Youngsters get a head start in handball

Going for goal: Ciaran Williams, Great Britain Handball captain, and Sue Whitehead, community sports manager at Siddal Moor High School, with 15 year olds Josh Campbell and Laura Hawkins.

Teenagers in Heywood have been trying out their handball skills in the build up to the 2012 London Olympics.

Former professional player Sue Whitehead, now community sports manager at Siddal Moor High School, passed on a few tips as she assessed Rochdale’s best young players to put them on the path to representing their country.

The youngsters are being given their chance to shine as part of Friday night sports sessions at the Jack Talbot Sports Centre.

The activities at the centre are funded through Aiming High, a Government led initiative to provide young people with a range of positive activities in their local area, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, and during holiday periods like Halloween and half term, when they need them most.

Sue Whitehead competed across the UK and Europe during her time with the Salford women’s handball team and now acts as a qualified tutor for the English handball association.

And she brought along another handball pro, Ciaran Williams (21), who now captains the Great Britain men’s team.

She said: “There has never been a better time to be involved in handball. It is an Olympic sport and there is an opportunity to get to that level. The nature of this sport means that if you demonstrate a real flair for it, you are only about three steps away from playing for your country, so there’s a world of possibilities out there for people who want to take it further.

“I coordinate the boys and girls under 16s team in Greater Manchester and will be taking them to competitions where selectors for the England handball team scout for talent. I will be training the youth officers in Heywood, and they will feed back to me which young people have really taken to it, so I can help them take it further.

“Even if they don’t want to take it to a higher level, it is something new for them to learn, it’s a distraction for them and stops them hanging around on the streets and it gives them something fun to do while spending time with their friends.”

The Friday night sports provision, which is part funded by the government’s YCAP (Youth Crime Action Plan) grant gives young people free access to all the facilities the Jack Talbot centre has to offer on Friday nights.

Up to 150 youngsters pass through its doors each week to get involved in activities from gym sessions and dance classes to football, netball and trampolining.

Area youth manager for Heywood, Colin Hughes, said: “The sheer number of young people who are turning up to these sessions each week is a testament to how popular this scheme is.

“Providing weekend provision like this is really important because young people tell us that they are bored on Friday and Saturday nights and that’s where activities like this come in. The sports which we provide here have massively increased the young people’s confidence and they really enjoy coming here.”

Through investment from the Government’s Aiming High for young people strategy, just under £4 million will have been made available to young people in Rochdale by 2011 to increase participation by young people in positive activities, particularly those in deprived areas or at risk of involvement in anti-social behaviour.