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Handball a success in Herts Sports Partnership Project

In the summer of 2019 England Handball linked Herts Sports Partnership on their Fit Fed & Read programme to deliver handball to its participants.

Fit Fed and Read is a high-quality holiday activity programme ‐ including support with literacy ‐ in Hertfordshire’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

It includes a nutritious meal every day, free of charge. Fit Fed & Read school holiday activity programmes operate out of Fire Stations across Hertfordshire during the school Easter and Summer holidays.

Each four-hour day consists of:

• Two hours of physical activity
• One hour of fun education
• One hour of two-course nutritious cooked lunch

Participant entry criteria:

• Aged between 7-12 years
• Eligible for free school meals

This year the Herts Sports Partnership had 10 centres running across the county. 196 young people were involved in the project over the 16 days. All were aged between 8-12 years (majority 9-10 years) with a 60%/40% Boy to Girl split (116 boys and 80 girls).

During the project all the children had some form of exposure to handball through informal sessions and games. As the centres were run at Fire stations activity space was limited so Handball fitted perfectly as a sport the children could play and enjoy across all the centres. We also managed to link the project with the local handball club Bishop Stortford HC meaning there is now an exit route for children that might want to play more Handball outside of these sessions.

The project will run again in 2020 and is already looking to grow with four new centres opening. England Handball will again partner the programme along with the local handball club.

England Handball is in the process of contacting Street Games, who help facilitate the programme nationally, to see if we can partner other sessions that run in other counties due to the success of this project.

For more information, or you are interested in getting involved in your county (providing there are sessions), please get in touch with Luke Hornsley Luke.hornsley@englandhandball.com

Posted in South East

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