3 minute read
Pitch Perfect: Duhallow Youth and Public Speaking
By NOLLAIG MURPHY Development Officer, IRD Duhallow
Following on from IRD Duhallow’s recent Public Speaking for National School event, as promised, we are delighted to present our third installment from the excellent speeches we heard at our closing ceremony in October.
Some of our participants chose to speak on the topic of local sports; In this issue, we will hear about GAA Handball by Jake Kelly.
G.A.A. Handball
GAA Handball is a ball and wall game that is fast paced, highly skillful, hugely entertaining, and fully inclusive. It is a sport where players hit a ball with their hand against a wall in such a way as to make a shot the opposition cannot return.
Firstly, for Handball you need a small blue ball or if you are younger and just starting you can use a bigger ball. To play you also need Gloves and Goggles.
There are two different sized Handball Courts, there is a 60 x 30 court and a 40 x 20 court. I play in a 40 x 20 court. You can play Singles or Doubles. Singles is when you play one other person and doubles its two against two. It is important to know the sections of a Handball Court. They are divided into lines and zones. There is a short line, service line, service zone and service boxes.
Once you have all your gear and you know the court you can start the game.
The primary aim of any Handball match is to make the ball hit the front wall and bounce twice before your opponent can return it. When it’s your turn to serve the ball you stand into the service zone, then you hit the handball off the front wall, and it must have enough power to pass the short line coming back. If it doesn’t pass the line, it’s a foul. If you hit the back wall directly from serving or hit the roof from serving it is also a foul. If you get two fouls in a row while serving it is a handout. You are only allowed to bounce the ball once before returning a serve and if bounces more than once it is a score to the opposite player. A game is generally up to 21 Aces, and it is the best of three games.
I really enjoy handball especially playing with my friends from Ballydesmond, I am lucky to have my Dad as my coach and I am delighted to have won two county medals. Ballydesmond handball is a great club to be involved in, with some great athletes to have come from there including Catriona Casey and Tony Healy who have both won All Ireland medals and World Championships.
