Warwick Handball end year with impressive performance at Summer Cup

9  June marked the day of the annual Handball Summer Cup, where several university teams competed to become Summer champions for 2024.

Hosted by the England Handball Association (EHA) at the David Ross Sports Village in the University of Nottingham, the Warwick men’s and women’s squads undertook an hour-long journey early that morning. Upon arrival, there was plenty of time to warm up and finalise any last-minute strategic plays before the first match at 10am, where the women’s squad faced Birmingham in a close contest. This was followed by the men’s squad facing Durham and defeating them comfortably, giving Warwick an early lead and getting the team warmed up for the long day of handball ahead.

Next up for the women was Nottingham. After a strong start from Warwick, the scoreline quickly narrowed, with Nottingham never being far behind. After a hotly contested match, Nottingham just about took it, despite being challenged constantly by a strong Warwick squad and having to graft to take the win.

Trick shots were frequent and spirits were high, so it seemed like Warwick were going to have an easy path to victory

For the men, a familiar Birmingham squad was next on the cards. The weather at this time did not reflect the ‘Summer’ in the Summer Cup in the slightest, with the rain making the astroturf pitch, and the ball, slippery. Despite the weather, Warwick cemented themselves once again as the A-side, beating Birmingham 11-5.

Throughout the day the weather changed frequently, being sunny one minute then rainy and cold the next. While this was not ideal, it was a marked improvement on previous years, where players fell sick due to sun-stroke and were burnt by 30+ degree temperatures. In more forgiving conditions, both squads were able to perform to high standards the whole day – especially important for a women’s side with no substitute players to fall back on.

Great teamwork was shown alongside courage from some new players debuting in this tournament

All was going well for the men’s team, securing easy victories against the likes of Imperial and Nottingham later in the day. Trick shots were frequent and spirits were high, so it seemed like Warwick were going to have an easy path to victory. This was until the final when the team came up against a very physical Loughborough squad. Going into the match, Warwick were eager but also cautious, knowing this was going to be the toughest game of the day by far. After an extremely challenging bout for the trophy, where both teams gave it all they had, Loughborough had just enough to take the win by a score of 13-10. Although disappointed in the result, the Warwick men’s squad were proud of their performance during the tournament and happy with second place.

Overall, both Warwick squads felt the day was a great way to showcase the hard work they had done during their training, as well as pick up some impressive results. Great teamwork was shown alongside courage from some new players debuting in this tournament against some rough competition.

Reflecting on the event, the club’s issued the following statement: “Both men’s and women’s teams performed incredibly well against some difficult teams. The weather was not ideal and the courts provided very different conditions to what we normally trained on, however, both teams fought hard. It was also a great send-off for leavers to finish on as well as great experience for newer players.”

As the year comes to an end, Warwick Handball is proud of its performance in the Summer Cup and any other fixtures that took place. The club will sadly say farewell to a large proportion of its members this term, but are looking forward to next year and what that may hold.