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National Women's Team

2007 WWC Diaries

Women's World Championships Schedule / Results

23rd Placement Match - Wuxi ( Three Hours behind AEST )
Date	Local Time	Opponent	Opponent		Australia
			HT	FT	FT	HT
15 Dec, 2009	14:00	Chile	14	32	21	6	Statistics	Match Report
President's Cup - Wuxi ( Three Hours behind AEST )
Date	Local Time	Opponent	Opponent		Australia
			HT	FT	FT	HT
12 Dec, 2009	19:00	Brazil	20	45	12	7	Statistics	Match Report
13 Dec, 2009	19:00	Sweden	26	66	21	8	Statistics	Match Report
14 Dec, 2009	15:00	Congo	14	33	22	9	Statistics	Match Report

Women's Team Completes WC Training In Korea

The Australian Women’s Team has completed stage 1 of its final preparation for the XIX Women’s Handball World Championship being held in China.  At the invitation and sponsorship by the Korean Handball Federation, the Team was in Seoul, Korea during 16 November – 1 December 2009 to undertake a training camp and to participate in the 2009 Seoul Cup.  The arrangements were facilitated by Hyung Kyun Chung [KHF Vice President] and Jong Hwan Park [KHF Liaison Officer], with Sebastien Louis [formerly in Oceania and now based in Korea] liaising on behalf of the Australian Handball Federation.

Head Coach, Katsu Kinoshita put the Team through a stringent program of court training to blend the skills of the experienced players with the dynamic play of the younger players.  He was helped by Assistant Coach, Vernon Cheung who travelled from China to join the Team in Korea.

The 2009 Seoul Cup participants were Korea, Angola, Australia and Brazil, all of which are participating in the XIX Women’s World Championship. 

Katsu Kinoshita

At the close of the 2009 Seoul Cup, Head Coach Katsu commented: 

“’Prepare for the World Championships’ was the goal for this tournament.  The girls played well and executed moves well during the games.  Of course, we have to take into account that we have a young team in comparison with the other teams and that there were a number of things to improve for our world championship participation.  On this basis, I am quite happy with the Team’s performance.”

 

Vernon Cheung

Assistant Coach Vernon echoed Katsu’s sentiments, with these comments: 

“The tournament was a great experience for this young Australian team, giving the players a taste of what's to come in China. The Goalkeepers especially had a hard task in coping with three very capable teams in Angola, Brazil and Korea. However, I was very happy with their improvement. Overall, it's a learning curve for the Team and an invaluable experience that will benefit them for the World Championships and their future development. I look forward to starting the World Championships.”

Cathy Kent

The Team’s Captain, Cathy Kent, who plays for Cergy-Pontoise in France, is one of the experienced players in the Australian Team.  She offered the following comments: 

"Overall I was impressed with how the Team performed during the tournament.  All the girls fought for everything and never gave up. Our defence has improved and we reduced many technical mistakes.  All the girls are of great spirits and are ready to take on all the other challenges we have ahead facing us". 

Solveig Soerensen

Comments from Solveig Soerensen, Team’s Vice Captain, who plays for Team Haderslev KFUM in Denmark. 

“It is winter in Seoul.  It is cold not only outside but inside the training venue as well.  We were surprised that it was that cold inside the venue but eventually we acclimatised or put some extra clothes on. 

We have trained twice a day nearly everyday and as a result we have improved our defence and learned new moves in attack. Everyone seems to be on the same page and now we have played three matches against some of the best international teams, we have gathered valuable experience on what we can do and where our limit is. It has been a good learning experience especially for the young girls who have never played internationally before.  They now have a sense of what it is going to be like at the World Championships in China”. 

The results of the 2009 Seoul Cup games are as follows: 

          Australia vs Angola            8 -26  [3 - 16]
          Australia vs Korea             9 - 37 [5 – 19]
          Australia vs Brazil              9 -49  [3 – 21] 

For Cathy Kent, the tournament once again recognised her superb skills as a Goalkeeper.   As it was in the 2007 World Championship where she received the Best Player - Goalkeeper award, Cathy was named in the Best 7 in the 2009 Seoul Cup, as Best Goalkeeper of the tournament.

The Team takes away valuable experience from the tournament and the training camp in Korea.  Unfortunately, two of the Team’s young dynamic players sustained some injuries.  Gizelle van der Merwe had Achilles tendonitis during training so she was not able to play during the 2009 Seoul Cup.  With rest and treatment, Gizelle is optimistic that she will be able to participate in the world championship.  However, this is not the case with Melissa Mellor who was  also sidelined from participating in the latter part of the camp and the 2009 Seoul Cup. Melissa will also miss out in playing in the world championship due to a fractured wrist.  Despite this sad turn of events, Melissa has remained positive and assists the Team in other ways in their preparation for the world championship.

The Team leaves Korea and travels to China on 2 December 2009.  Prior to the start of the World Championship on 5 December 2009, Head Coach Katsu Kinoshita and Assistant Coach Venon Cheung will hold the Team’s final training camp.  The Team has been provided valuable assistance by Michelle Thomas [Team Manager] and Kristin Schuhknecht [Physiotherapist]. 

Final Preparation of Women’s Team for World Championship

The Australian Women’s Team has commenced its final preparation for the XIX World Championship to be held in China during 5th – 20th December 2009.

The Australian Handball Federation [AHF] wishes to thank the Korean Handball Federation for hosting and inviting the Women’s Team to participate in the Seoul Cup as part of its preparation for the World Championship. AHF appreciates the assistance provided by Sebastien Louis [formerly Oceania-based but now in Korea] who liaised between AHF and Hyung Kyun Chung [KHF Vice President] and Jong Hwan Park [KHF Liaison Officer] to finalise arrangements for the Australian Team’s participation in the Seoul Cup.

The Seoul Cup will be held during 26^th - 30^th November.  At the Seoul Cup, Australia will play against Korea, Brazil and Angola.  Arrangements are also being made for the Team to play against a number of local teams as part of its training camp prior to the Seoul Cup.

On 16^th November, members of the Team departed from two locations. NSW players Milly Thomas, Jessica Fearnside, Gizelle van der Merwe and Team Manager Michelle Thomas departed from Sydney.  On the other hand, Head Coach Katsu Kinoshita, together with Queensland players Jemima Harbort, Raelene Boulton, Madeline McAfee, Mary & Veronica Kelly, Melissa Mellor and Rosalie Boyd departed from Brisbane.  Overseas-based players Cathy Kent [France], Solveig Sorensen [Denmark] and Tori Brunsberg [Sweden] traveled from their locations to Seoul. Allira Hudson-Gofers and Kristin Schuhknecht were last to leave from Sydney on 18^th November to join the Team.

The second stage of the Team’s preparation is a training camp during 2^nd – 4^th December in Zhangjiagang, prior to the commencement of the Preliminary Round matches.   This part of the Team’s preparation would consolidate the blending of the skills of the players and fine-tuning of set moves. Arrangements are being finalised for the Australian Team to play against local teams.  On the 5^th December, the Team will take centre court and show the world their passion for handball. 

Minister's message of support

The Federal Minister For Sport and Youth, The Hon. Kate Ellis, has sent a message to the National Women's Team competing in the 2009 Women's World Championships Tournament, to be held in China, from December 5 to December 20, 2009.

The Australian Handball Federation is appreciative of the support from the Federal Minister. To view the Minister's Message of Support click the link below;

Federal Minister's Message To The National Women's Team [ pdf ]

Australian Women’s 2009 WC Team

As part of the presentation ceremony at the close of the ‘Rethink Drink’ Senior National Championships held in Perth during 16 – 18 October, 2009, the Australian Handball Federation [AHF] President Paul Smith announced the names of players selected to part of the Australian Women’s Team to represent Australia and the Oceania Region in the XIX Women’s Handball World Championship. The World Championship will be held during 5 – 20 December, 2009 in China.

The players selected to be in the Australian Women’s Team are:

Head Coach Katsu Kinoshita will be assisted by:  Vernon Cheung (Assistant Coach), Michelle Thomas (Team Manager), and Violi Calvert (Media & Public Relations Officer).  Violi will be liaising with Peter Cama [Webmaster] for publishing on the AHF website reports and information about the Team’s participation in the World Championship.

The selection has been based on the players’ participation in training camps, performance in the ‘Rethink Drink’ Senior National Championships and for some players, performance in overseas handball league.  

The Panel of Selectors who attended the last training camp in Brisbane comprised of:

Anke Winnig [ACT], Michelle Thomas [Victoria] and Susan Wilson-Gahan [Queensland].  The Selectors at the Senior National Championships were:  Anke Winnig [ACT], Mark Dawson [Queensland] and Rikke Petersen [Western Australia].  Head Coach Katsu Kinoshita also had input in the selection process.

Schedule of Women’s WC Games

The Australian Handball Federation [AHF] congratulates the members of the Women’s Squad on their successful training camp held during 25^th to 28^th September 2009.

This training camp is part of the preparation of the Australian Women’s Team in the XIX Women’s Handball World Championship to be held in Jiangsu, China during 5^th – 20^th December 2009. Jiangsu is a province in the east part of China, near Shanghai, the biggest city of China. The six host cities for the Championship are as follows:  Nanjing, Changzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Yangzhou, Zhangjiagang.  

The official draw held in July 2009 placed Australia in Group B, which will be competing in Zhangjiagang.

The schedule of the World Championship games had been finalised.  The matches to be played by Australia are as follows:

Women’s Team in Final Stages of WC Preparation

The XIX Women’s Handball World Championship will be held in Jiangsu, China during 5^th – 20^th December 2009. Jiangsu is a province in the east part of China, near Shanghai, the biggest city of China. The six host cities for the Championship are as follows:  Nanjing, Changzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Yangzhou, Zhangjiagang.

The official draw held in July 2009 placed Australia in Group B, which will be competing in Zhangjiagang. 

The Head Coach of the Australian Women’s Team, Katsu Kinoshita, will be holding a training camp during 25^th to 28^th September 2009 for players who are in the women’s development squad.   The first two days and the last day of the training camp will be held in Beenleigh, with the third day being at South Pine.

The following Australian-based players will be attending the training camp:

The intensive training camp and the players’ performance at the Seniors National Championships to be held in Perth in October 2009 will form part of the basis for possible selection to be part of the Women’s Team.

As part of the Team’s preparation for the World Championship, it will also be competing in a tournament in New Caledonia on 13^th – 15^th November.  Currently, arrangements are being made for a training camp for the Team to be held in either Japan or China prior to the World Championship.

Head Coach Katsu will be supported by Michelle Thomas, Team Manager and Nicky Rolls, Physiotherapist.

2009 Women’s World Championship Draw

The Australian Handball Federation [AHF] is pleased to announce that the official draw for the XIX Women's World Championship had been finalised.  The draw was held on 15 July 2009 at the IHF Head Office in Basel, Switzerland. COC president Leon Kalin carried out the draw in the presence of representatives of the Chinese Handball Association and a number of representatives from the participating federations.

The World Championship will be held during 5 – 20 December 2009 in China.

The Australian Women’s Team Head Coach, Katsu Kinoshita, will be conducting training camps in August and September in Brisbane.  These camps will be open to women players who wish to showcase their handball skills.  Their performance at these camps will form part of the criteria for possible selection in the Team to participate in the World Championship.

Results of the draw:

At this stage, it is planned for the Team to leave for China in mid-November, to undertake final preparation for the tournament.

The AHF wishes all the players and Team Management all the best in their participation in Towards China 2009 Program.

Australian Women's Team Participating in 2009 Pacific Cup

The Australian Handball Federation [AHF] is pleased to announce that Australian Women’s Team Head Coach Katsu Kinoshita has finalised the selection of members of the Australian Women’s Team which will participate in the 2009 Pacific Cup.  This significant handball event will be held in the Chandler Sleeman Sport Centre in Brisbane during 25th – 30^th May 2009.

The four teams participating in competition are Australia, Handball New Zealand, New Zealand Handball Federation and Queensland.  The Queensland team was formed to fill in the gap resulting from New Caledonia’s withdrawal from the competition.

The competition also doubles up as the Oceania Region Qualifying Tournament for the next Women’s World Championship. The Australian Women’s Team has in its sights representing the Oceania Region in the World Championship to be held in China in December 2009.   The Team is hoping to capitalise from the valuable experience it gained from its successful participation in the 2007 World Championship held in France.

The Australian Women’s Team players are:                                                                  

The Team Management consists of:

AHF wishes the Team all the best in its participation in the 2009 Pacific Cup and its campaign towards the World Championship in China in December 2009.  AHF also wishes to thank and congratulate the Queensland Team Handball Association for hosting the event.

For further information please contact,
AHF Media & Public Relations Officer,
Violi Calvert
Email: public.relations@handballaustralia.org.au.
or phone:
+ 61 408 22 77 94.
 

2009 World Championship Qualifier Preparations

Members of the Women’s Handball squad held a training camp on 14^th-15^th March 2009 in Brisbane, as part of its preparation for the Pacific Cup and the Oceania Region Qualifying Tournament for the Women’s World Championship to be held in China in December 2009.

This was the third training camp conducted by Katsu Kinoshita since his re-appointment in December 2008 as Head Coach of the Australian Women’s Team.  Katsu took on the role of Head Coach of the Women’s Team which successfully won the qualifying tournament to represent Australia and the Oceania Region in the Women’s Handball World Championship held in France during November 2007.

The March training camp was attended by the following players:

NSW -    Gizelle van der Merwe, Jessica Fearnside, Kim Higgins, Aminta Thomas, Vanja Smiljanic

Qld    -    Jemima Harbort, Mary Kent, Melissa Mellor, Rosa Boyd

The training camp focused on defence; decision-making (both in attack and defence} and effective execution of fast breaks.   The team was supported during the camp by Nicky Rolls, Physiotherapist and by Mrs Linda Mellor has helped the team for last three months with catering for lunch at training camps.

The women’s squad will have another camp on 18^th-19^th April 2009.  This will be Open Camp again before the Pacific Cup Camp that is scheduled to start on 14^th of May.

FOCUS:  Cathy Kent, Goalkeeper, Women’s Team

Cathy Kent

Athletes’ success in their chosen sport is the result of passion, hard work and skills.   Passion drives them to continually work hard at keeping fit, training and improving their skills.  Their passion for their sport is manifested not just on their actual performance in competitions but also in other things they do related to it. 

For instance, reporting on Australia’s participation in the recent Junior Women’s World Championship held in Macedonia was made possible with information submitted by a handballer who has all the three attributes referred to above. The athlete is none other than Cathy Kent, who is the Goalkeeper of the Australian Women’s Team. Cathy who was on a competition season break attended the Junior Women’s World Championship to support the Australian team and to double up as a member of the Publicity Team. We received positive comments on the Team’s collaborative effort as well as a number of emails enquiring about Cathy.   Hence, it is with delight that we acquaint you with one of Australia’s leading female handballers.

Cathy, who hails from Queensland, has been with the Australian Team since 2001.  She has represented Australia in a total of 39 matches, which included international tours, tournaments and three World Championships - Croatia in 2003, Russia in 2005 and France in 2007.  She relishes as her greatest moment playing against Macedonia in the preliminary round at the 2007 World Championship and receiving the ‘Best Player’ award. This award is usually given to a player from the winning team but was awarded to Cathy to acknowledge the brilliant saves she made.

Cathy was first introduced to handball when she was seventeen years old during a school sporting tour, while she was playing touch football at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.  Handball was something she had never seen before and straight away she fell in love with this relatively unknown sport to Australians. What made it even more appealing to her besides the fact that handball is incredibly fast and takes a lot of talent to play, was that handball is an Olympic sport and that it is a Professional sport for women in many European countries. 

Cathy Kent in action 2007 World Championships

Cathy has two older sisters and one younger brother. They do not play handball but they have represented Australia in Ju-Jitsu.   Before getting involved in handball, Cathy also represented Australia in Ju-Jitsu and was involved in other sports - enjoyed a stint in Queensland Rugby, was Captain of u16 Brisbane Basketball, MSN Cricket Captain, Regional Touch Football and Brisbane Futsal.

It was after an Australian Women’s Handball tour of Hungary in 2002 that Cathy was given the opportunity to stay on and play with the u21 Junior Cornexi team in Szekesfehervar.  After only four months, she returned to Australia to play in the Oceania World Championship Qualifying Tournament which Australia won to compete in the 2003 World Championship held in Croatia.  She was then contacted by a Hungarian/Danish lady, Hanna Menzi, and asked if she would like to play in Denmark.   

Cathy played handball in Denmark in 2003-2004 for GOG Gudme.  When she was not training nor playing, she was studying Coaching at the Sports School, Oure, and was Assistant Coach to an u15 junior Danish girls team.

After difficulties with getting a Danish visa for her second year, Cathy contacted a past Australian trainer, Niklas Harris who coached and lived in Sweden.  He organized a trial for Cathy with a Swedish 1^st Division women’s team called H65, Höör.  She lived and played in Sweden for three years [2004 – 2007], part of that time was with two other Australian players, Raelene Boulton and Katia Boyd.  She worked for the club as a cleaner before deciding that was not where she wanted to be in her handball career.

Cathy was given the opportunity to trial with a ‘Professional Team’ in the French League in La Rochelle.  This was where Cathy signed her first fully paid Professional contract. Cathy considers her first year in France [2007-2008] as the best season she had ever had playing in Europe.  She was named the Best Keeper with the most number of saves in the Division 2 French League, saving over 304 balls for the season.

Cathy Kent in action 2007 World Championships

Then in early 2008, Cathy signed up for a team in Paris called Cergy-Pontoise.  Out of a number of clubs which offered her a contract, she accepted Cergy-Pontoise’s offer as she felt it is a great team with lots of potential and has an experienced Romanian/French Coach to train her and the rest of the team. Cathy also enjoys the excitement and the challenges in playing in the team with four Romanian and three Junior French national team player.

Since she was seventeen, Cathy had dreamt of playing professional handball so she is ecstatic that this dream had come true.  She is also grateful that all her hard work and determination got her at the level she is now.  These days, she loves the fact that when she wakes up in the morning, her job is to train and to play handball.  When asked where she sees herself in the next 5 years or so, Cathy said she sees herself still playing handball overseas and hopes to play for Australia in two more World Championships.  She thinks that she may stay overseas and be a goalkeeper trainer for a European team after her handball career.  She also has a desire to come back to Australia and help develop handball further as she dreams that one day Australia would have a really strong handball league.  We are confident that in due time this dream will come true as Cathy’s passion for handball and strong determination are shared by many of the Aussie handballers.  We are also hopeful that Cathy’s stellar handball story would inspire more girls to get involved and excel in the sport.

- Article by Violi Calvert
  AHF Media & Public Relations

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