Cape Town, 2017-10-18

The PLAY HANDBALL Supercup is unique in its kind and is the first Handball & Environmental Tournament Series in South Africa. PLAY HANDBALL ZA (PHZA) will launch with this year’s tournaments their educational training manual that combines environmental education with sport “PLAY FAIR for the Environment”.

After a successful start in 2016 with over 600 children who participated in three tournaments in Cape Town and Johannesburg, PHZA will be hosting in partnership with the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation (KAS) the PLAY HANDBALL Supercup 2017 in Johannesburg, Cape Town and will reach out to the Eastern Cape in partnership with the Eastern Cape NGO Cohesion (ECNGOC).

• PH Supercup Johannesburg, Sat 21st of October 2017 from 9am to 5pm at the German International School, 11 Sans Souci Rd, Johannesburg. (Sportfield)
• PH Supercup Cape Town, Sat. 28th of October 2017 from 9am to 5 pm at the German International School, 28 Bay View Avenue, Tamboerskloof. (Sportfield)
• PH Supercup – PLAY FAIR for the Environment Train-the-Trainer Workshop on 3rd and 4th November 2017 at MADA (Kingdom Lifestyle Family Church) King Williams Town.

In Johannesburg 24 teams with over 250 players from various areas of Gauteng are registered to participate in four categories: U12 Mix, U14 Mix, U14 Boys and U14 Girls. In Cape Town 15 teams are expected from Clubs and schools from Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek.

The German International Schools in Cape Town & Johannesburg will be hosting the tournament at their outdoor-sport field. And the Western Cape Handball Association and the Gauteng Handball Federation are going to support the tournament with referees and officials to ensure fair games. This innovative project initiated by PHZA is carried out in partnership with Waste-ED, an environmental organisation that leverages the event in Cape Town with their expertise and know-how.

The aim of the PLAY HANDBALL Supercup is to reach out with sport to the youth, bring kids from various schools and cultural backgrounds together and to enhance environmental awareness among our youth in combination with playing handball. Special emphasis is placed on educating young South Africans to live more sustainable and environmentally responsible within our communities. Therefore teachers were given a workshop in handball coaching and environmental issues to carry out the training in school. Educational modules include information on how to use resources, such as water and energy more wisely and how to reduce, reuse and recycle waste.

LAUNCH of the EDUCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR BALLGAMES AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCTATION “PLAY FAIR for the ENVIRONMENT!”

One fundamental part of this whole project was and is to develop an educational training manual that combines environmental education with sport. “Sport speaks to the youth in a language they understand”, said once Nelson Mandela. Our aim is to deliver a practical, integrated, and fun approach to teach environmental critical topics. In this way PHZA envisions to make a more sustainable impact on youth, transfer knowledge in a more memorable way by integrating subjects into role plays, and change behaviour in long-term. The kids are having fun while they become aware about socio-political issues to become responsible citizen in our society. As part of this year’s tournaments PHZA will host Train-the-Trainer Workshops to train teachers and coaches of youth-, sports- and environmental (development) organisations in this methodology.

The tournament is open to the public, audiences are invited to come and watch the games and show support for the young athletes. Organisations and educators who are interested in the Sport & Educational Methodology are welcome to get in touch with PHZA and get information how to implement the programme.