
LHF activities and findings
Lithuanian Handball Federation (LHF) has already implemented case study of handball teaching practices in Lithuania. We had a meeting with 15 handball coaches and teachers in Lithuania. Experiences were shared about working with kids: methodologies, exercises, good practices. We had a discussion about tools to encourage young people to participate in physical activities that are appropriate for 13-15 years old kids as well.
During the implementation of case study, we analysed data obtained from handball teachers and coaches. We’ve got data from Lithuanian Department of statistics and we were surprised by some facts that the situation in Lithuania regarding early school leaving (6.5%) looks rather optimistic compared to the European Union (EU) average. The “Europe 2020” strategy aims at reducing the number of early school leavers to 10 % by 2020. The latest statistics show that Lithuania has 6.5% of early school leavers, compared to the EU average of 12.8%.
LHF did a research on handball players and coaches. 250 girls and 408 boys are registered players in Lithuania in the 13-15 age group. Approximately 60 girls and 85 boys are non-registered players. Lithuania has 3 official competitions in handball for players between the age of 13-15 years old:
• Under 13 (U13) championship: 11 boys teams and 8 girls teams;
• Under 14 (U14) championship: 12 boys teams and 8 girls teams;
• Under 15 (U15) championship: 10 boys teams and 10 girls teams;
Since handball has a deep roots in Lithuania therefore even 107 coaches was identified across the country.
On 11th-13th September two teams from Lithuania will participate in projet’s international tournament in Valmiera, Latvia.