Handball Victoria is hosting the inaugural Australian Open Club Championships in Geelong from the 2nd – 5th June 2016.
This event has been designed to offer Australia’s men’s and women’s club teams the opportunity to be crowned Australian Club Champions. Handball – while small in Australia – is an Olympic sport, and this event is the first of it’s kind. The winner of the men’s competition will qualify for the club world cup, called the Super Globe held in Qatar and play against the likes of FC Barcelona. In Handball, that is!
Handball Victoria has secured the rights to host this event for the next three years and our plan is to develop it into the leading Handball tournament in the Asian-Oceanian region. For this year we have secured court bookings at the Leisuretime Centre in Bell Post Hill, Geelong.
“Over the next three years, we want to make Geelong our destination and grow the event, so that we can host it in multiple sport centres within the Geelong area in the future”, says Sebastian Bures, Project Manager and Head of the Organising Committee & Government Relations.
“Importantly, this event aims to bring together the entire handball community and is open to all handball teams in Australia and Oceania, regardless of ability”, remarks Bures.
The competition will run from Thursday, the 2nd of June until Sunday, the 5th of June with games starting around 9 am until the late afternoon. Finals will be played on Sunday.
The event is free for spectators and schools. Nick Goodenough, President of Handball VIC, says: “We are inviting interested schools to come down and experience the exciting sport of handball. We are planning ‘Come and Try’ activities for school children and a ‘Meet and Greet’ with National players.”
The National u20 Women team is also expected to make an appearance. To date 13 men and women teams have confirmed from all around Australia. Further teams from the Oceania region may also be attending. More than 200 handball enthusiasts will descend on Geelong.
To find out more about the 2016 AOCC, send an email to [email protected]. Follow HANDBALL VICTORIA on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Photo Copyright: Bronwyn Thompson
