A Little Handball Hoopla

Friday was a lively day at Madhi High School.  When I stepped foot inside the gate, there were twenty men unloading gravel and spreading it around the school grounds.  I was happy because this meant that I would no longer have to hop over puddles on my way to classes.

When I got upstairs, the students happily greeted me and asked me if I was going to stay for the Handball Tournament that would be starting at 11:00 am.  I agreed to attend and continued walking to the staff room to find out what was going on. The teachers explained that we would have a half day of classes and then the District Handball Tournament would be held on our school grounds.  Several teams from all over the area would be arriving to compete for the title.  This explained the sudden need to maintain the school grounds!

As I taught my classes all morning, my students clearly could not concentrate as they were anxious for the games to begin.  From 10 am onwards, buses entered the school grounds unloading the other high school students.  The last hour of my classes was an uphill battle to keep my students focused.

At 11:00 am sharp, Madhi students rushed home to change into their cool clothes and returned to the school within minutes, not to miss a second of the action.  I was also intrigued because recently I have been craving sports entertainment (my home baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals are competing for first place and every day I hear updates).

After the teams lined up and sang the national anthem, the games began.  The first game was full of action. The handball court is slightly smaller than a basketball court and the teams run from end to end, passing the ball back and forth several times each minute.  It seems incredibly exhausting.  Also, from my observations, I gathered that handball is a combination of soccer, except there's no kicking, rugby and American football, except there's no tackling and netball, a popular African sport.  The match lasts about 30 minutes with over twenty goals or points scored in each game.

The second match included Madhi High School.  It was amazing.  We scored continuously and only allowed one point to the opposing team.  After the excellent home match, I stayed for one more game, in which two girls' teams showed their skills.  While I couldn't stay for the full tournament, I later heard that Madhi won the  tournament! It was a great afternoon full of fun competition and socializing with my friends and students from school! Enjoy the short video!