Last night marked a momentous occasion in the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) journey to completing the Gold Challenge. It was the first BOA Gold Challenge ‘all team member’ event of Handball, which took place at the Little Venice Sports Centre.
Essentially, the BOA has split into teams for the Gold Challenge and each team has to try 10 sports, a mix of Olympic and Paralympic and we have one year to complete it. 5 ‘all team member’ sports have been chosen by the BOA and these will be used as team building events – it’s already getting very competitive! Those sports are Archery; Handball; Wheelchair Basketball; Rowing and Table Tennis. In addition, each team has chosen an additional 5 sports to complete. This means that all team members will have completed the 10 sport Gold Challenge by the time we finish.
As a reminder, Gold Challenge is a great way for individuals, businesses, friends and neighbours, to experience the excitement of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, by taking part in a series of new and exciting sports from the world of the Olympics and Paralympics. If you want to get involved, please visit www.goldchallenge.org
The big win is that whilst taking part in the Gold Challenge, everyone raises money for charity and at the BOA, we are hoping to raise in excess of £7,000. Our teams are proud to support the following charities:
• Kidscape • Canine Partners • Bliss • Action For Children • Right To Play • Build Africa • Make A Wish Foundation
Last night, our Gold Challenge teams undertook a gruelling 3 hour session with England Handball Coaches. The session took shape as follows:
• Overview of the game and Q+A • Warm-up • ‘Handball in 5 minutes’ learning the core skills and practising the rules of the game • Small sided drills • Small sided games • Mini-tournament
It was a really fantastic evening that promoted the competitive spirit within the teams. Congratulations to all those that took part.
Everyone had great fun and all in aid of some very worthy causes and with that in mind, the BOA would like to extend their thanks to the Gold Challenge organisers, the Little Venice Sports Centre and to our England Handball Coaches, Scott and Chris, who did a sterling job of keeping us all under control.
Looking forward to updating you after our next ‘all team member’ event in July – Rowing at London 2012 venue Eton Dorney!