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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
THE Zimbabwe girls Under-16 national handball team moved a gear up in their preparations for this year’s Partille Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden, by holding another two-day periodic training camp at Girls High School in Harare at the weekend.
The Partille Cup is the world’s largest annual tournament in handball and is played every year during one week in July by young people in the ages between 10 and 21 years old.

This year’s Partille Cup is set to run from June 30 to July 5 in Gothenburg and Zimbabwe will be among more than five African countries who will be participating in this big handball jamboree where they are likely to be represented by eight teams.

And among the eight teams that will be representing Zimbabwe at this year’s Partille Cup will be the girls Under-16 national team who held one of their many periodic training camps, which are aimed at fine-tuning them ahead of this big international event, at Girls High School in Harare at the weekend.

The team held their periodic training camp under the guidance of the women’s national team coach Cleopatra Mareverwa who was assisted by Thembani Nkala, Clemence and Robert Chabata, who also coaches the Girls High School’s handball team that is also expected to take part in this year’s Partille Cup in Sweden.

Mareverwa said on Sunday at the completion of their third two-day periodic training camp with the team in Harare that their preparations for the Partille Cup were well on course and she was convinced that her charges would be “more than ready” by the time they will leave Zimbabwe for Sweden towards the end of June.

“This was our third two-day periodic camp with the girls and in camp we have about 39 players and they are coming from all over the country, some from Harare, Masvingo and other provinces, and I’ve been having training sessions with them with the assistance of Robert Chabata and we’ve got Clemence Tauro from Mashonaland East and Thembani Nkala from Bulawayo who are assisting us as the technical advisers.

“At the moment we are working with the number of the girls that we have (in camp) but the team will later be trimmed to 16 players who we are going to travel with to Sweden for the Partille Cup,” Mareverwa said.

The women’s national team coach said during this last weekend’s periodic training camp they worked on several aspects of the game with the girls Under-16 national side.
“We were working on the girls fitness, ball handling, technical and tactical skills, and combinations. As of now, (their) progress is quite good, their fitness level is quite high and they’ve managed to reach quite a good level in terms of playing the game… They’re mastering everything well,” Mareverwa said.

She said the team will play a number of friendly matches before they leave for Sweden.

“But at the moment we are working more on the basic skills which they are mastering and we are looking at having more periodic training camps once every fortnight until we leave for Sweden and I think by that time they will be more than ready to take part in this year’s Partille Cup,” Mareverwa said.

On Sunday, the president of the Zimbabwe Handball Federation, Amon Madzvamuse, paid the girls Under-16 national side a courtesy call at Girls High School in Harare where he pledged his federation’s full support of the team during their preparations for this year’s Partille Cup.

“In fact, we decided to have these periodic training camps for our teams early because we would like to avoid what happened to our teams that participated at last year’s Partille Cup where they lost all their matches because they were ill-prepared for that event.

“We want teams for this year’s Partille Cup to be adequately prepared by the time they leave for this event towards the end of June and I’m quite convinced that they will hold their own there because of the early preparations that they are having,” Madzvamuse said.

Apart from the girls Under-16 team, the ZHF will also be sending the boys Under-16 side to this year’s Partille Cup where they will be joined by six other teams from different provinces that will participate in different age-groups.

From Mashonaland East, there will be two select sides that will take part in the boys and girls’ 15 years and under section while Harare’s Girls High School have indicated they will field two teams that will carry the country’s flag in the Under-14 and Under-16 age-groups.

Howard High School from Chiweshe in Mashonaland Central will have a boys Under-18 side at this year’s Partille Cup and they will be joined there by Harare’s Mufakose 4 High School who are looking at sending a girls Under-18 team.

The Mashonaland West Handball Association have also indicated that they will send three select teams — two for the boys and girls 11 years and under age-group and one for the girls 12 years and under section — to this year’s Partille Cup where they will participate under the name Mashrhino.

The Partille Cup has been held every year since 1970, and has during the tournament’s 44-year history, been the largest and most important international youth event for handball.

In 2013 the Partille Cup set a new world record in the number of participants, 21 500, divided into 1 120 teams from 44 countries, including Zimbabwe.

Over the years, Gothenburg has welcomed more than 400 000 players and coaches from 90 countries.