Handball

The ball game, vaguely resembling handball, was first described by Homer in his historical Odyssey. In the annals of the beginning of the second century AD, the use of playing with a ball with hands is mentioned to develop the dexterity of soldiers of the Roman Empire.

The date of birth of the sports ball game, registered in the international sports classification under the name “handball”, is considered to be 1898, when the Danish teacher Holger Nielsen introduced the ball game in the open air, on a site approximately equal to a modern football field, into physical education classes at a real school. Each team consisted of 11 players. The games were played with football goals and lasted 90 minutes.

The first official international handball tournament was held in Central Europe in 1924.

The first appearance of handball (11×11 version) at the Olympic Games took place in 1936 in Berlin. Germany, as the host country of the Olympics, using its rights, introduced handball into the exhibition program of the Games.

However, 11×11 handball was a low-dynamic, slow, chaotic game. Therefore, in the 50s of our century, he gradually began to leave the arena, giving way to a high-speed and dynamic game – a version of 7×7 handball, which also hid in cozy and comfortable sports game halls. As a result, the playground (to the size of 40mx20m), the gate (to the size of 3mx2m) and the compositions of the playing teams (up to 7 players) have decreased.

The International Handball Federation – IAGF – was founded in 1946 in Copenhagen by eight founding countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, France and Switzerland.

The 7×7 version of handball first received Olympic registration at the 1972 Munich Games, where a men’s team tournament was held. In 1976, at the Montreal Olympics, women’s handball also made its debut.

On the territory of the former USSR, handball originated in the 20s in Ukraine, in Kharkov, but did not become widespread in the pre-war period. In the post-war years, again in Ukraine, the revival of handball life began. By the mid-50s, handball had gained popularity almost throughout the former Soviet Union.

The first men’s handball team in Belarus was established in Minsk in February 1956 at the Belarusian Institute of Physical Culture. The Belarusian Military District Sports Club also showed interest in handball, providing a training stadium in the village.Stepyanka. Two teams were formed from the participants, who on May 9, 1956 held an 11×11 handball demonstration meeting at the Dinamo Minsk stadium in order to popularize the game. And already in August 1956, the team of Minsk, consisting of military personnel and students, participates in the first USSR 11×11 handball championship, where it takes the 13th (penultimate) place. In the second USSR Championship in 1957, a team consisting only of students competed and took 12th place out of 15 participants. Later, participating in the USSR championships in big handball (11×11), neither the men’s nor the women’s teams of Minsk claimed high places, and the holding of such competitions has stopped since 1961. Big handball gave way to small (7×7) – more dynamic, spectacular.

In October 1956, students from five faculties of the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute created their own handball leadership section. Teams were created at the faculties, and training work began under the guidance of teacher S.G.Avvakumov, who continued to work with the men’s team of the BGOIFK.

In January 1957, the BPI 7×7 handball championship was held with the participation of an invited team from the Institute of Physical Education. In the spring of the same year, a Republican seminar of physical education workers was held, where recommendations were given on conducting competitions, training, judging rules, etc. The city leadership section, created on a voluntary basis, which included students of BPI and IFK I.Kranz, N.Bonda, V.Klishevich, V.Krivousov, V.Vavilov, G.Fedyaev, I.Meleshko, S.Avvakumov, did a lot to popularize their favorite sport, create new teams, and attract young people to handball.

An important event in the development of handball in the republic and in the city of Minsk was the creation in October 1956 of the Republican Governing Section (federation) under the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports under the CM of the BSSR. Teams are being created at the Institute of National Economy, the Belgorod State University, medical and pedagogical institutes, the Institute of Physical Education (women), the Forestry and Agricultural Mechanization Institute, the Auto Technical College, the Horizont factories, automatic lines and MAZ. The need for competitions was brewing. And it happened. In the championship of Since 1957, 20 men’s and 7 women’s teams have participated in 7×7 handball. The games were held on the mud-brick grounds of the Forestry Institute (BTI) and the DSO Spartak hand games stadium, as well as on the bike track in Gorky Park with a large number of spectators.

The period 1957-1958 is characterized by a large number of competitions. Elimination tournaments are held for the prizes of the opening and closing of the season, for the prize dedicated to Constitution Day, the summer and winter city championship in big handball (11×11), as well as the university championship. As a result, new young handball players have appeared who are able to defend the honor of Minsk and Belarus at various national and all-Union competitions.

In 1964, Belarusian handball player A.Nesterchuk was one of the 22 best handball players of the USSR and was awarded the title of Master of Sports for the first time in the republic. Four years later, speaking at the All-Union Student Games in Minsk as part of the Technologist team and winning 3rd place, four more SKIF students fulfilled the standard and became masters of sports of the USSR: N.Bychkova, A.Lukashuk, E.Sachuk, N.Radchikova. Antonina Nesterchuk (Shayuk). In the period from 1957 to 1966, the women’s Minsk, acting under the flag of the student sports society “Burevestnik”, participates in all competitions held by the Republican and All-Union councils of this society: the championship of the Central Council, competitions for the Prize of winter holidays, etc. Participates in the tournament of 8 cities in Kharkov, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of handball in Ukraine, and in the match of 8 cities of the USSR in Leningrad in 1960. The highest achievement of the Minsk team in the USSR championships was the 8th place in 1965. From 1966 to 1974, the Minsk team acted as a “Technologist” – coach I.E.Tenin.

In the USSR championships, the team achieved 4th place (1969 and 1973) and took the honorable 5th place at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. In 1972, the Technologist team delegated N.Kulaga to the national team, which was awarded a bronze medal at the World Championship in Yugoslavia (1973) and, the first in the BSSR, the title of Master of sports of international class.

In the period from 1974 to 1985, the team was called the Economist. In 1985, the main team of the republic was transferred to the Ministry of Executive Committee and stands for the Minsk region. Since 1985, the honor of Minsk has been defended by the RSDYUSHOR team at various championships, and since 1995 by RCOP-Arkatron-PGK

As already mentioned, men’s handball originated within the walls of the Polytechnic Institute and the Institute of Physical Culture with a difference of about one year. Two fairly strong teams are appearing in the city – Polytechnic and Spartak.

In 1962, Minsk residents, having successfully passed the preliminary games, participated in the final games of the first USSR championship in 7×7 handball and took 7th place in the standings. The second team of Minsk, Spartak, presented a good gift to handball fans. Performing in Ivano-Frankivsk at the first USSR championship among the strongest teams, the DSO Spartak team became the champion.

In 1964, Polytechnic dropped out of the USSR championship in the 1st group of class A, and returned in 1966. In 1966, Polytechnic won the prestigious All-Union competitions for the prize of winter holidays and won silver medals at the All-Union Student Games, and also took the 6th step in the USSR championship (1967).

In 1967, the Polytechnic team held the first international meeting in the history of handball with the DAI team from Denmark, and a year later won the Polish Open student championship.

In 1969, the team dropped out of the first group of class “A”, but in 1974 it returned to the highest league of domestic handball, and immediately changed its name. Since 1975, this is the SKA Air Defense team, Spartak Mironovich became the senior coach.

The SKA team (Minsk) achieved the greatest success in the period from 1980 to 1992: it won the USSR Cup three times (1980-82), won the USSR Champion title six times (1981, 1984-86, 1988-89), was awarded silver medals of the USSR Championship four times (1982-1983, 1987-1990), was once the silver medalist of the Championship CIS (1992), won bronze medals once (1991).In 2013. SKA won the European Challenge Cup.

The sports schools of the Ministry of Education were the “forge of personnel” for young handball players for the main teams of the republic. At first it was the RSVSM, then the RSDYUSHOR and now the RCOP – “Arkatron” – PGK, Minsk. Twenty-eight players of the SKA team became champions of the USSR. Four of them – A.Galuza, A.Karshakevich, A.Moseikin and Y.Shevtsov – have been awarded this award 6 times. The five-time champions of the USSR are K.Sharovarov and G.Sviridenko.

The title of world champions in 1982 is held by A.Karshakevich and Y.Shevtsov, the silver medals of the 1990 World Championship were won by A.Tuchkin, M.Yakimovich, A.Korshakevich, K.Sharovarov. The World Cup winners are Y.Shevtsov and A.Korshakevich. He won the European Champions Cup three times (1987, 1989-90), the European Cup Winners’ Cup twice (1983, 1988) and the European Super Cup once (1989). In 1992, the team was a finalist in the EGF Cup.

Eight Belarusian players became Olympic champions: A.Korshakevich, Y.Shevtsov, G.Sviridenko, A.Tuchkin, K.Sharovarov (Seoul, 1988), M.Yakimovich, A.Barbashinsky and A.Minevsky (Barcelona, 1992).

The NGO Minsk City Handball Federation began its full-fledged work in November 2009 after the reporting and election conference, where Oleg Mikhailovich Tabanyukhov, Deputy Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee, was elected chairman. In this short time, the federation opened its own bank account, acquired its own small office and began working with the students of Minsk. In connection with the transfer of Oleg Mikhailovich to Russia, since January 2011, the city Handball Federation has been headed by Deputy Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee – Koltovich Vladimir Vasilyevich. The work of the Minsk City Handball Federation takes place in close contact with the Belarusian Handball Federation, but the tasks of these federations are slightly different.

The work of the Minsk City Federation is aimed at the development of youth handball in Minsk, involving the largest number of students in handball classes, searching and identifying gifted handball players to recruit national teams of Minsk, who successfully perform at the Republican Spartakiads of students, Olympic Youth Days of the Republic of Belarus, Rapid Ball of the Republic of Belarus, as well as athletes of national teams of the city of Minsk.Minsk is a member of the national teams of the Republic of Belarus. To this end, we hold not only urban-scale competitions, but also act as partners of the RCOR in handball in international competitions. During this time, 5 international competitions were held, 12 competitions of the Minsk handball championship, 2 competitions of the Children’s Handball League (2011 and 2012) with the involvement of 35 participating teams. The national team of Minsk (1997), funded by the city Federation, took part in 2 international tournaments in Mogilev, and the girls took part in an international tournament in St. Petersburg.Sports uniforms were purchased for the national teams of Minsk to participate in National competitions.

The next direction in the work of the city federation is the popularization of handball among students and amateur teams. For this purpose, 3 Cups of Minsk were held (2010, 2011..2012) and held : 3 Championships in Minsk (2009, 2010, 2011).12 teams took part in these competitions, of which 8 teams represented higher educational institutions, students of the Moscow State University, students of the Russian State University of Economics – which is a good preparation of teams for student and Republican competitions.

Specialized educational and sports institutions developing handball in Minsk: