Members of Cape Stars Handball Club are off to Harare for a regional tournament starting Friday 24 June featuring teams from South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and the host Zimbabwe.
The community-based club in Delft with members from different areas including Kuils River was started by Phillip Sihwanya in 2014.
Sihwanya, a national handball player for Zimbabwe, says he came to SA in 2012.
“I was playing for Cape Peninsula University of Technology and always asked why can’t we not develop handball. First being told its “impossible”, it eventually became a reality after he moved from Ottery to Delft.
As he gained so much through handball – a sport that he says more and more people are falling in love with, he felt a need to give back – “to the young people”.
Sihwanya who is also in charge of handball at the German International School (Deutsche Schule Kapstadt) says in Delft he tried to get more people involved with handball. After a year there he met Kuda Chizema, a fellow Zimbabwean and official from the Western Province Handball Association. Chizema is currently chair of Cape Stars.
Sihwanya says the club was started with the aim to use sport as a tool to reduce socials ills, such as teenage pregnancy, gangsterism, theft and drug abuse in the community.
Handball is an Olympic sport and one of the fastest growing sports in the world, says Sihwanya.
“We took advantage of the fast growth of handball and focused our energy on the schools around Delft. We managed to create primary and high school leagues in Delft in 2015.”
Children who were interested in taking the sport further were invited to join Cape Stars which ensured continuity and growth at the club.
The club is one of the biggest handball clubs with around 320 juniors – from under 10 to age 15, he says.
The club has become a home for many where cultural barriers are broken down and where children learn much more than just handball.
“Young people are given a chance to develop self- confidence and dreams for their future, including becoming successful in life regardless of circumstances at home,” says Sihwanya.
“Our development programme grew in stature and in numbers. Through our programmes we have managed to monitor and support our players’ growth and development educationally and socially.”
In 2018 a partnership was formed with Soneike High School in Kuils River.
“Through the partnership we have managed to get players from the school to the club. We have produced provincial and national players from the school and community.”
Sihwanya says Soneike’s principal Ronel Baker has an open-door policy that has helped their growth as a club. There are currently around fifteen members from the Kuils River area, he says.
The club also hosts several volunteers each year from different countries to help with coaching and as players. “Our players have benefited a lot from the volunteers and the volunteers in turn have learned from them,” Sihwanya says.
Although there were no matches and tournaments during the pandemic they have tried to keep the interest going.
Currently the clubs’ boys team is ranked second provincially, and the girls are at the top spot. The girls will participate in the Nationals in August, says Sihwanya.
Two coaches, 14 boys and 14 girls, are heading to Harare for the regional tournament.
Sihwanya says the club is fortunate to get valuable support from two clubs in Germany (where handball is a popular sport).
“Our tour kits were sponsored by Events Evolution and Zakumi Consulting Engineers, while Mauya Bed and Breakfast and Bright Stretch Tens hosted our fundraising events.”
Ward 19 councillor Ebrahim Sawant, who recently attended a fundraising dinner for the team in Mabille Park, says he “was absolutely amazed at what the coach and club has achieved. The players are leaders in their own right whose achievements make them the ideal role models for our youth. I wished them well with the tournament and challenged the coach to come back and establish similar clubs in Ward 19.”
Contact capestarshandballclub@gmail.com or 081 717 1236 for more information.
