle it and produced from all not recyclable plastic Ecobricks. Ecobricks are plastic bottled stuffed with non-recyclable plastic that can be used as building material. „We got over 500 ecobricks in total donated by the PLAY HANDBALL Supercup for our project in Delft to build an Early Childhood Development Centre”, tells Canice Mostert from Waste-ED who is very happy about this specific outcome of the tournament.

Beside the tournament as an exciting reward at the end of a school term, a handball and life skill manual will be developed in cooperation with the Deutsche Sporthochschule Koeln (DSHS). This will be the educational fandament for future tournaments. Especially Physical Education and Life Orientation teachers will benefit from the educational lessons in this manual and will be able to use it to make a positive change amongst our youth towards a better behaviour for our environment.

Christina Teichmann, Project Manager oft he Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) explains, why a German political foandation supports this project: “The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) as a German political Foandation affiliated to the Christian Democrats, is committed to promote sustainable development on various levels, beginning from a policy level to a citizen’s level. However, in order to translate political will into action it needs the cooperation of citizens who are convinced that a change towards a more sustainable way of living is the right thing to do. Especially in African countries with fast growing populations and a high percentage of young people, the youths plays an important role in this respect and can become agents of change. It is therefore of upmost importance to sensitize young people in these countries for climate change issues and educate them about the responsible use of natural resources and how to protect the environment. The handball project, carried out in partnership with the NPO PLAY HANDBALL ZA, the Deutscher Handballband, the environmental organisation Waste-ED, as well as the Deutsche Sporthochschule Koeln, shows how sport can be used to address critical issues such as climate change and environmental awareness, as well as social cohesion to the youth and reach a positive change.”

RESULTS

PLAY HANDBALL Supercup Cape Town – Pilot, 24.04.2016, Deutsche Schule Cape Town Outdoor-field 9am to 5pm:

“Green Award” Winner: Talfalah Primary School

Handball Tournament – Winner and Participants.

• • Primary School Mix U14:
    1. Place: Dahlambuhle PS (Franschhoek), 2. Place: Mbekweni (Paarl), 3. Place: Khayelitsha Handball Club, Participants: DSK 2 (4. Place), DSK 1, Talafalh GS 1 and 2 (Manenberg), Downville PS (Manenberg), Wemmershoek PS (Franschhoek), Groendal Primary (Franschhoek)
• High School U16 Boys: 1. Place: Gugulethu Handball Club, 2. Place: DSK, 3. Place: Khayelitsha Handball Club, Participants: Cape Stars (4. Place), Saxonsea (Atlantis)
• High School U16 Girls: 1. Place:  Gugulethu Handball Club, 2. Place: Khayelitsha Handball Club, 3. Place: Cape Stars (Delft), Participants: DSK (4. Place), Saxonsea (Atlantis), Progresso (Langa), Vista HS (Bo-Kaap)

PLAY HANDBALL Supercup Johannesburg, 19.11.2016, Deutsche Schule Cape Town Outdoor-field 9am to 5pm:

“Green Award” Winner:  Mdelwa PS

Handball Tournament Winner and Participants

• Primary School Mix U14: 1. Place: Deutsche International Schule Pretoria (DSP), EhrenPlace 1: Diodi PS, 2. Place: Motsaneng PS, Participants: Wisani PS, Thabisile, Mdelwa PS, DSJ 1-3, Tumang PS, St. John Berchmann PS
• High School U16 Girls: 1. Place: Jules High School (JHB), 2. Place: Deutsche Internationale Schule Pretoria (DSP), 3. Place:  Deutsche Schule Johannesburg (DSJ / Johannesburg, Gauteng), 4. Place: Kilowatt (Delmas, Mpumalanga)

PLAY HANDBALL Supercup Cape Town, 19.11.2016, Deutsche Schule Cape Town Outdoor-field 9am to 5pm:

“Green Award” Winner: Observatory PS

Handball Tournament Winner and Participants

Primary School Mix U14:
1. Place: Deutsche International Schule Cape Town 3, 2. Place: Zonnebloem Primary School (PS), 3. Place: Holy Cross PS, Participants: Dahlambuhle PS 1 and 2 (Franschhoek), Mbekweni PS 1 and 2 (Paarl), Kusaya PS 1 and 2 (Khayelitsha), DSK 1, DSK 2, Talafalh PS 1 and 2 (Manenberg), Observatory Junior School (Cape Town), Ikaya PS  (Stellenbosch), Kayamandi Team 1 (Stellenbosch)