Olympia aces prove to be a handy side
Olympia Cannock Handball Club have cemented their place as one of the nation’s top sides for up-and-coming stars.
The club’s under-18s girls, based at Griffin Catholic High School in Cannock, boast the proud record of going the whole of their league campaign unbeaten, downing established sides from across the country on their way to success.
Furthermore, they also sealed nationwide success with a superb under-18s girls’ cup triumph, securing that honour with a memorable 27-25 victory against Warrington Wolves at the Copper Box Arena in London, a venue used in the London Olympic Games.
The side, coached by Maria Moore, then faced one final hurdle when they took on an England Handball Association (EHA) select team – consisting of the best players of that age group from across the country.
But the Cannock aces maintained their unbeaten run with a stunning 40-29 success at the Copper Box Arena.
Athalia Ibanga and Olivia Gonsalves were joint top scorers for Cannock with 12 goals apiece while Gonsalves was named 'Most Valuable Player'.
The girls’ north title success saw them sweep aside Peninsula (The Wirral), Warrington Wolves, NEM Hawks (north east Manchester), Nottingham and Manchester.
Remarkably, as the club continue to punch well above their weight and regularly beat sides from more established handball hotbeds, the Olympia squad all hail from extremely close to home.
Chair of handball at Cardinal Griffin Nenad Popovic explained: “We’ve got what we’ve got. There were seven friends interested in the sport since Year 8 and have stuck together since.
“They’ve progressed and our now a very, very good technical team.
“We have another six girls that are two years below and have been playing. We hope to carry on the success. The girls have one more year together and then will go off to uni but we’ll try and bring the next lot through.
“I don’t think we’ll see this success again though, for all of the girls in a winning club to be from the same school – they all come from within three miles.
“I’d like to thank the sponsors Cameron Homes for putting a lot of money in our three-year development of handball. The sport does not get much money. They helped us get off the ground.”
The season caps a fine year of improvement for the club, whose players are all Year 12 (sixth form) students at Cardinal Griffin.
Last year they finished second in their north division and lost out at the semi-final stage of the under-18 cup.
As well as eye-catching team success, Olympia Cannock’s stand-out stars were hailed for their individual displays.
Gonzalves landed both the player of the match award at the Copper Box against Warrington and the player of the season gong – voted for by players from each club up and down the country.
She follows on from last year’s divisional winner Athalia Imbanga, also of Olympia.
“The girls have got slowly better and better,” added Popovic.
“They’ve become hardened to the league and the best thing is they still have another season to play before they leave for university.”
