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Europe’s Rising

The rise of popularity and quality of One-Wall Handballers in Europe has rose quietly under the radar over the last few years, so much so that a new European Tour has been established. GAA Handball spoke to Belgium's Geert Vandervelden, who is travelling over this weekend to view the Irish One-Wall Nationals.

1. How did you get involved in Handball?

My father was a very good handball-player (the Belgium Handball discipline named KAATSEN) and since I was born I went with my mother to see him play. When I was 8 years old I started playing KAATSEN myself, and through this I also came in contact with One-Wall Handball.

However the version that was played in Belgium was with a very hard ball that nearly didn't bounced and the players played without gloves. I won a lot of titles with different teams and was selected for the national team when I was 17 years old.

It wasn't until 2000 that I saw for the first time the One-Wall Handball that is widely played in Ireland and the US. Right away, I liked the game because it was so easy to play, could be played anywhere, and had rules that were easy to understand. I could see the potential this game had!

I started playing and enjoyed it thoroughly. In 2009 I traveled with the Dutch Team to Portland to the World Championships. I was very curious to see how players from other countries played the game. This was the beginning of a new passion!

I started as Belgium National Coach and in 2010 I organised the first European Championship for kids in Belgium. This event proved to be a kick start in Belgium for a lot of kids and adults to play. With the game growing in my homeland, we travelled to Dublin in 2012 for the next World Championships where we achieved succes beyond our dreams by taking gold in the Boys 13&U Singles grade.

Three years ago I became coach of the Dutch National Handball team.

2. You are the newly elected President of the new European Pro Tour. Tell us a bit more about the Tours concept?

The concept of the new European Wallball Pro Tour is to make Handball more popular in Europe and to organise open tournaments (adults and kids) for everyone. We want the players to become stronger by playing international tournaments, and for these tournaments to assist in making Handball more visible as a sport.

Until now, a lot of European players never had the chance to play international tournaments against the worlds best because in Europe they had to be selected in the national team in order to compete. This has changed now with the Pro Tour.

At this moment we have 6 countries involved in the European Pro Tour: Belgium, Netherland, France, UK, Italy and Spain. It is rewarding to work with people who share the same vision about Handball and have an unwavering desire to create new things.

Each country hosts an Open tournament, with a ranking system developed to determine Europe's elite. The season runs from October to March.

3. How is Wall Ball developing across Europe?

We are very happy what is happening with the Open Tournaments, the entry numbers we are getting, and the progress of the sport. We are averaging 200 players in a weekend.

Another goal of ours is to promote Handball in schools and neighbourhoods as a recreational game because not everyone want to play competitively. We know that we still have a lot of work to do but we are sure that we can do it !

4. What can Ireland’s inclusion bring to the Tour?

Ireland is the country where Handball started and has a very rich tradition of the game. The depth of quality of players Ireland possesses is unrivalled in Europe so regular competition against such players will only make the other European players better.

Last month the CIJB (European Federation) asked us to become a partner and to work together. It would be very good for handball in Europe that the GAA could also become a partner. We want to work together with everyone who has to same vision about handball. Every positive idea is welcome and we want to listen to everyone who is carrying handball in their heart. It would be fantastic if in 2016 we could have the first Irish Open Pro Tour!

I have already held progressive initial contact with GAA Handball and the meetings were very positive so hopefully it will be a reality in the near future.

5. This is your first Irish One-Wall Nationals. Are you looking forward to the biggest tournament on the Irish Calendar?

I have already heard and seen a lot of nice things from this tournament and I am realy looking forward to being there. Seeing the best players of Ireland has to be exciting. But another interesting thing for me is to see how the Irish One-Wall Nationals is organised because we want to learn from each country.