The 2013 provincial handball championships will be hosted by Ecole Mallaig School on April 26-27 at St. Paul Regional High School and Glen Avon, and head coach Ian MacGillivray is excited to showcase the unique sport in front of home fans.
“Handball is a different sport. Offense and defense is really quite different in handball compared to other sports,” he said. “The skills you use in handball are quite different than the skills you would use in the sports that these girls have played.”
MacGillivray pointed out that both teams feature some players from St. Paul, which have been a great help to their rosters, and the boys team boasts three players who compete for Team Alberta, Michael Guilbault, Mattieu Vallee and Ryan Jodoin.
“They have learned so much about the game which they have brought back to the rest of the crew, and I have boys that are helping out with the girls team as well and that brings a wealth of knowledge back,” MacGillivray said.
The Mallaig boys team is now entering its third season. After claiming the title of provincial champions in their first season, the boys fell just short of a medal last year.
“We lost a heartbreaker in the semifinals and the same in the bronze match,” MacGillivray said, adding that they will be looking for redemption as hosts this year.
Guilbault, a provincial level player who helps coach the girls team, said that anything less than third place at provincials will be an upset in his eyes.
“I think it would be an upset if we didn’t do any better (than last year) because we’ve got three guys on the Alberta team. I think ending this year without a medal would be an upset,” said Guilbault, who has traveled to Germany, Hungary, Austria and Iceland over the past year with Team Alberta.
“If we try hard and do our best, we can get first this year . . . but that comes with hard work and determination, and at the end of the day it just depends who wants it more.”
On the girls side, it is only the first year that Mallaig has hosted a team, but MacGillivray is confident that the athleticism of the girls on the team will make an impact on the court.
“We’re fast. We have quite a few girls who are good sprinters and in handball that’s always a bonus when you’re trying to run fast breaks. We also have girls with endurance as well because we have quite a few cross-country runners on our team and that helps in the game as well to sustain energy,” MacGillivray said, adding that the girls have shown some great throwing potential.
“We have a few girls who have incredible arms and I think that can be our strength too. We may not know the game well but I think when we get opportunities we throw the ball, and we throw the ball pretty hard.”
The girls team had the opportunity to join a clinic with Team Alberta a few weeks ago, which MacGillivray said was a fantastic learning experience.
“We had that stormy weather and the (Team Alberta) boys team came but the girls team didn’t so they invited us out for a two hour practice, and that was great. They learned tons from it.”
Monique Feland of the girls team said that she and her teammates jumped at the chance to learn from one of the best handball coaches in the country, and will carry over the skills learned from that experience into provincials.
“It was really good, we learned a lot from it. It was fun playing against a team that actually knew what was going on and how to play the game,” Feland said, adding that they managed to defeat the Alberta boys team in a scrimmage and gained a few bragging rights over their male schoolmates. “(Guilbault) was the goalie we were shooting at.”
MacGillivray added that there are not many schools with handball teams in the region, and since zone championships, which are held the weekend before provincials, will be the team’s first real chance at a competitive game, they are looking to organize some exhibition matches in the meantime.
“We’re trying to find some exhibition games, it’s really difficult because there are not a lot of teams in this area,” he said. “We would like to get some games under our belt before we get to zones and then have to go into provincials.”
