AKITA Handball Hong Kong

6-2

2012-02-07T11:59:00.001+08:00

Everything has an end.

After 6 games mastered in a row, with large victory every time, this Sunday 5^th we were meeting the team number one of the A2 division. Needless to say that we were all aware of the importance of this game and fully motivated to show our determination!

The 1 minute warm up allowed by the referees over, we were starting in defense. We directly showed that we will be strong and present in the physical challenge. We then tried to play in attack with a winger who would run in quite often, on center’s command. Unfortunately, we have to say that we probably didn’t try enough this combination during the game and can’t judge its efficiency.

The first 15 minutes were absolutely tight, each team replying to the other in defense as well as in attack. We then succeeded to get a 2 goals leading, that we lost 3 minutes later. Wan decided to take a time-out, to let the back line rest and don’t lose our focus. We finally reached the half time on an advantage of 1 goal for Akita 11-12.

We have to notice now that the HKU defense was quite strong, even if not always clean. And despite some strange refereeing decisions, the game was well balanced with a good first half for each team.

We then started the second half in attack, trying to keep this 1 goal lead and increase it. But as every time, we always have a lapse of time with a lack of focus, that this time was fateful. After 13 minutes, HKU scored a 4-1 to lead by 2 goals, 2 goals that we will never reach back.

The last 5 minutes were quite a mess, with a lot of waste in both teams, in shoots and passes mainly. Unfortunately, they were leading and after few bad decisions and too quick attacks from us, we lost the 2^nd game this season on a tight score of 19-18.

But, even if the lost is quite difficult to accept, it’s clear that Akita has the capability to win them easily. We just need to work more on our combinations and learn when to calm down in attack to avoid any waste and wrong decisions.

Also, even if we had 3 substitution players, we didn’t have player to let the back line rest, which is an important point.

Finally, highlights of the game for 3 players. Guillermo and Gaspard, who scored half of the goals in the first half, and Fabien, whose defense save us few times and almost brought us the draw, if the referees whistled a foul correctly in the last minute.

Anyway, nothing is over, we have a last game against the 3^rd position team on Sunday 19^th, that we will definitely nail. Then, play-off will come and that would be the time to show our power.

Until then, we have training every Wednesday night at the Wan Chai Park (10.00 to 11.00pm on 8^th and 8.00 to 9.00pm on 15^th) and hope to see all of you there!

Scores table

2012-02-03T09:53:00.021+08:00

TEAM	AKITA	HKIED	KU CHIU MAN	DEMI	SHUN LEE CATHOLIC	IED	SIN FOU	PHOENIX	HKU	BRAVE
AKITA	-	18-17	10-19	9-16	23-29	11-26	21-27	18-27	19-18	-
HKIED	17-18	-	14-18	16-27	-	21-21	-	-	28-13	16-18
KU CHIU MAN	19-10	18-14	-	17-20	-	-	18-21	21-21	22-14	14-13
DEMI	16-9	27-16	20-17	-	-	-	-	19-20	31-18	20-15
SHUN LEE CATHOLIC	29-23	-	-	-	-	26-19	25-24	18-32	23-16	17-14
IED	26-11	21-21	-	-	19-26	-	29-14	19-16	-	27-18
SIN FOU	27-21	-	21-18	-	21-25	14-29	-	23-30	21-24	24-21
PHOENIX	27-18	-	21-21	20-19	32-18	16-19	30-23	-	25-12	15-13
HKU	18-19	13-28	14-22	18-31	16-23	-	24-21	12-25	-	11-20
BRAVE	-	18-16	13-14	15-20	14-17	18-27	21-24	13-15	20-11	-

TEAM	MATCH PLAYED	WIN	DRAW	LOST	POINTS	GOALS	DIFFERENCE
HKU	8	7	0	1	21	189:126	63
AKITA	8	6	0	2	18	179:129	50
BRAVE	8	6	0	2	18	144:132	12
HKIED	6	4	1	1	13	115:112	3
SIN FOU	7	4	0	3	12	168:154	14
KU CHIU MAN	7	2	1	4	7	113:129	-16
IED	6	1	1	4	4	106:141	-35
PHOENIX	8	1	1	6	4	143:186	-43
SHUN LI CATHOLIC	6	1	0	5	3	125:138	-13
DEMI	6	1	0	5	3	95:133	-38

February trainings

2012-01-20T11:08:00.005+08:00

Akitans,

We have 3 new dates of training in February at Wan Chai Park:
- Wednesday 8th February: 10-11pm
- Wednesday 15th February: 8-9pm
- Wednesday 22nd February: 10-11pm

You can find the map of the pitch through this link.

See you there guys!

...and 2012 starts with another win!

2012-01-09T13:46:00.003+08:00

This Sunday 8^th was our first 2012 game, and it was the occasion to show that despite Christmas and New Year, we were still in shape and ready for the first league challenge.

With 14 players, the comeback of Florian and one homeless German keeper, we could expect a good game.

After the usual warm up in the corridor, few peoples scared by our extreme ball skill and the difficult choice of our jersey’s number, we stepped on the pitch to have a quick but quite proper keeper training, thanks to Santa Claus who brought us some brand new balls!

Starting in defense, we saw a lack of focus in the first 5 minutes, letting the opponents lead 3-1 and missing our first shots. Hopefully, it didn’t last long and we show, with authority, that our defense is still strong and we inflicted them a 6-0 to lead 7-3 after 10 minutes.

The last 15 minutes were a real lesson of defense, everybody was focus, talking and helping each other and the other team only could score 3 more goals before the half time, that we reached leading 14-6.

The second half, we started in a new attack configuration, with 2 line player. Our lack of experience in this was quite clear, even if showing some interesting combination. We need to work on it during the training to improve!

Also, the second half saw us losing our focus in defense, by being not aggressive enough and letting them shoot easily at 9 meters. Hopefully, our attack was still working well, and we never lost the lead of the game, reaching the full time on the final score of 27-18.

We need to note that it’s actually the first game we played without getting any 2 minutes penalty! And also, Joakim, sorry to tell you so, but it seems your technique to steal the ball at 9 meters when the opponents drop it is clearly not going to work with those referees.

We have to highlight also the good game of Stefan, who scored the important goals and lead us through the game, our good 5-1 defense with Fabien or Yannick as the “1” which show every time its strength, and, last but not least, Tyler, our lost American who scored his first handball goal on the right wing. Tyler, good job, keeps going!

So far, we don’t have any other game scheduled; it would probably be after the Chinese New Year.

But we have a training on Tuesday 17^th at Wan Chai Park, from 9.30pm to 11.00pm, and we may have a run on Tuesday 10^th at the inside loop of Happy Valley.

We hope to see you all there!

Best wishes!!

2012-01-04T15:37:00.005+08:00

The editorial staff of the blog wish all of you and your families a wonderful and magnificent year 2012!

Akita is now looking forward to the end of the first round of games, and start playing to go back to first division.

We also have to notice that even if we are grown men and have two Swedish in the team, Santa Claus brought us some nice gears, and we can almost look like a real team now!

Joking aside, again, best wishes for 2012, and see you on the pitch really soon!

January Training

2012-01-04T15:30:00.005+08:00

We are still waiting for the Handball association to give us a pitch for training.

Anyway, we will have a training at Hu Fa Kuang Sports Centre at City University on Tuesday 17th, from 8.30pm to 10.30pm.

Check out this link to get there.

See you all there!

2011 is over with a last win...

2011-12-20T10:00:00.007+08:00

And we’re done with 2011 games!

This Sunday 18th, Akita was playing his 6th and last game of 2011 at Shek Kip Mei. After meeting in the MTR, we decided to trust Wan’s shortcut one more time (despite our first bad experience at the same place few months ago) and found the sports centre without any problem!

We get changed and waited for our last players, Fabien coming from Thailand to play for Akita (to prove that we are a renown international team) and Blaise who probably would like to attract attention on him for his last game by arriving late (but he’s also French, so his late attitude has an excuse). We then started warming up, and had to note that Joakim, who usually run with us, was warming up on the other side of the pitch, right in front of his family. We let you find the conclusion of this.

And unlike all our previous games, we had almost 5 minutes to shoot and warm up our goalies!

We started the game in defense, definitely fully motivated to nail this game, and show our incredible power. Due to a very offensive defense from our opponents, we created some very nice combinations and nice moves which made us lead 7-3 after the first 10 minutes. But then, the Akita’s usual strong defense started to had some relaxing time, leaving more space and freedom to the opponent’s attack, and without a good Felix and their lack of success in shoots, they could have came back. At the same time, our attack had the same kind of problem, missing some easy shoots and penalties. The half time was welcome on the score of 13-10, to let us take a deep breath, and concentrate again on the second half.

Unfortunately, the second half was kind of similar as the end of the first one. A defense not really focus and the quickness of our opponents helped the score to grow quickly on both side. They then tried a 1-on-1 defense, expecting that it would break our combinations but at the opposite, and thanks to our fast players, we used this lap of time to increase our advance. They understood after 5 minutes that it was not a good operation and came back to a more normal defense. But with a 6 goals difference 10 minutes before end of the game, they were probably not expecting much. We finally reached the end of the game on a flattering score of 27-21, which doesn’t really show that our defense had really a tough time against such quick players. Some good points though, we saw some very inventive and nice combinations with the line players, our 5-1 defense still interesting with Fabien playing the “1”.

Our main problem will be now, as the last season, the lack of 9 meters players. As Blaise is leaving us by January, our contingent of back players stills not enough and we are really looking for some new players.

Talking about new player, we would like to welcome Arnaud, French guy, who will join us as line player (another one!!). Hope you’ll have a great time with us (and don’t mind Joakim, he’s barking but he’s a nice guy).

The next game would be held on January 8th, against Phoenix, 7.10pm at Choi Hung.

We don’t know yet if we’ll keep having a pitch to train in 2012, but keep tuned, and we’ll updated as soon as we know!

And 4 in a row!

2011-12-13T15:53:00.001+08:00

This Sunday 11^th of December, Akita’s team was attending its 5^th game at Choi Hung.

Blaise and Jens B. were still drunk of our Friday night gathering, and didn’t really remember how they get to the pitch from the club! After teasing them on their lack of alcohol resistance, we started to warm up under the sunlight (good point of playing in the early afternoon).

We then dressed up with our wonderful blue jerseys and start training the keeper for the usual 37 seconds before to start the game.

Despite the oversight of our war scream, we were fully motivated and started the game on a very nice attacked. Unfortunately, after the first shoot and goal of Stefan, one of the opponents broke his middle finger. After a few minutes to take care of him, the game started again.

Akita’s showed a very strong defense, which brings the opponents to the attack limit time on few different attacks. After 10 minutes in the first half, we were leading 7-2.

We reached the half time on a large score of 14-4 for Akita. Our attack, which is usually our weak part, was seductive and efficient, realizing some very nice combinations, especially with our wing guys who scored 50% of the goals in the first half.

After the official 5 minutes break, we were back on the pitch, ready to nail this game. Probably a bit too confident due to our 10 goals advance, our defense calmed down and let them score few goals in a short lap of time. But as usual, it was only our 10 minutes relaxing (every game has it, it’s like a tradition now) and after 15 minutes in the second half, we were leading 21-10. The last 10 minutes were just a formality for us, to finally end on the large score of 26-11.

We have to notice that the opponents did not have any substitution player, and that would have probably helped us to get such a big goals difference. But we can also notice that our regular trainings start showing results, with a very strong defense, nice coordination between the player and our attack, becoming more and more efficient game after game, with less and less waste in the shoots.

We then shared a victory beer (I mean, each person had a beer, of course), while two German were taking a shower (no one know what happened).

Some special awards and highlights: Yannick, thanks for coming during your work time to play the first half.

Wan and Felix, our amazing keepers, who show every game that they may be some of the best goal keepers in Hong Kong.

And last but not least, Tyler, the lost American, who played the second half as right wing, and for who it was his first handball experience, and a very positive one!

We now date you this Tuesday, for our last training session before Christmas, and Sunday 18^th, for our last game in 2011, at Shek Kip Mei at 19.00 ish!

See you all there!

It comes to 3!

2011-11-28T11:53:00.002+08:00

On this Sunday 27^th, Akita was attending its 4^th handball game of the season at Choi Hung.

Despite some late people who almost made Joakim worry, we finally get 13 players, with a great repartition between 9 meters, line, wings and goalies players.

After a good warm up and a nice (failed) try of the French crowd to make a passing exercise with 2 balls, it was time to complain about the too long second half of the previous game.

Once that game finally finished, we made some position shooting during the 12 seconds allowed by the referee before starting our game.

Then, time to start, with the opponents to kick off first. And, amazingly, on their first attack, after a fault whistled and a ball threw away by the player, first 2 minutes penalty for our opponents (which made Mathieu totally jealous of this new “earliest 2 minutes record” in a game). Unfortunately, we didn’t take advantage of this superiority, as after 7 minutes the score was a draw 2-2.

We could have thought the game would be really defensive, but then the two teams decided to don’t miss too much shoot, to finally reach the half time on the score of 12-11 for Akita. We have to note that we were leading by 3 points 1 minute before the half time, but due to some precipitation and wrong choice in attack, we let them come back too close.

The second half started with the opponents to come back at our level, 12-12 after 1 minute. Hopefully, it was the time for us to wake up, and install a strong defense as well as our attack, to finally score 4 goals in a row. And even if their attack was really fast and well organized, they barely can’t find a good angle to shoot and had to count on some lucky goals. And from the 11^th minute of the second half, we didn’t let them come back and always kept 4 security goals between us. And even they tried to defend in one-on-one, we finally reach the end of the full time on a nice and large score of 29-23 for Akita.

I think we can clearly say that it was one of our best games, against a strong and quick team. We proposed a strong defense (and the 5-1 was a complete success), a good attack and a powerful team spirit. We now need to train on our attack to miss even less shoots, and also learn how to calm down the situation, and take the time to prepare our attack. But that’s only to be picky.

So again, congratulations to all the Akitans, we have now our 3^rd victory, and we can easily get to 5 before the Christmas break.

See you all at the training and for the next game on December 11^th!

1+1=2

2011-11-07T09:07:00.004+08:00

2nd win for the Akita team, on this Sunday 6th of November.

We were motivated, for our 3rd game of the season, ready to show that our last victory was not a luck, but a real progression in our playing skill!
With 14 people registered on the game sheet, we even had to refuse some players, handball's rules are merciless.

We then started the game at 20.35, against an experienced DEMI team, composed of former HK national team players.
Stefan, scored the first goal during the first minute, directly follow by 2 goals from DEMI. After 16 minutes, the score was only 4-4 with 2 goals of Fabien and 1 from Joakim, proof of a very defensive game, and tough on the player. But with 3 goals in a row of Stefan, Mathieu and Jens A., Akita finally reached the half time leading by 3 goals (4-7).

Starting the 2nd half with the same players that finished the first half, Akita waited the 4th minute to score again by Stefan, who commited again 2 minutes later.After 15 minutes in the 2nd half, the score was 10-7 for Akita, but we felt that DEMI started to be tired, and could not follow our evil rhythm until the end.
Blaise, Gaspard, Jens B., Fabien and Rolf helped to establish our domination, and we finally heard the time's up whistle on a nice score of 9-16 for us. Game after game, we feel that we start to have some good combinations, and very good team spirit.

Some points to note though: quite a lot of waste on the shoots, due to too much haste in attack. Also, some players has to calm down on the pitch, and don't complain to the referees (refereeing which we'll not talk about) !

Anyway, congratulations again to all the players, keep going this way and join the training, and we'll reach the peak of popularity !!

Special thanks also to our supporters, every time more involved!

Check out the training section, we have a regular and official pitch in Mei Foo from now on till December!

November training - UPDATE

2011-10-31T12:22:00.005+08:00

Stefan, our organization master finally found out some pitches where to play and enjoy sweating!

Both pitches are near Kwai Hing MTR station. We will usually meet there and go to the pitch all together.

Schedule of the coming training:
- Tuesday, November 1st: 22.00 - 23.00
- Saturday, November 19th: 16.00 - 18.00
- Saturday, November 26th: 13.00-15.00
- Tuesday, November 29th: 22.00 - 23.00

The time schedule is not as perfect as before, but make your best to join!

UPDATE: From now on, and till December, we will train at the Lai Chi Kok Sports Centre (Mei Foo MTR station), every tuesday night, from 9.00 to 11.00. The above training in Kwai Hing still on.

See you there!

First win for Akita!

2011-10-06T12:05:00.002+08:00

Wednesday 5th, after a great public holiday, Akita was facing the Ku Chiu Man team to hope earn its first point of the season.

Warm up, keeper training war scream, and here we were, ready to start!

After 4 minutes, time needed to wake up and remember the game had started already, Gaspard scored our first goal, to launch the Akita's machine.

8 minutes in the first half, and we finally lead the game 3-2, leading that we won't loose anymore for the all game. Some nice combinations, a very good defence brought us to the half time on the score of 11-4.

The second half started with the same intensity in defence. Even if the opponents scored 3 times in a row around 11 minutes; even the wild scream of the wing player while shooting; even some gentle discussions between line players didn't diturb us from our 3-points quest and we kept going on our good game to finally win 19-10.

There is not much to say, the team played very well, and except some minor mistakes, we have seen some very good things for the future!

Also, it's important to note the performance of our two keepers, Felix and Eugene, who were an important part of the victory with over 15 stops! Thank you!

Two important facts too. Everybody scored at least once during the game which prove we have a good team work. And except two yellow cards, nobody got 2 minutes (and believe me, that's amazing!!)

We are looking forward to our next game on October 30th, because now we tasted the victory, we won't be statisfied until we go back to the 1st league!

Photos of the game!

Stay tuned!

October training

2011-10-03T14:28:00.001+08:00

October and its cold time is coming, but training won't start for so less!

The Handball Association can't provide us a pitch anymore, so we are actively looking for any pitch or nets that we can throw the ball into.

If you happen to know a place like this, you are welcome to let Stefan or Wan know (contact us section)!

2011 game schedule

2011-10-03T14:25:00.025+08:00

Dear Akitans, We have now the first schedule for the game in 2011. Of course, and needless to say, each game will be a total and complete win for the Akita team! Also, please arrive at the picth one hour before the kick off!

Date	Time	Team	Location	Result

Oct 5	19:55	Ku Chiu Man	Choi Hung Road Handball Court	18-17
Oct 30	19:45	IED	Shek Kip Mei Park Sports Centre	10-19
Nov 06	20:35	DEMI	Choi Hung Road Handball Court	09-16
Nov 27	19:15	Shun Lee Catholic	Choi Hung Road Handball Court	23-29
Dec 11	13:50	IED	Choi Hung Road Handball Court	11-26
Dec 18	19:00	先科	Shek Kip Mei Park Sports Centre	21-27
Jan 08	19:10	Phoenix	Choi Hung Road Handball Court	18-27
Feb 05	19:15	HKU	Choi Hung Road Handball Court	19-18
Feb 19	18:25	Brave	Choi Hung Road Handball Court

Games may be cancelled or postponed due to the weather, and update will be send to your email address, so keep looking your email box on game's day!

We'll keep update this post as soon as we know more!

2011-10-03T14:25:00.000+08:00

- Wednesday 05/10/2011, Choi Hung Road Handball Court, starts 19:55: Akita vs Ku Chiu Man.

- Sunday 30/10/2011, Choi Hung Road Handball Court, starts 19:45: vs Akita

Games may be cancelled or postponed due to the weather, and update will be send to your email address, so keep looking on game's day!

We'll keep update this post as soon as we know more!

September training

2011-09-20T12:25:00.001+08:00

During September, the Handball Association provide us for training, the Lai Chi Kok Sports Centre pitch (Mei Foo MTR station).

We usually start around 20:00.

Everybody is welcome to join!

Next match on Sunday 25th against DEMI

2011-09-20T12:12:00.000+08:00

The next game will take place on September Sunday 25th, at the Choi Hung Pitch, at 20:35.

As we usually start playing right after the other game, thanks to come at least 30 minutes before to warm up!

See you all there!

First game of the 2011/2012 season!

2011-09-20T11:40:00.000+08:00

Saturday 17th was the first game for the Akita team, at Choi Hung pitch.

Once passed the great surprise that 13 players went to play (and six 9 meters players!!!), we started warming up and discussing about what jersey color we could wear.

Finally, after choosing the white color, it was time to start playing and get back to our handball sensations. We have to note also, that in the second league, we play 2 half time of 25 minutes!

Our opponent of the day were the HKIED team (Hong Kong Institute of Education), and we can clearly say that they give us some hard time during the first half. After 10 minutes, they were leading 8-2, and Akita finally decided that it was a good time to start playing, to reach the half time with only 2 goals less than HKIED.

The second half was more defensive, and each team was replying to the other one. Akita, after 15 minutes in the second half, lead by 1 goal, for the first time of the game. Unfortunately, the last 10 minutes were a bit messy, and we saw some 2 minutes and penalty gently offer to each team.
The game ended by a victory of HKIED, 18-17.

But we can't complain about others, we are the first responsible. Too much waste in the shoot and the pass, some bad decision, but nothing hard to change. We saw also some nice actions, and good ideas, so we can expect a big improvement for the coming games, thanks to our training!

We'd like also to thanks and welcome the new player that joined, and we hope you'll stay as long as possible with us!

See you all for the next game!

A new beginning!

2011-09-12T11:08:00.001+08:00

Dear Akitans and all readers from around the world,

After a quiet and long period with no regular updates, Akita blog will come back to life and ensure you all, fresh information about us as often as possible.

The matches schedule is not finalize yet, but should be ready within this week.

Concerning the trainings, we finally get a pitch in Mei Foo, every Wednesday of September, from 20h00. To find the location information, it's here.

Also, everyone who wants to play with us should register to the Handball Hong Kong Association (contact us to get the registration form). Of course, even if you didn't receive your licence yet, you can still come train, and play the games (just bring your passport/ID).

We hope to see you all soon.

New Season and New Challenge

2011-08-24T18:22:00.001+08:00

Dear All,

Although the website has not been updated for a while, the team on the other hand is very active.

For this 2011/2012 season, AKITA will take again the promotion challenge from second to first division. The club is fully open to new members and you should use the contact us function to email us.

2nd Phase of league 1 starting

2011-03-26T21:06:00.000+08:00

After registering its first point with a draw, AKITA managed to conclude the first phase with a win and will need to keep the wins going to go back up the ranking.

Because only direct matches are carried forward, AKITA will not carry the draw but rather just the three points of a win. You can get the full table by clicking below:

League Table

The schedule is as follow:
10/4 19:20 Westen Park (indoor)
1/5 18:50 San Wo Lane Playground
15/5 20:15 San Wo Lane Playground
22/5 17:35 San Wo Lane Playground

We hope to see most of you there for playing or for encouragements.

Training Match with Chinese University Team

2011-03-04T17:54:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Although we don't have a regular training time at the moment because of lack of court availability (if you know one just let us know!), we have had the chance to be offered the chance to play with the Chinese University Team:
When? On Wednesday March 9, with warming up from 7pm

Where? In the Sports Centre of the Chinese University

If you are trying to join us but could not because of the lack of training time, this will be the perfect chance.

Update on AKITA HC - 2010 - 2011

2011-01-29T05:45:00.000+08:00

Dear all,

Although the club adaptation to league 1 is still going on, the good news is that we receive regularly enquiries from new players and we are welcoming them!

Training is usually on Thursdays at 9PM with the HK national teams but we currently have availability issue so please send us an email to be added to the distribution list to confirm training times. For new players, the best is to come to one of those to introduce yourself.

We are also organising training match like the one we did on January 26, 2011 with the HK City University so once on the distribution list you will know about all of those.

Last but not least, we have received a couple of request from female players, although we do not have a women's team, we would love to help setting one so if you are a female player or know some contact us and we will try to put people in contact.

all the best for 2011!

Season Calendar

2010-11-01T16:06:00.000+08:00

Dear All,

Here are the results so far this season. Next fixtures will be there once available

Date	Time	Team	Location	Result

Nov 7	2:00PM	MAGIC	Choi Hung	23:30
Nov 14	6:20PM	何郭佩珍 (Ho Kwok Pui Chun)	Western Park Complex	20:23
Nov 28	7:05PM	NEWPOWER	Shek Kip Mei	18:19
Dec 5	8:35PM	Brave	Choi Hung	19:23
Dec 12	8:20PM	MAY'S	Western Park Complex	16:24
Jan 9	8:15PM		Choi Hung	21:34
Jan 16	7:00PM		Choi Hung	21:21
Feb 13	7:45PM	Team20	Western Park Complex	24:17
March 13	6:30PM		Western Park Complex	24:26

AKITA restarts training with plenty of new joiners

2010-09-16T12:24:00.000+08:00

On Wednesday 15th September, City University of Hong Kong invited AKITA to a training match. No less than 10 new players joined this first season as well as 6 players registered last year. Even better, 2 of them were goalkeepers! Welcome to Alexis, Eugene, Gaspard, Jens, Fabien, Julien, Leon, Per, Pierrick and Kevin.

In order to get some effective coaching and training, the teams decided to play 3 times 20 minutes and AKITA tried to mix old and new players to help the integration of everyone. City University used well the AKITA hesitations to win the first period (7-5) as players were a little rusty in attack and few expected misunderstanding in defense occurred.

For the second period, AKITA was looking much more like a team and ended up with a draw 9 - 9. Despite conceding more goals, it did look better in defense except on fast breaks and on attack, we could already see a certain depth in options provided by the number of players.

In the last period, there were some well crafter attacking phases and the much improved defense combined with the tiredness of City University resulted in many succesful defense including few fastbreaks. AKITA won this last period 12 - 6.

Thanks to everyone for joining this scrimmage and thanks to City Uiniversity for their welcome. We hope to organise a training next weeks and are looking for a pitch.

AKITA 2010 Beach Handball Tournament

2010-09-01T14:50:00.000+08:00

After a very long break, AKITA is finally back on the courts this coming Sunday (Sept 5th) but that would be without shoes and on the Lido Beach!

The 9th annual Hong Kong beach Handball tournament is sponsored by our namesake sponsor AKITA and that would be one more reason for us to have fun and try to make the show. AKITA's first match will be at 930am, the second at 1100am and the third around 1230pm. In the afternoon, there will be matches based on the rankings of the morning matches.

The location is Lido beach in Ting Kau (LIDO BEACH 11 1/2 MILESTONE, CASTLE PEAK ROAD, TING KAU, TSU, 男子公開組). You can get there using Bus 53, 234B and 234S or more simply by taking a cab. In that case you can take the MTR first to Tsuen Wan, Tsuen Wan west or potentially Tsing Yi depending on which line is most direct for you.

That is a perfect occacion to bring the whole family to see entertaining fast paced Handball.

You can find a link here to a set of rules:
http://activities.eurohandball.com/hb4all/content/3BeachHB/IHFBeachHandballRulesoftheGame.pdf
A quick summary is nevertheless easier so here are important diffences:
1. You can dribble the ball but you can also roll it on the floor and pick it up after
2. Creative goals count double! (Kempa for example but careful, attempt to ridicule the opponent do NOT get double points)
3. Goalkeeper goal counts double too!
4. Finally penalties also count double to prevent too many fouls so another thing to pay attention too
5. changes can happen in most places of the pitch but on one side only
6. Goalkeepers can get out anywhere but only get in in the goalkeeping area
7. To win a match, you need to win both halves or win one half and the final shoot out!

That seems all for the moment and let's go and eat some sand!!

AKITA in first division, MAGIC in first place

2010-07-21T16:59:00.000+08:00

It was the final match of the season and AKITA was facing MAGIC knowing that a draw would have given them the title. It was a tight and nervous game all along with no team able to make a difference. By half time nothing was done as both teams were still on par at 9 - 9 with some scrappy moments reflecting the tension.

In the second half, MAGIC moved slighty ahead and AKITA was chasing after feeling the pressure. AKITA pushed hard but as the final whistle go blown, AKITA was still one behind and let the title slip away by this lone goal.

That was disappointing but with 2 promotions in 2 years, the AKITA team did achieve something very special and will hopefully use that to establish themselves quickly as a pillar of the first Division.

AKITA submerges HYDRO in the second half 21 - 16 (11 - 11) to set-up a MAGIC final

2010-04-23T14:01:00.000+08:00

This was potentially the biggest match in the still recent history of the AKITA Handball Club. For both club, anything else than a win would potentially terminate their hopes of promotion to league 1. In their previous encounter, AKITA suffered their only loss of the season after coming back from 8 goals down to fail 1 goal short.

HYDRO was commited to their high defense in order to try to make the difference on the break whereas AKITA was faithful to its lower and team defense. The team speech reminded players to help each other in defense and to give options in attack.

After few neutralised attack on both sides, HYDRO opened the scoring. Norbert answered for AKITA. A penalty helped HYDRO to stay in front although Matsuo scored making marvels in a half left position. 3 goald by Hydro built cushion but AKITA kept their head cool and keep playing their games with 2 goals from Florian, 2 from Matsuo and 1 from Norbert against a lonely penalty (7 - 6 after 17 minutes). Twice HYDRO came back but both times Matsuo and Markus restored the advantage. A goal from Joakim after a good circulation of the ball even made it 10 - 8 but in the last 3 minutes, few good stops from HYDRO allowed them to equalise. A Michael goal was then cancelled by a penalty before the half time whistle.

Although AKITA did not manage to contain HYDRO as much as targeted, the team felt not much was missing and the coaches asked for a little more intensity to try to create the gap.

The second half started like the first Norbert scoring but Hydro half left answering back. It was obvious that the HYDRO team needed to work hard to stay in the match and was taking more and more risks to score goals. as Alex and Florian once again built a 2 goal advantage, HYDRO came back to 1 goal but that was the last time they stay within distance. They had reached the breaking point and AKITA was then able to anihilate completely the attacks of HYDRO. After a Florian goal, a PA interception started a series of 5 attacks without a shot on target from HYDRO. Interceptions from Norbert and Alex with few high shots resulted in goals from Michael, Yoann and Ulf and 3 more goals from Florian to make the score 21 - 13 !. After this amazing defensive speel, the intensity went down a notch and AKITA strolled for the last 5 minutes missing some good shooting opportunity and letting HYDRO score 3 in the last 2 minutes for a very convincing 21 - 16 victory.

With this win, AKITA set-up the perfect show-down with MAGIC for a title fight between the 2 teams to be promoted in League 1 (subject to official confirmation results of the other matchs). The match will be Sunday 2, May at 730PM in Choi-Hung. A perfect evening match full of suspens as AKITA won their first encounter by one goal only whereas MAGIC has gorwn stronger as the second phase started with huge vitories. The winner here will take it all!

AKITA gets out of the fire at the last minute against 火鳳凰 (Phoenix) 20 -19 (5-10)

2010-04-14T22:25:00.000+08:00

It was a pretty depleted AKITA team that met in the Western Park Sports Centre. Because of holiday, injuries and other reasons, only 8 players could make it. Thanks to Rolf for coming to support Lars, Matsuo, Joakim, Yoann, Ulf, Michael, Florian and PA.

The match started quite slowly for AKITA, after conceding on the first action, a missed penalty allowed Phoenix to lead 2 - 0. PA shot from 9 to bring the first goal and Michael brought thing to parity after 5 minutes but as AKITA missed 2 more penalties Phoenix was once again ahead by 2. Joakim well placed received a good pass from the half to score his first but some wide shooting and one more penalty missed significantly pulled AKITA backwards. With 8 minutes to go in the first half, the scored climbed to 8 - 3. AKITA stopped the rot, but not much better as another Joakim goal and Ulf first were quickly answered to reach the half on 10 - 5.

At the half time, Wan was prompt to remind the players that it was just because of some unfortunate shooting on AKITA side and a little bit of good fortune on some Phoenix shooting that the gap seemed so large. During the game, both teams fared almost equally with AKITA in fact having slightly more chance of shooting.

A strong start for AKITA helped putting pressure back on Phoenix as Ulf scored first before Florian stepped up on penalties to score 2 in a row and bring back AKITA in sight. From there on, the match reached summits in tension. Phoenix's half left scored a penalty to restore a 3 goals advantage but Michael answered on the following attack. Immediately the same half left scored his 6th of the day. Florian managed to answer before Matsuo caught fire from the hald left position to first bring back AKITA to one goal and then keep them in contention with 2 additional furious shots from the 9 meters answering Phoenix goals uppercut for uppercut. As Phoenix number 2 scored his 8th on a penalty. A quite fired up Florian added his 4th putting pressure on Phoenix as AKITA was still navigating 1 behind. Shortly after replacing Michael on the right wing PA scored with a curved ball in a tight angle but once again Phoenix restored a 2 goal advantage.

In such a tight encounter, the referees had to whistle a lot and the defending was always on the edge. With the adrenaline at its high Florian saw some more space and was able to go through the defense for 2 more goals to come back to 17 - 17 with 5 minutes to go. This was the first parity since the 5th minute. Phoenix did not let themselve be intimidated as they scored back. Ulf restored parity demonstrating the fighting spirit that prevailed in the second half. On the following attack, PA got the double sentence of a 2 minute suspension and a penalty when he stopped irregularly Phoenix number 2 from a clear wing shot. An action which got vindicated by Wan who stopped the penalty giving AKITA a ball to move ahead! This was deemed to go to Florian who scored his 7th to make it 19 - 18. Phoenix did not want to die and number 17 slotted a ball above Wan head for parity.

With 1 minute to go and the team back to full strength, the bench was asking AKITA to make this attack long and productive. After turning the ball around, Ulf finally found Yoann who forgot all his bruises and pain of the day with a traditional wing shot in the far corner and a potentially decisive advantage. It was still not over. AKITA had to defend for 15 seconds with all their heart. Following some rumble, they pushed the ball in a throw in with 4 seconds to go. Phoenix still had a time-out that they took to try to organise a last shot with their keeper coming in to help. AKITA moved their players to stop the ball as fast as possible out of the throw in and amongst too many players, Florian emerged with the ball and just had to throw it the other way around to confirm a 1 goal win and 3 essential points.

This was not a very remarkable technical performance but this was a very strong mental one that ensure that promotion will be decided on the direct encounters against HYDRO and MAGIC. Next Sunday's match against HYDRO will be the most important one of the season so far!

Florian 7, Matsuo 3, Ulf 3, Michael 2, Joakim 2, PA 2, Yoann 1

AKITA starts the second phase with a win against Wei Tao 24 -19 (13 - 13)

2010-04-14T21:56:00.000+08:00

After a strong start with Matsuo and Michael scoring 2 each on top of an Ulf goal, AKITA was leading 5 - 2 but a string of conceded penalties prevented the gap to widen further Matsuo and Ulf adding one more whereas Markus opened his count and 2 goals from Wei Tao brought the gap to 2 only (8- 6 on 16th minute). On the right wing, Lars was repaid for his activity as he managed to overtake his defender and powerfully slotted through from the right wing. After Markus made the score 10 - 7, AKITA suffered a lapse in concentration and few lost balls or insufficient defending resulted in 4 conceded goals in 4 minutes as Wei Tao moved ahead by one.

The last 3 minutes were closely fought as AKITA came back 3 times from behind through Matsuo, Markus and Michael to end on 13 - 13. At the half time, the team was conscious that it had not been a pretty performance but that the main requirement was to tighten the defense.

AKITA started the second half with an immediate goal from Matsuo to go back on top and followed with a strong defense but without adding the goals to make a gap. After 5 minutes Wei Tao scored their first goal to make it 14 - 14. 2 goals from Florian and Markus on each wings should have made the difference but Wei Tao came back again.

This is the moment AKITA finally changed gear and use its improved defense to feed it attack and move away. 5 unanswered goals from Michael, Norbert (2), Yoann and Ulf sealed the match with 10 minutes to go. From there on, Wei Tao was only able to score on penalties as Wan was there to compensate for any gap in the defense, stopping few fast breaks on his own. 3 more French goals (2 for florian and 1 for Yoann) and the match was over 24 -19.

It may not have been an ideal performance but it was a good crescendo with an ideal results. With the 3 points, AKITA stays on top of the league with 3 potentially decisive matchs to come.

AKITA concludes the first phase with a 24 - 19 win against Yuen long

2010-01-22T18:54:00.000+08:00

In many aspect, it was a highly waited match for the Akita team as it was the revenge from last year's 3rd division. With Yuen long winning their previous encounter by two goals, AKITA was motivated to take their revenge and despite the match happening on a tuesday nigh, 11 players were able to make it including new recruits Yankele and Florian.

Because of few reshuffling and move in positions, the team was playing simple and relied mostly on their man to man advantage in attack. Hans opening the scoring before being relayed by a Michael double. Hans, Matsuo and Michael then traded goals with Yuen Long for a 6 - 3 lead after 10 minutes. Yuen Long tried to play with some individual defending as it worked a year before but unfortunately for them, AKITA had more experience and a deeper team. As a consequence it produced the opposite results as it opened Yuen Long defense and provided plenty of space for AKITA players to go to 6 meters or pass to their line Matsuo who made the gap 4. Hans added his third before Markus also got his chance bringing the score to 9 - 4. With a five goal cushion, the team should have been a little more relaxed but the defense did not feel as confident as usual as more adjustment were required to compensate missing players and to integrate new players. Matsuo and Hans were still providing the goods to maintain the gap before Yankele added a couple to reach the end of the first half on a 15 - 10 score line.

After the break Yuen Long came back very motivated and managed the first 2 goals of the second half to put pressure on AKITA. Stefan restores a 4 goal-cushion but the game was still far from over. AKITA was forced into commiting too many fouls to compensate for the excess space in the defence and Matsuo's second yellow card sent him to the side. AKITA did not concede during this penalty period but a couple minute later shortly after answering a Yuen Long goal, Hans was also called on for 2 minutes. Despite Yankele scoring 2 to restore a 5 goal advantage, the match was not under control particularly as 2 minutes penalty were still awarded.

With 12 minutes to go Markus scored his third of the day to slow down Yuen long return but 2 more goals from the opponents saw AKITA cushion fall to 2. Florian traded a goal with Yuen long before the last 5 minutes where the defense finally stepped up to make the end of the match more comfortable. As AKITA did not concede anymore, additional goals from Hans, Matsuo and Ulf concluded a slightly flattering score line by restoring the half time 5 goal advantage (24 -19).

Hans 7, Matsuo 4, Yankele 4, Markus 3, Michael 3, Florian 1, Ulf 1, Stefan 1

With few matches to go, the 5 remaining contenders for the promotion phase are known and a new championship will start with very little point difference between the top contenders. AKITA, Magic and Hydro could well start in a tie for the first position as it currently stands with Wei Tao and Phoenix joining them in the second phase.

A simulation of the table will give the following result and confirms that in the 2nd League, it is better to have a name made of 5 latin characters:

___________Played____Points__Goal Difference
AKITA ________4_________9_________+14
MAGIC________4_________9_________+12
HYDRO _______4_________9__________+6
Phoenix ______4_________3__________-6
Wei Tao ______4_________0_________-26

AKITA bounces back from the previous week against KING'S 29 - 13 (14 - 6)

2009-12-07T12:32:00.000+08:00

As we are getting closer to Christmas, filling the squad seems to become more and more difficult. From the 9 of the previous week, AKITA went down to 8 as Hans return was offset by Dominik sitting an exam and Markus having left for holidays. The KING's team had to cope with 7 players only guaranteeing AKITA that the rhythm of the match should suit them. As a consequence, PA moved to the left wing while Hans retrieved his usual half right position. Norbert (HL), Ulf (C), Michael (RW) and Matsuo (L) kept their previous week positions.

After an exchange of wide shooting, KING'S managed the first goal but Hans immediately answered. The AKITA defense was well in place and as the KING'S team was forced into shooting from poor positions, Wan could keep the goal clear as Norbert with Hans put 2 more goals each in from the halves. After 10 minutes, Norbert made the score 6 - 1 using his quick hands for a steal and then slotting the ball through with a lob despite being fouled in the air from the back. The KING'S player was out for 2 minutes but Norbert needed to join the bench injured. PA switched into the half position whereas Rolf came on the wing. This did not stop the attacking flow as PA scored the following 2. As KING'S was creating more movement they managed to get their attack going but AKITA kept on building their advantage. As he was benefiting from the space created by Rolf’s drawing his wing away PA scored again and followed this by converting a penalty for 10 -4. KING’S took a time out to try to change the fate of the match and although it was followed by a goal, the last 5 minutes were still in AKITA favour as goals came from all sides. Michael went around his defender at full speed to score with a well taken bouncing shot from the right wing. Ulf followed with a clever moved to the left wing and a perfect shoot into the opposite top corner, PA slotted a bowling shot between the legs of the keeper while falling and Matsuo was finally rewarded for his hard work on the line with a good ball that he converted surely. KING’S was able to crawl one back making it 14 – 6 at half time.

At half time, only few adjustments were discussed as the most important was to keep focus and rest considering the lack of bench. The KING’S defense was trying to play higher to take the AKITA players earlier, although conceptually right it also opened more space behind them. Hans went on his own to add his fourth immediately after the restart but a second yellow card a minute later forced him to a 2 minute rest. After few turnovers and no goal conceded despite being one player down, AKITA was able to feed Matsuo with good balls. Matsuo scored his second quickly followed by his third on a great pass from Hans returning from the sin-bin. As Ulf was accelerating the circulation of the ball, it was giving good opportunities for the halves again. Goals from PA, Matsuo and a pair by Hans made it 21 – 9 with 10 minutes to go. At that time AKITA’s defense was getting less tight with the tiredness and for 5 minutes KING’S combinations on free throws combined with 2 minutes for PA allowed them to match the AKITA team. Despite the injury, Norbert was able to come back and answered to KING’S 10th and 11th. As he was running back from the sin-bin, PA received the ball from Ulf in the centre position and immediately made it 24 -12.

KINGS managed one more on the restart but the last 5 minutes were one way only. Hans saw a gap and just scored before his team mates even arrived in attack. As Ulf moved in the left wing, he managed to quick goals including a speedy run from one side to the other after catching the bounce of a Norbert block. Norbert added one more trying on a "kempa" for the audience and Hans closed the scoring with 2 minutes to go. After this solid performance, the AKITA players will have a break as their next match is only on the 19th of January. This will be the revenge from last year as it will be against Yuen Long. In the mean time, players will enjoy some rest and the blog will most likely do the same!

Hans 8, PA 7, Norbert 6, Matsuo 4, Ulf 3, Michael 1

AKITA ends defeated 22-23 by HYDRO in a rollercoaster of a match (8-14)

2009-12-02T12:04:00.000+08:00

After 3 weeks without training and 6 weeks since the last match, the AKITA team was pretty much jumping in the unknown. The situation was being made worse by many forfeits because of traveling or illness reducing the squad size to 9 only with Wan being the only keeper. Markus started on the left wing, Norbert moved from centre to left half to compensate for Stefan absence, Ulf returned in the centre, PA temped for unwell Hans in half right whereas Dominik started on the right wing. Matsuo kept his line position. Michael and Rolf were completing the team sheet.

Despite being obviously rusty, the AKITA team started well in attack. Norbert drew first blood with a good penetration. Unfortunately, HYDRO was able to answer immediately as AKITA defense was lacking practice in this tinkered configuration. PA restored the advantage with an 8 meter shot but once again HYDRO was able to equalise. The teams were close as PA second goal and Matsuo first were also matched making it 4 - 4 after 5 minutes. As the HYDRO defense was moving higher, the AKITA pass became more random and this benefited their opponents who intercepted few balls and built the first gap of the match on fastbreaks. Markus scored on his first shot of the wing but with Wan making excellent parade, AKITA was just not getting the bounces and rather than capitalising on these stops was letting HYDRO score on the rebounds and build a 3 goal gap. PA's hip shot before going to rest on the bench made it 6 - 8 but soon it was a 4 goal difference. Except the impeccable shooting of Markus who added another, nothing seemed to go AKITA way. With 4 minutes to go, the score was 12 - 7. A PA goal followed by 2 HYDRO goals meant a 8 - 14 half time score.

With a six goal deficit at half time, it was a big tally to face but all players were convinced that it was possible to climb back. Unfortunately, the Team was still struggling to make an impact. Despite goals by Norbert and Markus, HYDRO managed to expand the gap to 8 goals with 20 minutes to play (18 - 10). With their back on the wall, AKITA finally found the right mix in defense. Between interception, blocks and keeper saves, HYDRO just could not get a goal anymore for the following 10 minutes. This allowed a string of 7 unanswered goals. The left side of AKITA was doing a lot of damage as Markus and Norbert traded 4 before Ulf found space in the defense for his first one. Norbert's movement and energy was making a big impact, he added 2 more to reach 17 - 18 and allow a completely new match to start with 10 minutes to go.

Hydro finally scored to restore a 2 goal advantage but Markus kept on finding the right space to stay within one. Michael jumped higher than the defense to find the space and his 2 successive goals made score 20 - 20 with five minutes to play. AKITA was then given a chance to move in front as they intercepted the ball and were running in the fast break but a traveling under the pressure of a push was whistled against AKITA. HYDRO immediately managed to use that to come back in front. Another turnover mad it 22 -20 with 3 minutes to go. Matsuo reduced the score but another assassin shot from the Hydro wing almost sealed the match with one minute to go. A penalty converted by Norbert made it 22 - 23 but the HYDRO team just had to hold on to the ball for 15 seconds to register the first win against AKITA of any team this year.

In the AKITA camp, it was the disappointment that was prevailing. Disappointment not to have concluded what could have been a magnificent return but also the impression for all of the players that they had the chance at a moment or another to score one more or concede one less. The team will have to bounce immediately as they are playing on the following WE and cannot lose more points on the way. Hopefully between new and returning players, the squad will be deeper for that occasion.

Norbert 7, Markus 6, PA 4, Michael 2, Matsuo 2, Ulf 1

AKITA gets a solid win against Wei Tao 22 - 12 (11 - 8)

2009-11-30T20:52:00.000+08:00

After few good performances, the AKITA team felt confident for its 6th match of the year and started with a proven line up but without an unwell Ulf. From left to right, Markus, Stefan, Norbert Hans and PA with Matsuo on the line.

On a good pass from Hans, PA was the first one to have a shot at goal but the keeper save although fortunately for AKITA, Norbert was first ont the rebound to open the score. A prompt Hans goal doubled the score before the Wei Tao scored with a quick relaunch giving a good view on the attacking strategy for the day.

Hand added immediately another one before giving an assist to PA. As Mtsuo scored too, AKITA was on a 4 goal advantage after only 6 minutes. From there on, the match started to slow down as AKITA was trying to control the pace and distributed widely the play. Markus accurate shooting earned him a goal too to answer to Wei Tao second. Norbert and Hans's goals each allowed to maintain the 4 goals lead. Wei tao then enjoyed a good spell scoring a penalty and 2 other field goals to make it 8 - 7.

As the first half was getting into the last 5 minutes, AKITA added some intensity and Hans scored for a 2 goal advantage before PA pushed it to 3. Wei Tao scored too but Matsuo ensured that AKITA was three clear at the break.

The second half started in the worst possible manner for Wei Tao as Hans played 5 minutes of fire to put the match almost away. Seeing the opportunities, he took his chances and scored 4 goals in succession with a perfect ratio. As it seemed from the outside that the shots were getting more and more difficult, his power, accuracy and even more confidence ensured it went through. Wei Tao scored 1 back but PA restored an 8 goals advantage. Even if Wei Tao was clearly fighting, they had lost confidence and their organisation was suffering from it.

A penalty and a fast break gave them 2 rare goals but Rolf also added himself to the score sheet before Hans scored his 9th of the day. Wei Tao scored again with 10 minutes to fo but unfortunately for them that would be the last one of the day as Wan and Angus continued on an excellent match and a particularly strong second half. Yoann in his traditionnal tenacious style managed to get through for a goal before Hans reached double digits. Norbert converted a penalty with one mintes to play but the last goal came to the man of the match Hans for a 22 - 12 win.

This was an enjoyable performance as AKITA did the rare feat for them of stepping up in the second half and Wei Tao never stopped trying despite the difficult score.

Hans 11, Norbert 3, PA 3, Matsuo 2, Markus 1, Rolf 1, Yoann 1

AKITA waives late Yan Chai United come back 28 - 22 (17 - 12)

2009-10-17T15:18:00.000+08:00

It was a slightly reshuffled team that started the 5th match of the season, with a married Alex back to the team, an injured Ulf keeping civil clothes for the day and a late Norbert, it was decided to start as follow from left to right: Markus, Stefan, PA, Hans, Michael and Alex on the line with Norbert ready to get in after 10 minutes. With Wan unable to come, Angus had his turn at playing the full match. The team was otherwise fully equiped with 14 players in total. To the regular Dominik, Yoann, Rolf and Norbert, the team welcomed back Lars once again fully fit and Guillaume from paternity leave!

Winning the toss, Yan Chai declined the ball which Hans used to good effect opening the score for AKITA. In defense though, AKITA struggled to find his mark and conceded too much space with Yan Chai using astutely their oversized line player. Stefan scored twice but Yan Chai was following close and moved one up with a quick fast break. The AKITA team was proving quite resourceful spreading the ball with Markus making a real difference in starting the movements and Alex ending them safely to come back to 5-5. This was the start of a strong five minutes for AKITA with a much improved defending. Hans (with 2), Michael and Markus allowed for it to be 5 in a row and 9-5 on the 11th minute.

With some breathing space, the AKITA team had an opportunity to break clear but the Yan Chai team was remarkable of abnegation and effort and scored three before Yoann scored his first. The flow of goal was definitely outside of the AKITA standard but with Yan Chai trying to surprise with fast attack on all chances and AKITA happy to run the fast breaks with a strong bench there was no reason for slowing down. Hans scored 2 to answer to Yan Chai goals before Norbert first for a 13 - 10 lead with 5 minutes before the interval. The ball was circulating quite well and with Yan Chai bench suffering against a more homogenous AKITA team, Yoann, Hans, Norbert made it 16 - 12. To finish the half, Lars seeing a gap in the defense surprised everyone with a low shot from the right ending in the bottom left of the goal. With one goal for one shot, this was definitely German efficiency.

The second half started like the first with each team answering to each other. Using the advantage of a late 2 minutes for Hans after he protested too expressively for an opponent tripping him on a fast break without being sanctioned, Yan Chai Scored first but Hans answered immediately on his return with his adrenaline still quite high from the event. Norbert scored a penalty for 19 – 14 and a Hans goal made it 20 in only 31 minutes. After another 2 minutes was whistled on Dominik who had made the effort to run to try to stop a fast break, PA moved to the left wing to fill the gap and made good use of the Yan Chai high defense to erase the defender and slot the ball between the legs of the keeper for his only shot of the day. With Hans slotting a power shot through the keeper, this was 2-0 for this period with one man down and a 6 goal advantage for the first time. Thanks to their never say die attitude, Yan Chai kept pushing trying to make goals as fast as possible as time was slipping through. Stefan was nevertheless keeping the count and he added two goals to protect the AKITA lead. With 10 minutes to go the score was on 24 – 19.

A dip in concentration by AKITA was all Yan Chai needed to score 3 in 2 minutes and come back within 2 goals. Unfortunately, it was about to be Angus’ time. As Hans came back on the pitch to score his 10th of the day, Angus proved himself just unbeatable, with the Yan Chai Team presenting themselves alone in front of him on fast breaks, he saved three out of the in the last 5 minutes. It was making things too easy for the other players obviously as Hans added a last personal one, before Norbert and Markus closed the score 28 - 22.

Hans 11, Stefan 4, Norbert 4, Yoann 2, Markus 2, Michael 1, Lars 1, PA 1

Akita Handball Team Hong Kong

2009-10-10T19:31:00.000+08:00

AKITA Handball Club (aka the Gwailo Team) has been founded in September 2008 and is the only team in HK using English as its training language, providing an international flair to the Hong Kong Handball League.

The team is open to all nationalities and is training in Lai Chi Kok Sports Park or in Choi Hung Sports Centre. You are invited to join us for training - it is free of charge.

Note: to play with us official matches, you will need to register with the Hong Kong Handball Association, which requires you to have a HKID card.

Contact

For questions, email us at AkitaHC@gmail.com.

AKITA guys look pretty in their new shirts!

2009-10-08T16:47:00.000+08:00

As disclosed in the previous post, AKITA received new shirts and shorts for the 2009-2010 season. We have received a set of white shirts (that will satisfy the Germans in the team) and a set of sky blue shirts that were inaugurated with a victory! Thanks to our sponsor and partner AKITA for those SVH17. Apparently some of our opponents liked the shirt very much too considering how they grabbed them during the match!

You can see some example of the AKITA products on their website by clicking on the AKITA logo on the right. To celebrate the new shirts, the blog has changed its colors too (at least for the time being)!!

AKITA's courageous performance earns them a 20 -19 win against MAGIC (10 -8)

2009-10-01T18:26:00.000+08:00

After drawing the previous match, AKITA really wanted a positive performance against the yet undefeated MAGIC team. AKITA was presenting itself with new shirts thanks to its sponsor AKITA but without regulars Yoann, Angus and Hans unavailable on the China National Day.

Because of the tight schedule, both team had to start without any warm up on the pitch. Winning the draw, AKITA opted to leave the ball in order to benefit from any potential clumsy start. They did not have to wait much as the third MAGIC's pass flew directly to the side line giving the ball back to AKITA. AKITA needed 2 penalties for that but still were the team opening the scoring with Norbert. This was followed with a bad spell to drop 3 - 1 down in 5 minutes. Markus brought the score to parity with 2 goals in quick succession and Ulf scored his first. MAGIC came back as it was deemed to be a close contest for the whole of the match.

The weather was hot and both teams were struggling for air already which resulted in numerous turnovers. The fresh blood from Dominic, Rolf and Michael was making a difference. Wan who had to play the whole match with no change was vigilant and was able to make some good save when MAGIC was forced to shoot from the distance. A Rolf goal followed by Stefan first allowed for a 2 goals advantage for the first time. At that time, AKITA was having the upper hand with Michael entrance adding a different threat resulting in an immediate goal. Ulf was finding great passes to deceive the MAGIC defense and Matsuo quick hands allowed him for a goal too. Stefan scored his second as he finally managed to keep the ball low and Michael made it 10 -7. A last minute penalty for MAGIC made it 10 - 8 before the break.

The half time was all about recuperation and concentration, the team was reminded to cover the defense quickly as MAGIC best chances were usually on first and second waves. This was immediately confirmed at the restart as a lost ball by AKITA yielded a MAGIC goal.

Ulf making a strong impression on that day scored and gave Matsuo the ball for a 3 goal advantage but AKITA was not really able to limit MAGIC's scoring for a consistent period of time like they managed against other teams. Both teams were staying neck to neck as Michael restored twice a 2 goal advantage. As MAGIC seemed tired, AKITA was trying to take advantage but could not steer away. With MAGIC back to a one goal deficit, it was time for Jessica, the AKITA team official of the day, to ask for a time out.

With 15 minutes to go and only a 1 goal advantage, it was a match on its own that started. After some ball circulation, Norbert found the opportunity with a hip shot. A penalty and fast break for MAGIC provoked roars from their bench. Ulf restored the advantage but both benches were getting even more vocal when MAGIC came back again. After some poor shooting for the day, PA opened his account on the left half thanks to Markus' work. Michael who had moved to the right wing scored his fifth but each goal was answered by MAGIC. With 2 minutes to go, AKITA obtained another penalty. Under the pressure, Norbert went to a simple powerful shot in the bottom left for 19 - 18.

With only a minute to go, MAGIC was cracking under pressure and lost the ball on a confused play in the middle. Stefan was immediately running for the fast break and made sure he did not shoot before seeing the white of the keeper's eyes. With 2 goals and 30 seconds to play, the MAGIC team knew it was too late but still managed a last effort with a goal from number 6, their best player on the day, on the buzzer.

With this one goal victory, the first ever for AKITA, the team becomes the only undefeated team in the league and takes the outright league in a division where most team are extremely close.

Michael 5, Norbert 3, Stefan 3, Ulf 3, Markus 2, Matsuo 2, Rolf 1, PA 1

AKITA clinches a last minute draw against Ku Chiu Man 19 - 19 (11 -9)

2009-10-01T17:18:00.000+08:00

On a warm day to play handball outside, AKITA was meeting a well seasoned team in the second division. Ku Chiu Man was one of the contender for promotion last year and is hopeful for this year.

AKITA had a slow start as Ku Chiu Man opened immediately the scoring as their left half was given too much space. Norbert put the team back to parity immediately but soon enough AKITA suffered its usual problem conceding penalties and trailing 1 -3 and the 2-4 after Hans scored his first. 2 goals from Stefan and Norbert's second allowed AKITA to come back to parity at 5-5.

As the team was now well launched, the ball was flowing better and this unsettled Ku Chiu Man's defense allowing PA to put the team in front from the right wing and then restore this one goal advantage with 2 more goals. Hand made it 9 - 7 but a new lapse in concentration and some lost balls profited Ku Chiu Man to come back to 9 - 9 with 4 minutes to go. A well taken time out at that time combined with a 2minutes penalty against Ku Chiu Man resulted in 2 unanswered goals from Michael and Matsuo to reach half time on 11 -9.

As AKITA started the second half with the ball, the team was keen on making it a 3 goal advantage immediately. Mission accomplished by Norbert immediately. Ku Chiu Man answered but a Norbert penalty and Hans's third made the biggest gap of the match 14 - 10 with 22 minutes to go. By then the AKITA team was starting to show signs of tiredness. A Ku Chiu Man's goal and a penalty made it 14 -12 and although Hans gave the AKITA team some air with one more goal but unfortunately its unability to shoot within the frame became expensive for the team as Ku Chiu Man came back to 15 - 15. A time out was desperately needed and helped the team to refocus. Yoann scored his first and Stefan found the net again for a 17 -15 lead.

This was unfortunately a short lived recovery as Ku Chiu Man once again scored three in a row to take the lead back for the first time since the 9th minute. With 3 minutes to go AKITA needed an extra effort, Michael scored an important one for parity. With one and a half minute to go, AKITA needed the ball back to have a chance of a win but Ku Chiu Man was fully motivated and managed to score.

With 40 seconds to go, the AKITA team was instructed to take the time to build its attack without rushing. The Ku Chiu Man team was desperate to slow the play and run the clock conceding 9 meters. With only 5 seconds to play and another 9 meter penalty, Norbert jumped higher than the defense to score and obtain the draw.

Norbert 5, Hans 4, PA 3, Stefan 3, Michael 2, Matsuo 1, Yoann 1

AKITA takes full point against PHOENIX with a 21 - 17 victory (12 -7)

2009-09-20T20:21:00.000+08:00

For its return to Choi Hung, the AKITA team was facing a significant rate of defections with Markus, Lars and Yoann suffering from sickness and Rolf, Alex and Guillaume also unavailable. In the starting seven, Dominik replaced Markus on the left wing whereas the other field positions remained as per last week with Ulf on the line and from left to right Stefan, Norbert, Hans and PA. The keepers decided to have Angus starting with Wan on the bench seating next to Michael, Nobel and Matsuo. PHOENIX is one of the team with a good experience in the league, they qualified for the promotion part of the championship but fade to finish 5th last year and will expect to go better this year.

PHOENIX started with the ball but their first 2 attacks were well controlled by the AKITA defence. As the usual top scorer of the team, it was no surprise to see Hans opening the score after 2 minutes, unfortunately some good goalkeeping and less precise than usual shooting prevented him from scoring more in that half. With Stefan also scoring only one in the first half, AKITA had to find some options away from halves shooting. The centre-line relationship was the favourite option with Norbert scoring 2 penalties obtained in the first 6 minutes and Ulf making the score 6 -1. Number 17, clearly the best player of the PHOENIX team on the day, managed a left wing shot and a penalty to come back but Ulf answered this first goal before giving a beautiful pass to Matsuo on the line to answer the second.

With the heat and humidity impacting the fitness of players, AKITA was trying to maximise the turnover. With 10 minutes to play PHOENIX was back at 7 - 5 which is when AKITA started to create wing opportunities. Michael who just came in on the left wings scored the first of 4 consecutive AKITA goals. Norbert found a way through the defence for a close range shot and PA squeezed through the tiniest gap a right wing shot. To conclude this good sequence, Michael scored again as he enjoyed a huge gap on the left wing as his defender mistimed an interception. PHOENIX number 14 managed to score 2 more whereas Norbert made it 4 in the first half to reach a 12 - 7 half time score.

The half time was mostly about recuperation and players were reminded to maintain the focus for the rest of the match. AKITA had 10 good minutes where they managed to widen the gap. PA and Norbert scored penalties to make it 14 -8 and Hans and Stefan found the targets for a 16 -9, the biggest gap of the match. As players were tired, the changes were a little wide as PA and Ulf were plugging the holes playing in different positions depending on who needed some rest. Also, the AKITA team was sloppier in defence and after 2 exclusions in the first half, they suffered another 4 in the second half. Dominik scored for a 18 - 12 lead but this was followed by 5 minutes with no goals allowing PHOENIX to come back to 4 goals only. This was the time for a well needed coaching time-out to ask players to slow down and survive the last 7 minutes. PHOENIX even came back to three but the AKITA team kept a cool head and Norbert took responsibility with a goal to restore a 4 goals advantage.

Unfortunately he got excluded on the following defence and this was followed by a red card for Dominik preventing a fast break that forced AKITA to be with 4 field players only for few moments. This was the time the referees took a pretty uncommon decision raising their hand for lack of play before even the restart following a goal because they found the keeper tool too much time to send the ball back to the centre. Unfortunately for PHOENIX, it resulted in the AKITA being extra motivated and PA immediately took a shot from 9 meters to put the match away from PHOENIX. Hans completed this with his 4th goal to make it 5 up with one to play. A last PHOENIX goal did not matter and the AKITA team was relieved to take the full points in a match that they made unnecessarily interesting up to the end.

The next match will also be outside but at an even more unfortunate time so most of today's players were hoping for a cool down of the weather.

Norbert 6, Hans 4, PA 3, Ulf 2, Michael 2, Stefan 2, Matsuo 1, Dominik 1.

AKITA has a winning start 20 - 10 against DEMI in 2nd division

2009-09-15T13:36:00.000+08:00

For the first day of the 2009-2010 championship, the federation had organised a special treat for teams participating as matches were played indoor in the Western Park Sports Centre. Despite Coach Banks being away for his honeymoon, AKITA was coming with a strong squad. Additionnally to Stefan available after an injury prevented him from playing last year, two new players joined AKITA for this first match. Matsuo from Japan plays in the field whereas Angus, a young Hong Kong prospect, will share the goalkeeper position with Wan. Ulf started on the line, with Markus on the left wing, Norbert in the centre, Stefan and Hans on the halves and PA on the right wing. Rolf, Guillaume, Yoann and Dominik were enjoying the air-con on the bench.

With Alex not there, AKITA opted for a 6-0 defense to try to maximise the height advantage and limit the play to the DEMI line. This allowed for a strong start with Ulf scoring the first goal of the new season on a fast break and AKITA conceding only 2 goals in the first quarter of the match. The fire power from the backs allowed for regular scoring and 3 goals from Hans added to goals from Stefan, Norbert and Ulf brought the score to 6 -2 after 12 minutes.

The DEMI team was running short of options and were looking for number 16, their half left, to find the opening. After being blocked on attempted jump and hip shots he managed to find the way to the wing through crosses and precise shooting. He scored three in a row to prevent AKITA from pulling away as Yoann and Rolf contributed one each just after their swap in to be added to three more Hans goals bringing the half time score to 11 - 5.

The orders at half time were quite simple, more of the same and increase the pressure in defense on some of their players. The DEMI teams was also looking for adjustments. To try to create more options, they accelerated their rythm and rotates players around, this gave them few more opportunities of scoring and they were awarded penalties on a regular basis. Unfortunately for them, Angus had been waiting for this opportunity less than 50% of penalties were converted. Even with the Team playing at 4 against 6 and Hans and PA getting excluded in succession, the defense did not break providing a strong support.

The AKITA team was playing at its own pace, losing few balls and showing patience when needed. As Norbert, Ulf and Hans were still adding to their tally, Dominik was also able to add his own goal. with 10 minutes to play, the score was 17 -9. For five minutes, as a Norbert injury created some confusion, none of the team could score but AKITA restarted the machine with a Rolf goal immediately followed by Hans's 8th, Stefan concluded the score of this 20 - 10 victory ensuring a very positive start in this new campaign.

Hans 8, Ulf 3, Norbert 3, Stefan 2, Yoann 1, Rolf 2, Dominik 1

Calendar for this year

2009-09-08T12:43:00.000+08:00

Date	Time	Victim	Location	Result

Jan 19	8:20PM	元朗 (Yuen Long)	Ho Man Tin
Dec 6	4:40PM	KING'S	San Wo, Tuen Mun	29:13
Nov 29	5:50PM	HYDRO	Tin Chui	22:23
Oct 18	2:25PM	威濤 (Wei Tao)	Choi Hung	22:12
Oct 11	12:15PM	仁濟聯 (Yan Chai)	Choi Hung	28:22
Oct 1	2:50PM	Magic	Choi Hung	20:19
Sep 27	2:50PM	顧超文 (Ku Chiu Man)	Choi Hung	19:19
Sep 20	5:10PM	火鳳凰 (Phoenix)	Choi Hung	21:17
Sep 13	2:50PM	DEMI	Western Park Complex	20:10

Training restart

2009-08-14T11:19:00.000+08:00

The AKITA Handball Island trotters has started training on Saturday 15th August in Wanchai Park. The second training in Wanchai will be on September 5th and hopefully the heat will be less vivid. A training on Meifoo (Lai Chi Kok sports centre) will happend on the 2nd of September. More training may be organised there or in other places soon subject to availabilities.

Considering the uncertainties to get pitches, time and location will have to be checked everytime. Training is open to all so if you want to restart handball you can just pop in any training. To go to Wan Chai Park, you can go to Wanchai station or from kowloon take one of the bus to the happy valley race course and walk from there. There is an entrance on Queens road east after the HK Tuberculosis association and another one on Wanchai Road near the Cathay Lodge (125 Wanchai Road)

If it rains, training will be maintained and we will play football to work on our condition.

New season Administration / Looking for a Goalkeeper

2009-08-05T21:52:00.001+08:00

The registrations for the new season seems to be now opened. In the link below you will find the player registration/renewal form: http://handball.org.hk/v1/upload/attachment/League%202009-2010.pdf Please fill your forms as soon as possible. Also, following the return of Markus to Germany, we are looking eagerly for a goalkeeper. If anyone knows one, please contact us!

Almost 1 year later...

2009-07-01T14:04:00.000+08:00

When we started this adventure almost 12 months ago, we did not know if it would survive the first few weeks, if we would have full squads for all matches or not but we were happy to give it a shot.

We received tremendous help from the federation and from our sponsor AKITA to kick start. Also we were lucky between Ulf and myself to have contacts for the backbone of a team. We had few free agents, transfers from London, some of us were feeling like Michael Jordan coming out of retirement (more like the second come back, particularly regarding aches and arthrosis), some of us had Michael Jordan's hair cut. For some others, it was to be their first experience at competitive handball. For many, some diplomacy with the WAGs would be required. Our main concern to know if we would be able to compete was the lack of a goalkeeper and we found ourselves blessed to obtain not one but two great goalies. By far the best pair in the division.

With the season closed, I have no hesitations in describing this year as a tremendous success. Not for its sports' results but really for the bonding, the fun shared and our ability to put a little european flag in the Hong Kong handball scene. We have sometime been mad at ourselves but not at each other, we have lost and came back stronger. We have smiled whinged, laughed, sweat and sometimes drank together.

We have suffered setbacks, cancelled trainings because some of us could not join, lost our training time slot, succumbed in one match against the heat, few of us sustained injuries (Markus aka Rolf, don't show us you little finger ever again please), we have probably received more 2 minutes than the whole of the other team together, but we enjoyed ourselves and sometimes, I say sometimes, it really looked like handball what we did out there.

I believe Norbert summarised perfectly what we are about in when he told me in the middle of the season that he never played handball for fun before, he tought before that Handball had to be serious with full training and never understood guys playing for fun, now he does and he loves it! Of course we want to win like on the first day but also the fact we are closer to a veteran team than to anything else helps us having perspective.

If we look back at the league, some matches were more interesting than others, we finished on the highest number of points (joint), best attack (admittedly by one goal only), best defense (comfortably), best goal difference obviously. When we won, it was never by less than 6 goals. But that is not what matters, what I see is that everyone contributed. As the season went through we got more and more contribution from the bench, we became more and more solid as a whole and everyone should feel proud that they brought something.

Very soon we are going to get into the preparation of a new season. That would be a division higher in second division and of course we will once again aim promotion and do our best. Matches will be more difficult but we will have the benefit of one year experience.

We will lose some players as some will have to go back to europe but hopefully we will also get more. The recruitment season is open, if you are coming in Hong Kong and want to play Handball AKITA is the team to contact! By the end of the year, we had a decent enough roster to be able to consider good training sessions but we still have a lot of room to expand it further so come an join us.

Thanks to everyone for this year, and I really mean everyone, players, family, friends, the other team, the federation and its officials, etc.

AKITA ends season with an open door performance against Shun Lee Catholic 33 - 20 (19 - 10)

2009-06-14T17:22:00.000+08:00

AKITA was already ensured of promotion before this last match but it did no change anything to the motivation of the team. With a 12-strong squad but without their best scorer Hans who took an early vacation, AKITA was ready to run despite the heat of a 10AM kick-off time.

The first 2 minutes were unusually eventful for an AKITA match. Yoann scored the first and the second in the first minute, Shun Lee came back to 2-1 before Ulf made it 3-1. The following 4 minutes were more typical of the best defense of the league, as the AKITA team slowed down and no goal were scored on either side before AKITA conceded a penalty. The beginning of the match had a French flavour with Yoann joined by PA and Guillaume occupying the right flank. As the team was playing well in movement PA was given some space and could go through the defense twice in a row (5-2). Yoann answered Shun Lee third goal with a penalty. To complete the French touch, the team played perfectly in the intervals so Guillaume could receive the ball from his brother and conclude with a perfect wing shot under the applaudes of the bench (7-3).

Defense was now fully warmed up and it was time for some German no nonsense handball with Rolf and Norbert in particular scaring the Shun Lee players on the left side. Markus was on for Yoann, Dominik for Guillaume and Michael for PA. Markus scored before David opened his count as his good runs allowed him to get the ball in good position. A comfortable catch from Wan allowed for a lighting fast break for Dominik before Shun Lee clawed one back (10 - 4 on 13th minute). The game was accelerating again with Michael scoring on a second wave, Alex getting a marvel of a pass by Ulf on another, David and Dominik also adding their second in the run. Each of those goals were answered back by a well motivated Shun Lee losing no time to rush forward (14 - 8 on 20th minute). Markus then stepped up to add 2 in a row but once again Shun Lee answered with 2 of their own (including a penalty). As the end of the hald was looming with 2 minutes to play, it all turned to David who scored 3 to make AKITA clear. The half time socre of 19 - 10 very much looked like an AKITA full time score! It was the best offensive half of the year but not the most defense oriented one.

For the second half, Norbert finally decided to take a little for himself rather than just giving to his team mates and scored on the opening. Yoann was also back on and added the following. As Shun Lee was still scoring, Alex called for the ball, scoring two and gratifying the public of his special move, a 270 degrees turn in the line position despite having no opponent around. With Norbert adding his second in between the score was 24 - 15 after 10 minutes in the second half. It was the right time to use some good defense to sail further away. As Shun Lee was also getting tired, AKITA played 5 minutes of defense followed by fast break, the perfect setup for David who scored the 4 AKITA goal in this period. Michael added one to make it 29 - 16 before Shun lee scored again.

For his last match with AKITA before returning to Europe, David kept on receiving good balls and scored to with a PA goal in between to make the score 32 - 18. This goal was putting AKITA on par with Yuen Long as best attack of the league, something which the statistican may have known but which had not been discussed by the coaches. PA added the last one of the season to make it sole best attack and a last minute penalty for Shun Lee made the score 33 - 20.

David 11, Yoann 4, PA 4, Alex 3, Markus 3, Michael 2, Norbert 2, Dominik 2, Guille 1, Ulf 1

AKITA gets promotion with a 24 - 9 win againts Long Hei (龍禧) (12 - 6)

2009-06-14T15:58:00.000+08:00

With a Sunday 12:25 Kick off, AKITA had the chance to secure its promotion but the team didn't know yet that ARISE dropped points. This would not have changed anything in the coach orders. Plan was to get a solid match defense and play straight in the gaps in attack.

The match proved very out of the ordinary, to start with, AKITA won the toss for the first time in 12 attempts! During the match, despite few cautions, AKITA did not suffer any temporary exclusion.

After defending successfully the first action, David got the first goal in. After that it was all on the right side for the following 10 minutes. Hans scored first before Rolf had 2 consecutive goals from tight angles. Hans strength and power was making marvels and even when the goal was touching the ball it was still getting in, allowing him to get 4 goals in a row for a 8-5 lead. Defense was having a slow start and a bit of bad luck. On a shoot from the half left, the defense jumped and slightly modified the course of the ball which resulted in an awkward trajectory for Markus. As he was surprised, the ball arrived on his little finger before getting in. Markus was forced to leave his place to Wan as the finger needed straightening... After this incident digested, the French connection of Yoann and PA on the left side woke up the Half left scoring 2 after being launched by the winger who himself scored the last of the half. One more Hans goal in between meant a score of 12 - 6 at the break.

This was an interesting buffer, but for once AKITA proved themselves much better in the second half than in the first. In particular, the defense significantly stepped up and with the exception of a fast break to start the second half, it proved a nightmare for the happy dragons. In attack, As Hans was being rested, Norbert found his rhythm and was creating a lot of movements and goals scoring 4 with a Yoann goal in between for a 17 - 8 score with a quarter of the game to be played. The team was having a nice and effective turnover with Markus (2) and David (3) bringing some more goals. In defense, everyone was maintaining full commitment and in particular Lars defending on the half right was using efficiently his size and strength and in one instance stopping with one arm only a a Long Hei player at full speed. They only got their third goal of the half with 2 minutes to go. Yoann made sure that AKITA would score last when he answered for a 24 - 9 win.

The season is reaching his end and AKITA will be very keen on getting the best potential record. The last match would be against 4th ranked Shun Lee.

Hans 6, David 4, Norbert 4, PA 3, Yoann 3, Rolf 2, Markus 2

Yuen Long Champion, AKITA Promoted !!

2009-06-03T12:27:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday, Yuen Long and ARISE were playing their last matches. With a 22 - 20 victory against Nam Wan, Yuen Long clinched the title with 21 points. At the same time, ARISE only drew 19 - 19 against Chun Yuen and ends on 17 points.

On Sunday, AKITA defeated defeated the Happy Dragons 24 - 9 to count 18 points with one match to play and is now sure of promotion! On Sunday they will play their last match to try to close the season on the same number of points as Yuen Long.

League Update - Yuen Long closing on title

2009-05-30T10:50:00.001+08:00

As AKITA was grounded at home because of an Amber alert on the week end, 4 matches were played during the week by the other teams.

In a 19:00 Kick-off on May 19, Yuen Long (元朗) managed to get the best of Chun Yuen (駿源), but not without a scare. Ahead at half time (11-9) Yuen Long had to wait for the last minute to secure a 24-23 victory that leaves them 1 win away (last match against Nam Wan) from the title and promotion. In the following match The Institute of Education (教院) managed an outstanding come back against Long Hei (龍禧), after being 7-16 down at half time they reversed the match for a 26-23 win.

In the Thursday matches, ARISE needed to bounce back from its heavy Sunday defeat whereas Shun Lee Catholic (順利天主教) needed a win to keep a very small hope of promotion. After a slow start, (8-7 for Shun Lee) ARISE recovered their confidence and managed an 18-15 victory. They now will need a slip up from one of the top 2 team and a victory in their Saturday night rubber against Chun Yuen(駿源)to have a chance of promotion. In the later match of the day, HKIED lead Nam Wan 12-11 at half time but could not maintain their lead and was defeated 24-26.

Because of delayed matches AKITA has still 2 games in hand, whereas ARISE and Yuen Long only have 1 remaining. The promotion places could be allocated by the end of the WE if ARISE were to draw or lose and AKITA could manage a win.

AKITA is back in control with a 23-11 win against ARISE (13 - 4)

2009-05-20T22:02:00.000+08:00

Despite a very early start (9am kick-off) it was a fully motivated 13-strong squad that was warming up well on time. That was the first sign that the commitment at least was there. Everyone knew what was a stake, anything else than a win would remove any chance of promotion.

Coach Banks made a rather extensive briefing, focusing on the different options available to the team in defense and in attack to make sure the AKITA team would be able to adapt to anything thrown at them. To surprise the opposition, he kept Hans on the bench with PA deputising on the right half for the first few minutes. Wan was starting in the goal and stayed for the whole match as Markus was missing in some sunny island. With Yoann on the left wing, Norbert in half left, Ulf centre, Rolf on the right wing and Alex on the line the instruction was to play direct and straight to the goal to put pressure. This worked well with PA opening the scoring, unfortunately ARISE immediately got the first of many penalty to bring them to parity. Norbert scored 2 for one ARISE goal and as the league leaders were starting to settle in, it was time to get Hans on the pitch. This immediately paid off with him scoring 2 goals in one minute. As the coaches were calling for a strong defensive effort, Wan remained undefeated for a full 10 minutes bringing the score to 8-2. Alex, Hans and Norbert had been yellow carded by the 10th minute but it was clearly not for lack of commitment.

As ARISE was struggling to go through the defense, they were insisting on their line and the simple strategy of pushing defenders in the 6 meter area to ask for penalties. This proved efficient as the referees were particularly strict on inside defending rather than on offensive fouls. Neverthless, by half time Alex, Markus R., Ulf added their contribution to Norbert and Hans sustained effort to make the score 13 - 4. That was probably the most complete hald ever played by AKITA as the game plan had been fully respected. Conscious that second halves are usually not the strongest part of the AKITA performances, the coaches asked everyone to remain focus. The team had been swapping well to keep everyone fresh and wanted to capitalise on that in the second half.

The ARISE team obtained one more converted penalty directly at the restart. After Yoann scored his first of the match, both team faced a stallmate for 5 minutes as noone seemed able to score. 2 quick goals from RISE bringing the score to 15-9 were required to wake up the team. Hans scored one more to restart the team but ARISE answered quickly again with 2 goals. The AKITA team was letting themselves played into the fast rythm of their opponents rather than imposoing is slow progressive favored one. As the defense settled back again to prevent any ARISE fast play it provided balls again for fast break as well as wing plays with David scoring 3 and Markus 1. ARISE scored a last goal on the 16th minutes to bring the score to 19 - 11 but it was becoming obvious withless than 10 to play that they had limited fuel left in the tank as they pushed as hard as they could at the restart. With a strong turnover with to Dominick, Guillaume and Nobel also participating, the AKITA team was still fresh and able to develop its game. Guilaume added his name to the scoresheet thanks to a good pass from Hans with 3 minutes to go and Hans did not let anyone but himself conclude the scoring of a 23-11 victory.

Coach Banks was hardly euphoric when he made the match summary: Today, AKITA showed its potential as a team, and proved 100% determination. Everyone had the will to succeed, and everyone contributed to this formidable triumph. Now, after this splendid success we can all look forward to the final matches of the season. Let's all stay focused, and earn the merits for AKITA's maiden season in the final two matches of this round. With this in mind I shall conclude: "Mu.... nass!" (Alex, aka Coach Banks)

AKITA is now back amongst the promotion places with ARISE dropping into 3rd. Yuen Long victory against HKIED means they stand first in the league thanks to their particular result against AKITA and they are now only 2 matches away from a division title.

Hans 8, Norbert 4, David 3, Markus 2, Alex 2, Ulf 1, PA 1, Guille 1, Yoann 1

AKITA bounces back against Chun Yuen (駿源) 23 - 11 (11 - 2)

2009-05-12T22:04:00.000+08:00

This was a risky match for many reasons for the AKITA team. First AKITA needed to bounce back from its sunday defeat, second Chun Yuen had finished co-leader of group C and third it was a week day match. Something not very well suited for the AKITA team that could not be sure of how many players would be on time... Except some minor delay for one of the players who wanted to visit the Choi Hung changing room before joining the Ho Man Tin Leisure centre for the match, there was no issue and the match sheet was 12-strong with Wan, Markus, Norbert, Dominik for his first match, Ulf, Alex, Hans, David, PA, Guille, Jocelyn and Lars.

Coaches and skipper team talk before the start were pretty clear, AKITA needed to play on its strength and make sure to start at 100%, particularly in defense.

The commitment was there but on the third minute Chun Yuen was given a penalty as the left wing got stopped by PA on his way to the 6 meters. The decision surprised the AKITA team as both players were facing each other and the winger had no chance of a shot attempt. Even more surprising it was the referee the further away from the ball that whistled whereas the other referee was indicating a 9 meters free throw. The AKITA team just shrugged and Hans scored immediately to reinstate parity. Alex was then well served to score 2 in a row. Chun Yuen came back to 3 - 2 but from there on the shop was closed. AKITA scored the following 10 goals without conceding (8 by half time) with almost everyone contributing. During this whole phase, the AKITA team could not get any free throw in its favour.

With the score at 13 - 2, the AKITA team was using its bench a lot keeping energy up but started to be a little less focused. That gave Chun Yuen the chance to score 2 in a row. Jocelyn and Ulf opened the defense in the middle to score 1 each to restore the advantage. Number 23 of Chun Yuen was given a free pass to shoot from the hip in the middle and got one back. Then come what is probably the goal of the match, Guillaume saw the lack of attention of the keeper and of his direct defender on the right wing and shot from 8 meters above the defense in a wing positon. As his brother already started to complain that it was not an open shot the ball ended in the opposite top corner of the goal without the start of a move from the keeper!

Hans and PA added few more goals from the halves but Chun Yuen enjoyed few positive moments and scored 4 in a row. At that time happened one of the most puzzling incident, on an attempt of a fast break the Chun Yuen keeper threw a long ball, as Markus came out to intercept it he jumped, caught the ball and was bumped into by the running Chun Yuen player. As both players ended on the floor and Markus could not control the ball, the referee indicated the penalty point. Markus was fuming and would feel even more unlucky few seconds later when after stopping the 7 meter throw he pushed the ball inside when falling on the floor. On one of the following action, one of the AKITA players went alone in a fast break and when he tried to shoot, everyone could hear the sound of a big slap on his arm. As the ball ended out of play, nothing was whistled. One more penalty given to Shun Yuen by the field referee who overruled his closer colleague again did not lighten the mood but the AKITA team kept its composure to score four more with an excellent Jocelyn scoring the last 2. A brave Chun Yuen scored the final goal of the match to make the score 23 - 11.

There was a taste of deja-vu in this match as AKITA built the result in the first half by conceding only 2. After that the game was more fluid and the AKITA team was less rigorous in the second half. It was an improvement on the last 2 matches but demonstrated that the AKITA team is much more comfortable when they start ahead. On Sunday. AKITA will have no leeway as they will need to win against ARISE to keep their promotion hopes alive. It will be a 9am kick off and it will be important to be awake from the first second.

Hans 5, Johannes 4, Alex 3, PA 3, Norbert 3, David 2, Guille 1, Lars 1, Ulf 1

First Defeat for the AKITA Team against Yuen Long (元朗) 17 - 19 (9 - 9)

2009-05-11T22:15:00.000+08:00

This was once again a midday kick-off and before the start of the match, the AKITA players were looking for the cool of the shade. The Yuen Long Team had a deeper bench but the AKITA team with 11 players on the match sheet were not at their worst. Based on the preliminary matches, AKITA knew that Yuen Long had a strong attack and that they lost first place in their group by 1 goal only against ARISE.

The match started with both teams being very close, the AKITA defense was not as sharp as usual and despite scoring first by David, the Gwailos were then over taken to 1 - 2. Hans brought AKITA to 2 - 2, then PA scored for 3 - 3, David again brought the two teams back at 4 - 4. After 8 minutes, the score was still tied, but for the next 10 minutes, AKITA would not score. Something was broken in the rythm of the team and some nervous mistakes offered too many opportunities to Yuen Long. AKITA suffered its worst sequence ever seeing the score growing to 4 - 9. Yuen Long was finding the line every single time creating havoc and frustration in the AKITA defense. By the time AKITA reacted, Norbert and Markus R. got yellow carded. Fortunately, after a time out, the team moved to a 6/0 defense and this stopped the access to the line. In the last 7 minutes, AKITA did not concede and came back in the match. Markus scored first followed by Alex and Norbert. Playing with one player less as Norbert received a second yellow, AKITA still managed not to concede and 2 penalties converted by Alex brought back the team to 9 - 9 at half time.

The second half started like the first with both team answering to each other. AKITA was trying to increase the pressure in attacking phase and PA scored twice from the distance forcing the defense to get out. Another David fast break allowed AKITA to be 2 ahead at 13 - 11. Number 12 of Yuen Long reduced the gap but Hans launch himself to score on the next 9 meter free throw. With the score at 14 - 12 and with 13 minutes to play, the AKITA team should have built on the gap. Exactly the opposite happened as the tiredness started to show. The defense was giving too many opportunities and the attack was not necessarily choosing the right options. Alex once again brought the team back one ahead but Yuen long answered with 3 goals in 2 minutes.

With 5 minutes to go Norbert scored bringing the team just 1 behind but on the following action he received a severe 2 minutes suspension. Things were hard they, they were becoming much more difficult. AKITA was forced into doing some changes as some of the players were just exhausted with the heat. Yuen Long restored a 2 goal advantage but Hans immediately brought it back to 1. With 4 minutes to go, the AKITA team could not concede anymore. To his great surprise Hans received 2 minutes against him and AKITA was defending at 4 against 6 for 20 seconds. The players on the pitch gave all they could not to concede and managed to keep the score up to Norbert's return on the pitch. Unfortunately, he received a final 2 minutes 5 seconds later. At 4 against 6 for another 1 and a half minute and with 1:50 to play things were becoming extremely difficult. The AKITA team did not give up and once again managed to protect the goal getting the ball back with 1:20 to play. at 4 against 6, the AKITA team tried to find options and not to force something impossible but they let themselves get cornered on the right wing and a too optimistic pass ended out of play.

With 30 seconds to play, Yuen Long took their final time out to make sure they would follow a plan. With one player less, the AKITA team still tried to press high but there was little other option than letting one of the Yuen Long player go to the shoot and hope for a miss. Unfortunately number 12 scored to close the 19 - 17 victory of Yuen Long.

This was not a great performance of AKITA, as the team lacked consistency on the day and did not fare well under the heat and pressure of a close match but full credits to Yuen Long which performed from the first to the last minute and never decreased the tempo, even when they struggled against the AKITA defense at the end of the first half. They were the better team on the day, coping better with the weather and playing their game all along.

For the promotion race, both teams can still get through but it made everything much closer and the AKITA team burnt their joker. This is even closer considering that ARISE drew against HKIED. Those four teams are therefore still in the mix.

Alex 4, Hans 3, David 3, PA 3, Markus 2, Norbert 2

AKITA starts with a win against Nam Wan (嵐灣) 23 - 13 (10 - 2)

2009-05-11T21:41:00.000+08:00

For its first match of the second phase, the AKITA team was facing Nam Wan in a midday match. Sun cream was definitely needed as the sun was at its peak and the heat was turned on.

Nam Wan had strong performances as well as less rigorous ones in the group matches to take third, so Akita was not sure of what type of opposition they would face. The main concern before the match though was the heat. With a match starting at 11:15 and absolutely no shade anywhere, the intention was to put the match away as fast as possible to avoid a difficult ending.

After a nice clean goal by Guillaume on the right wing on the 2nd minute, both team played very much defensive, observing each other and the second goal only came on the 7th minute by David. The number 12, best scorer of Nam Wan, immediately answered and the match really started then. With AKITA scoring 1 goal every 2 minutes and defending with commitment, the score went to 5 - 1 before a penalty was given to Nam Wan to score their 2nd. From there on, the Nam Wan team could not find any gap and 3 goals of Hans with David and PA between them made the score 9 - 2. The AKITA team was playing at its own (slow) pace, making sure no fast break was given and creating the doubt in the opponents mind.

For the restart of the match, the team made few changes but more prejudiciably, moved down a notch in intensity. The pace of the match accelerated despite the heat and it was not necessarily to the advantage of the oldest team on the pitch... Nam Wan got the first 2 goals of the half, giving them something to build and cheer on. Lars was the first to answer followed in the same minute by a Hans fast break. Then Norbert traded goal with the Nam Wan team each of his three consecutive goals being answered back. One more goal from Ulf and the score was only 16 - 9. It was the moment for the AKITA team to take a time out to try to refocus and revisit its game plan. It did not become perfect, but still proved an positive as the end of the match was a little bit more controlled.

Hans immediately put 1 goal more and this was followed by the play of the match. Lars starting from the right wing, ran with the ball to cross with the half left and then without stopping received a laser pass in position of left wing in the middle of two defenders, at the 6 meters, preceding David on the way and slotting the ball through the keeper without even seeing the goal. That left the whole bench screaming and clapping and the Nam Wan team bewildered and still wondering how the ball went through the whole defense first and the keeper second.

PA, Ulf and David kept on adding some goals and Norbert concluded this 23 - 13 victory. This was not the strongest outing of AKITA as the team clearly suffered from the heat as well as a lack of consistency, but the strong defensive performance of the first half made the match more manageable. The difficulty to mantain constant focus in this heat was nevertheless creating concerns to the coaches.

Quiet before the Storm

2009-04-28T12:16:00.000+08:00

It has been a long time since our last post to talk about the team, mostly because it has been a long time since our last official match! We should have started the second phase against the Happy Dragons (3rd in group B) last Week End but with the poor weather, the full sessions of matches was called off. We will now have to find another date for that match. Instead, our first match will be this Friday (May 1)around noon against Nam Wan. They finished third of the group C. The schedule is supposed to go crescendo as we are supposed to play 3rds of groups B and Cs, then seconds, then firsts. If things go well the last 2 matches could be real crackers that would be decisive for the promotion and the title. Before we get there, there is a big week coming as we have 3 matchs within 7 days. We will need to get back quickly into the rythm to face this crucial week. The AKITA training was pretty disturbed over the last few weeks as we lost the benefit of the Mei Foo court, this combined with people travelling means that we only trained a couple of time with the HK national team in the last few weeks. We hope to get some new slot for the training as soon as possible but if anyone has a suggestion of where to train during a week day evening, we are interested. Also, the current freeze on training makes integration of new players more difficult but we are recruiting and the earlier new players come, the better we can organise next year. Additionnaly, there should be new event (HK cup, beach tournament...) which we can enter AKITA into. Let's hope for a spectacular end of the year

AKITA Marches to the second phase

2009-04-07T21:03:00.000+08:00

During March, the AKITA Team was in an off competition month and was waiting for the start of the second phase. The survey on what should keep the team busy gave the following results: Play one friendly match 1 (9%) Play many friendlies 3 (27%) Go the gym to lose the beer belly 0 (0%) Get the germans to take french lessons 2 (18%) Train proper combinations for the TV 0 (0%) Find a beer company to sponsor the team in kind 8 (72%) At least the priorities of the team were clear and this should definitely increase the fear factor for other teams... But the team still managed to get some handball before the easter break. AKITA was honoured to play with the Hong Kong senior and junior national teams. An interesting and not easy experience as the very high and mobile defense of Hong Kong is unusual for players coming from Europe and shows the strong fitness of the Hong Kong team. On the 25th March, the AKITA team met the HK PolyU at the Shaw Sports Complex. A great location for this match against an very strong team. Going forward, the AKITA team will have the chance to play more time against the Hong Kong national team as the height, weight and physical style of the AKITA defense will hopefully help them to face a different style from the traditional Hong Kong style in preparation of the Asian games. We wish all the best to the Hong Kong team and are honoured to play with them. Regarding the second phase, Long Hei the Happy Dragons (龍禧) managed 2 wins in the last 2 matches to get to 15 points and the third place. in Group C Chun Yuen (駿源) should go through with 12 points following Yan Ching (仁青) forfeit.

Directions to get to Handball Courts

2009-03-11T18:55:00.000+08:00

These are the main Handball locations for Akita:

Lai Chi Kok Sports Centre (MTR Mei Foo)- main training ground
Choi Hung Road Sports Centre (MTR Wong Tai Sin)- most matches are played here
Ho Man Tin Leisure Centre (MTR Jordan) - occasional matches, for example during the week
Tin Shui Sports Centre (MTR Tin Shui Wai) - rarely used but for some matches during the Choi Hung refurbishment period

Lai Chi Kok Sports Centre (Most common training place)

Location: Lai Wan Road Hei Street

Take the MTR to Mei Foo (NOT Lai Chi Kok). Take Exit C1 at Mei Foo MTR. Follow Lai Wan Road and the sports centre will be on the left..
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Choi Hung Road Sports Centre (most weekend matches are played there and current October training)

Location: between Choi Hung Road and Sheung Hei Street .

Take the MTR to Wong Tai Sin (NOT Choi Hung). Take Exit D1 or D2 at Wong Tai Sin MTR. Follow Shatin Pass Road to Choi Hung Road and the sports centre is visible on the other side. Take the bridge and the handball court is on the left.
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Ho Man Tin Leisure Centre (usually for matches during the week)

Location: No.1 Chung Yee street, Ho Man Tin, Kowloon

The simplest option is to take the MTR to Jordan, Yau Ma Tei or Hung Hom and then grab a taxi for a short ride. There are minibus but they are tricky if you are not familiar with them and you don't want to be late for kick off.

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Tin Shui Sports Centre (in special circumstances)

Location: Tin Shui Sports centre off Tin Shui Road, Tin Shui Wai, New territories

The simplest option is to take the MTR to Tin Shui Wai and then grab a taxi for a short ride. You can walk on Tin Yiu Road, then continue on Tin Wu Road before reaching Tin Shui Road. Use Exit C to be on the north side of the road.

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The match against King's was played in on the San Wo Playground (屯門新禾里手球場, 屯門新和里). MAtches there are pretty rare but just in case, we have kept the explanation there. It is Tuen Mun between Siu Hong MTR and Tuen Mun MTR stations.

Going to Siu Hong tube station and share taxis from there should be the fastest option.

The location of the the ground is San Wo Lane:

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2nd Phase Qualifiers

2009-03-05T15:19:00.000+08:00

As the last matches are getting played, only 2 spots for the second round are still up for grab. In group A, the results were already known with AKITA, Institute of Education (教院), and Hong Kong Institute of Education (香港教育學院) going through in this order. In group B, ARISE is qualified with maximum points in front of Yuen Long (元朗). Lok Lun (樂聯) could be the last team to join them unless Long Hei (龍禧) manages to win against Attacker and Wui Chun (匯俊). In group C, only 7 teams competed and 2 teams are already qualified. Shun Lee Catholic (順利天主教) with 5 wins a draw will be joined by Nam Wan (嵐灣) (3 wins, 2 defeat and a draw) and they will be waiting for Chun Yuen (駿源) which only needs a draw against Yan Ching (仁青) currently ranked last in the group. Should they not manage that, YMCA will progress through thanks to their 30 - 9 defeat of Nam Wan (嵐灣) in their last match.

Result Round-Up

2009-02-26T10:38:00.000+08:00

In group A, AKITA is joined by the 2 Hong Kong Institute of education teams (the last and first opponnents of AKITA in the 1st phase) in the next round. Those three team ending 21, 18 and 15 points not leaving any points to the other 5 teams on the way. This group was rather a defensive group with AKITA ending best defense out of the three groups (3 matches with less than 10 goals conceded, a feat only managed once by HKIE and not done by any other team in the other 2 groups). Congratulations to Sun Hoi Lin (辛亥年) which despite a 26-2 defeat by AKITA managed to rack up 3 wins againts other team in close matches. Unfortunately for HKUST, they only managed 1 point. In group B, ARISE managed a clean sweep with 21 points thanks to a 21 - 20 victory against their challenger Yuen Long (元朗) just before the AKITA - HKIE match. Yuen Long will join them in the second phase and will be an interesting opposition, they have the highest goal scoring average of any team in the three groups. ARISE could be the main threat for AKITA in the second phase. In this group defense was not always the theme, with ATTACKER winning their last match 47 - 26. Not enough though to make them go through. In group C, many matches are still to play and the qualification is still uncertain, most matches have been close and not team has taken full point. The three teams to go through will then start with less points. Shun Lee (順利天主教) is likely to get out of this group with 4 wins and a draw.

Big Match does not disappoint - AKITA 26 - 20 Institute of Education

2009-02-16T13:35:00.000+08:00

For the final match of the first round, AKITA was facing HKIE, the oly other undefeated team of their group. This match would determine who would get into the second round with full mark and was getting the "prime time" with an 8:30PM start. The starting line up from left to right was Yoann, David, Ulf, Hans, PA with Alex on the line and Markus is the goal. The good intentions of AKITA in defense were clear from the start with the commitment of the team resulting in 2 yellow cards in the first 3 minutes. PA was given some space on the right wing with the HKIE defense playing high trying to cut the transmission with Hans. The first goal of the match was for Yoann who purposely recovered a PA shot on the outside post to score at the opposite wing. The higher HKIE was defending on Hans the better it proved for him as he scored the following three. Alex was proving his experience by getting in the gap left by Hans when he was man-marked, keeping the ball flowing and stretching the defense. Both team were keeping it pretty close with a score of 4-4 after 10 minutes, but the quality of play was very visible and AKITA was creating options obtaining a penalty to make it 5-4 and gaining some ball in defense to make it 7-4 after a Norbert score on the half left where he was alternating with David. The Institute of Education was resisting very well and responded with 2 quick goals but things were clearly getting tough as they conceded another penalty scored by Hans. A shoot directly in Markus' head from the wing was not sanctioned to the bewilderment of the AKITA team but this was only a small delay as in the 16th and then again 2 minutes later HKIE suffered 2 minutes exclusions. With 4 minutes of overplay, the Gwailos got heir opponents tired and started to steer away. PA started to get his shooting right and the good work of the whole team to create space offered him 3 wing goals with Ulf also getting on the score sheet. In the last minute, Hans and Yoann added a goal each, opening the gap significantly for the first time (14 - 8). At half time the AKITA team was feeling confident and only had minor adjustments to do. A strong start of the second half allowed the AKITA to steer regularly. If possible, Hans was building even more confidence adding 4 goals to his tally in 12 minutes and providing PA with 2 more. As the ball was circulating well, the HKIE defense was getting disorganized allowing Alex to score or obtain fouls. As Markus R. was changing with a very bruised Yoann, a committed shot from the left wing allowed for a 10 goal lead (23 -13, 13th minute) and he scored again to restore the 10 goal advantage a minute later. After that, the team was more focused on managing the score and maintaining some rotation in the team with Alex and PA already on the bench to get some rest. This was also a good chance for Wan and Markus to show their talents and make some fine saves as the fast breaks were getting a little bit more frequent. Lars was using his size to put pressure on the defense as a line. Even the 2 minutes expulsion of a flabbergasted Yoann for putting the ball on the floor when a foul was whistled (we are not sure how he can have been more compliant..) did not unsettle the team and even if the score was not flowing much anymore, the AKITA team remained in control. As PA replaced Hans he added one penalty. Guillaume who entered before on the right wing for the final part of the match was given a good ball after some Ulf work and made it 1 goal for 1 shoot bringing the AKITA advantage to 8 goals. HKIE got the last 2 to make it 26 – 20. This concludes the first phase of the league with a quality match where all the players enjoyed some good handball and where AKITA preserved a 100% record. Scorers: Hans: 8, PA: 7, Yoann 2, Norbert 2, Ulf 2, Markus R. 2, David 1, Alex 1, Guille 1.

Akita defeats Hoi Lap 33-15 (17-5)

2009-02-14T17:03:00.000+08:00

On Monday 19 jan 2009, the AKITA team was facing Hoi Lap for a postponed match. After few slow starts in previous matches, the coaches emphasized on starting well the match and being immediately strong in defense. This was almost respected with the exception of a first minute goal as the Gwailo team did not concede the second before the 18th minute. When attacking, AKITA was facing a high defense almost man on man. A peculiar tactics at the beggining of a match which did not work wonder with the Hoi Lap team conceding 5 goals in 5 minutes. Hoi Lap then retreated to more traditional defense slowing down the game but not reducing the success rate of AKITA too much. After 15 minutes the score was 13 - 1 and the outcome of the match did not seem too uncertain. From then some of the players were starting to think about the next match rather than this one and were giving more chances to the Hoi Lap team. AKITA conceded 3 goals in the last 2 minutes to get to 17-5 at half time. In the second half, the match was mostly about fast breaks and quick engagements. The AKITA team was working on connections with the line with Alex leading the charge and keeping the score moving. During the first 10 minutes of the second half the 2 teams were closely matched with AKITA scoring only increasing its lead by 1 goal to reach 25-12 after number 50 scored his third penalty of the day. For the following 10 minutes the AKITA team was focused again and moved away to bring the score to 30-12, the biggest gap of the match. 3 more goals for each side and the final whistle was blown. Scorers: Alex: 7, David:6, Hans: 4, Norbert: 4, Yoann: 3, Guillaume: 3, Lars: 2, Rolf: 2, Ulf: 1, PA: 1

Second part of the Season

2009-01-12T18:21:00.000+08:00

For the second part of the season, we will carry all the points from the first part and play 6 new teams (top 3 of group B and top 3 of group C). There are still 2 matchs to play including the summit of the group against HKIES, the other undefeated team of the group A. As all points counts for the second part of the season, the results will matter to start with the same number of points as the other teams in the other groups. In terms of organisation, Ulf has paid the entrance fee of HKD 1,000 for the team. What we will do a next trainings is to collect HKD 200 by player to repay Ulf and constitute a small amount of cash available for potential club minor spending like glue etc. Finally for those who were not at the last training, our sponsor AKITA (link on the right) has provided us with some nice sweat shirts to keep us warm before and after the match. For the players who did not get them yet please ask us and for our sponsor many thanks again!!

AKITA 29 - 15 Tin Shui Wai

2009-01-11T20:25:00.000+08:00

After a hard fought first half (10 - 7 for AKITA), the team managed to steer aways for a 29-15 victory that qualifies AKITA for the main round of the league. Picture courtesy of Schwede. After 2 minutes of play AKITA was already 2 -0 down and after 5 minutes the Gwailos were yet to score, clearly people were still feeling in Holiday. Ulf shaked his teammates to restart the machine and it resulted in 4 unanswered goals in 5 minutes. Crosses between Hans (3 goals) and PA (2) were creating havoc in Tin Shui Wai defense and giving chances for the wings which Rolf took with a precise shoot. <=Markus tries to make himself look bigger by not breathing out. After 15 minutes the score was back to 6 -6 as number 17 (left half) managed to slot in 4 goals with personal shots creating frustration among the AKITA defenders. That was nevertheless the turning point of the match as PA brought AKITA back ahead before leaving his place to Norbert. Markus R.m playing on the line, finally got a sniff of the ball and scored followed by a clever drop ball by Yoann. David's first goal made the score 10 -6. Ulf displaying his number to the photograph after giving his directions to the team=> Unfortunately, with 10 seconds to play Tin Shui Wai got one back. As the second half started, Norbert scored on the first movement putting pressure on the blue team. As they were trying to take Hans out by man marking him, the defense ended exposed giving chances to the line. <= Hans and PA succesfully cross to bring AKITA back to parity. 1 goal each and one for Rolf in 3 minutes to be credited to the long cross "No goal" is all they think about => Markus scored his second and third whereas Ulf managed to go all the way through the middle. David added another 2, Norbert scored a Dushebaev style goal and Hans was starting to get some freedom again to score his 4th and 5th. As the ball was going faster from one side to the other, Guille, back from a shoulder injury, slot the ball between the keeper's leg on his first chance and added another 2 minutes later with an Ulf goal in between to bring the score to 24 - 12. The pace was then getting much faster with many fast breaks and first waves shoots. Tin Shui Wai had a series of 3 goals but the last 5 were for AKITA. On the last second of the match, Ulf gave a brilliant ball to PA to make the match 30 -15 but the ball crashed on the lower post to signal the end of the match Yoann is fighting hard to make himself larger => Goals: Hans 7, PA 5, Markus R. 4, David 3, Ulf 3, Norbert 2, Rolf 2, Guille 2, Yoann 1 Best scorer for Tin Shui Wai, number 17 with 7. <= Rolf is in a good day unfortunately for number 19 <= Once Hans adrenaline will start to flow through, the opponents will not anymore

Training Pictures

2009-01-02T09:30:00.000+08:00

To end the year, the AKITA team members not yet in holiday had a training match with the Hong Kong youth team. Here are some photos of this evening:

Wan our goalkeeper

David always the first one on the fast breaks (and scoring below)

Ulf (Blue shorts) scoring and Yoann checking the ball is in the net.

Akita focused in Defense and Jack proving administrators can jump too.

PA shooting (below) and Alex (right) organising some attack.

AKITA 32 - 9 HKUST (11 - 4)

2008-12-15T22:56:00.000+08:00

4th win for AKITA After the previous week where the AKITA team struggled to quick start the match, the coaches and players were focused on having a strong performance in the first few minutes. The HKUST Team is made of students from the eponym university where they enjoy the facilities to train every week and are sometime joined in their training by members of the first division HKUST (former students of HKUST). the AKITA team expected a well in place team with a good knowledge of each other and some reasonable bench. The starting 7 was as follow (from left to right) Yoann (5), PA (11), Ulf (20), Hans (14), Rolf (12) with Alex (9) on the line and Markus (74) in the goal. Wan (28), David (18) and Lars (78) were waiting on the bench ready to step in. HKUST won the toss (4 matches and still no toss won for AKITA) and decided to start with the ball. After few moments of observations including an AKITA shoot on the post, PA opened the score passing through the middle of the defence. Continuing on some success from the previous match the AKITA team was working to give opportunities to the left side for PA and Yoann. PA scored a penalty for his third goal and Yoann added one to make the score 4 : 0. Using the pressure created by their early lead, the AKITA team was proving dangerous from all sides with Hans and Ulf increasing the score and Alex moving well to create opportunities for his team mates and finding the post himself. The HKUST was struggling to create chance from the distance and reacted well by doing interesting moves with the line as well as with entry of second lines. AKITA defenders were quick to concede 9 meters to avoid giving a free shoot on the goal and their keepers stepped in to protect the score. Hans was putting pressure on the HKUST defence through his runs and crosses. A good cross for a PA goal was followed by an interception and a fast break goal. David also scored on a fast break showing speed that would prove lethal in the second half. At half time the score was 11 - 4. The coaches refocused the team on the defense to cut the relationship between HKUST halves and their line. The team talk proved successful as the defence got tighter at the restart and did not concede a single goal before the 10th minutes. The backs where taking responsibility for the shooting with Ulf on the line and David in centre working hard to create space and movement. As Lars was then on the right wing he was launching Hans for crosses, long pass or shoots. On the other end as the HKUST right wing was coming to help its half, PA gave the ball to Rolf on the left wing where a clean finish brought the score to 15 - 4. Two more successive goals from David and the score was reaching 18 -4 before HKUST number 16 scored his third personal goal to stop their dry spell. After one last goal, PA went out for Alex going back to the line with David moving to left half. The score was then 20 - 6 and it was time for an acceleration in the rythm of both teams. With a quarter of the match remaining, David continued to prove his speed in fast breaks adding 2 more goals followed by 2 Hans goals where the keeper did not even move as the ball was going through. Number 15 from HKUST was pushing hard to get something in the match and managed to score the last 3 of his team reaching a score of 26 - 9. With 5 minutes left, it was time for Alex who had been unlucky so far to make a difference scoring 3 in 3 minutes plus one from Ulf. David added his 8th on a great performance and Yoann closed the scoring. Overall a strong performance from the AKITA team with an improved efficiency in the shooting and good roation of players. This will be something to built on as opponents in the new year should get stronger with every match. Have a good rest, thank you for everyone's effort this year and happy year end celebrations! Goals: David 8, PA 7, Hans 6, Ulf 4, Alex 3, Yoann 3, Rolf 1.

3rd Win for AKITA against Wong Siu Ching

2008-12-09T01:17:00.000+08:00

AKITA comes back from behind to win 18 - 9 (5 - 6) against Wong Siu Ching. In a match full of surprises, AKITA managed to keep its cool to win thanks to a strong second half. For its first Monday match of the competition, it seemed that the AKITA player were still focus on the office rather than on the work to be done. The opponent was unknown and was playing a quite different style from European teams. A lot of quick passes were targeted at wing or line players. Wong Siu Ching scored the first 2 goals thanks to its number 9 from the right wing. Akita did not score in the first 10 minutes because of a lot of lost balls and poor shoots. PA (11) entered for Markus (17) and scored the first goal on a great pass from the half but not without messing up before his first ball by failing to catch a normal pass! the AKITA team did not seem to be in the match up to the 14th minute when Yoann (5) decided to take the initiative and scored despite being fouled, escaping his opponent with a 360 turn. He also scored the 3rd for AKITA 2 minutes later. Score was then 3 -5 and it was the confidence boost the Gwailo team needed. Hans finally found the target scoring 2 more goals before half time using his power to make the space and the shoot. Nevertheless, at half time Wong Siu Ching was still ahead 6-5. After 3 goals in the first half, the French connection took the spotlight. The coaches asked for few technical adjustments and repositioned PA to the half left next to Yoann. This was rapidly proved judicious with 3 more goals (1 penalty) for PA and Yoann adding another one bringing the team back to parity and then building a 2 goal cushion. (9 - 7 on the 6th minute in 2nd Half). Number 12 answered with a penalty but the AKITA Team was now in motion and Hans scored a fined shot piercing through the middle of the defense and leaving the keeper far from the ball. As the Wong Siu Ching defenders were getting higher to try to stop the AKITA halves, it opened some space in the middle of the defense.It was time to get few fast breaks and balls to the line, Alex (9) scored the next 2 goals. The opponents scored another goal but it was then all one way traffic from there ans despite a technical 2 minutes for Lars entering the court as Yoann did not go through the right channel out of the pitch, the score kept widening with PA scoring a lob penalty that would not have been approved by the coaches, Ulf adding his name to the score sheet and Hans closing the score with 2 more goals. Final score of 18 - 9 was hiding a match of 2 halves and it has been a good chance for the AKITA squad to prove its team spirit and learn from its mistakes. Goals: Hans 6, PA 6 (2/2), Yoann 3, Alex 2, Ulf 1.

3rd Match on the way

2008-12-05T13:50:00.000+08:00

On Monday December 8th, AKITA plays Wong Siu Ching at Ho Ma Tin. This will be the first match ion this court and as it is on a Monday it may be more challenging to get the full squad on time. Wong Siu Ching is a team that moved between division over the last few years and they should have some experience and a decent pool of players. Please see below the Map to Ho Ma Tin. Closest tube station is Yau Ma Tei. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=de&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=107233192615142964289.00045d42487d88f2aae08&ll=22.311987,114.1802&spn=0.004804,0.009656&z=17

AKITA wins second match 26 - 2 against Sun Hoi Lin

2008-11-22T17:35:00.000+08:00

As the pitch was available when the AKITA team arrived prior to the match, this was a good chance to train a little bit before the match. As the opposition was a school boy team upgraded to the senior league, this meant that with an average age over 30 against opponent most likely around 16, the AKITA team was the twice as old. Quite rapidly the result proved subject to little doubt. Nevertheless both teams make sure that they played seriously and as a proof of respect, the AKITA team make sure of not giving any free goal. At the half time score was 14 - 0, AKITA shooting was not as accurate as could have been but defense was showing just the right commitment. in 25 minutes, Markus only needed to do one save on a shoot from the distance. The older team proved that they could still run by conceding zero fast break in the whole match. In the second half, full credit has to be given to number 7 and 13 of the Sun Hoi Lin team as they both managed to score a goal. A deserved reward for their efforts. At the end of the match both teams posed together for a photo demonstrating the good spirit of this encounter. As the AKITA reflected afterwards, after demonstrating they could win against a team half their age, they would relish the challenge to try to do the same against a team double their age. Gols: Hans 5, David 5, Yoann 3, PA 3, Alex 3, Ulf 2, Markus R. 2, Lars 1, Norbert 1, Rolf 1

1st Match and 1st Win for the AKITA Team against HKIE

2008-11-16T16:59:00.000+08:00

On Saturday 15th, November the AKITA Handball team defeated the Hong Kong Institute of Education 24 -12 (13 - 5). AKITA started with a strong seven, from left to right: Markus (17), Norbert (10), Ulf (20), Hans (14), Guillaume (3) with Alex (9) on the line and Wan (28) in the goal. The HKIE team won the toss and started with the ball. They lost no time and scored on their first action with a wing shot as the AKITA defense was still settling in. This immediately woke up the blue team that scored 4 unanswered goal with Hans scoring the first AKITA goal ever! After some good combination and cross between the half bases, AKITA was leading 6 - 3 on the 12th minute. The team was finding its rythm and and started few changes. On the right wing, Guillaume was replaced by his own brother PA (11). On the left wing Lars (78) and Yoann (5) entered. The AKITA team was playing it size advantage and only conceded 2 goals more by half time. One on a masked free kick and the other on a penalty. During that time, the goals were still adding with contribution from all positions. It was becoming obvious that the HKIE team was losing concentration as they were under pressure. At the half time, the score was 13 - 5. After a short coaching speech, the AKITA team was back on the pitch and commited to put the match away as soon as possible. Alex (9) was leaving his place to Markus (17) during the attack and Yoann (5) was on the left wing. The score moved to 20 - 6 in 10 minutes with Norbert scoring a powerful shot from the distance when referees were calling for slow play and Yoann answering an HKIE free kick goal by 2 successive hard fought goals. It was time for more changes for the gwailo team with Guillaume (3) back on the court and Rolf (12) getting some minutes under his belt after his ankle injury in the previous training. As the match seemed under control for AKITA the HKIE team tried to push forward engaging as fast as possible and even scoring few goals as the AKITA players were still in the other half. Too little too late here and the AKITA team could continue its turnover with Markus S. (17) participating in his first handball match ever and Lars (78) managing to get the 2nd 2minutes of the Match with 5 minutes to go on a good effort to stop a fast break. Hans (14) closed the scoring for AKITA with his 6th personal goal but as the team was coming back too slowly the HKIE team managed to have 3 players facing Wan with no defender. Wan had made some fine save including some on fast break but this was too many there and the final score was then 24 - 12. As a conclusion, it was a solid performance by AKITA with some good display in attack where goals were well distributed. (Hans 6, PA 5, Norbert 4, Alex 4 including 2/2 on penalties, Markus 2, Yoann 2, Ulf 1). In defense, there was little solution for the HKIE team as soon as the team was able to avoid the fast breaks. This was an ideal start for the AKITA campaign and will hopefully allow for further improvements as the season goes by.

3 days to first match

2008-11-12T13:55:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, the AKITA Handball Team will have its first ever official match. We have the chance to play on the same court as our training court and with comparable light conditions. We are playing the last match of the day starting at 8:15pm, we got few pointers on the teams in our league but as the program is in Chinese we don't really now yet which team it is... We will discover them during warm up! Thanks to few training matches with friendly teams, we now have a little bit of experience together but are clearly very far from what we would be expecting. In our last training against YMCA, we managed to get few circulation of balls and goals but also need to communicate more in defense and be more consistent in attack. Focus will be a key element on Saturday if we want to win the match. Also our roster is still moving a little, we hope to have as many people as possible on Saturday to put on the match sheet to ensure we don't get tired. I don't know for you but I can't wait!! P.A. (11)

Our colors

2008-11-06T16:29:00.000+08:00

The Akita Handballteam will play this season in blue and yellow shirts, with black shorts. The keepers will wear red/white shirts. So why do we have these colors? There had been a biiiiig discussion among all french and german teammembers, as no party wanted to look like the national-team of the other nation respectively. After several fights, we agreed to chose colors that represent all of us: as we are from Europe, we agreed to take the colors of the European Union, which are, of course, blue and yellow. Sadly, our shirts do not contain any stars. And, as we have a chinese player now, we might be in trouble again, haha. And by the way, all this blue looks very french..... We hope to post some photos of our lovely shirts and all the handsome teammembers very soon! At this place, a big thank you for sponsorship of the shirts to Mr. Ho! Do tse, Sai!

The first Chinese Player!

2008-11-06T16:23:00.000+08:00

Wow, now the AKITA Handballteam has its first chinese member! His name is Wan, and he is a Goalie. He played with Ulf the last season, in league 1. After a lot of persuasion- work, he agreed to play with us this year. As the position of Goalie was our weakest point, we are very happy to get a very good second keeper besides our Markus, who, by the way, is injured at the moment. So: welcome and thank you, Wan!

Handball in Hong Kong

2008-10-31T02:55:00.000+08:00

Dear people outside Hong Kong or newly arrived, For this post, I thought it would be good to give you an overview of what Handball is like in Hong Kong. Things may be quite different from Europe. The main difference is that here, Handball is an outside sport! Last time I played outside was 14 years ago and I was still a school boy playing with a plastic ball! That is a first shock to play on some sort of cement. The main issue nevertheless is the weather. Our last training got cut short after a an hour or so because of the rain. The toughest is rather when the sun is shining. That then becomes real sport! Even the guys on the bench are sweating heavily and drinking lavishly. Since I started playing here I learned that my handball bag needs to include shoes, socks, a short, a shirt, a towel, a ball, water, a cap and one bottle of suncream!! The cap is a necessary protection on the bench. If there are any international team who want to play some friendlies or a tournament, we think the heat and humidity will be an almost fair home advantage... The rules seems the same even if I seem to struggle counting the same numbers of steps as the referees (Gwailos have long legs, I think that kind of confuses them...). Usually the team with the highest number of goals wins. Also, compared to many european leagues, the amount of defensive contact allowed seems reduced. Is it our fault if the average local guy flies when we hardly brush him?... Considering we are in a lower league, the requirements are more stringents than in places I've played before. Everyone needs the same shirts but alos the same shorts, no exception allowed. At the begining of each match, referrees control the length of every players nails. We have to bring a nail cutter just in case one of our guys need one. Most of the teams in the leagues seems to be constitued of alumni of schools or universities. Many played together as boys and then continues as a group by joining the league. I am sure other players will have a lot to add so I leave it to them. Happy sport P.A.

Akita Handball : Year I

2008-10-28T21:13:00.000+08:00

Hello, Guten Tag, Bonjour... Less than 3 months ago some of us freshly arrived from Europe were looking for a Handball club in HK and some others short of players were pondering learning Chinese to play with the local teams... Thanks to the help of the Hong Kong Federation, the hard work of Ulf and the networking of everyone we were able to set-up a team in record time with players from different nationality (beer drinkers and frog eaters being over represented...) We are now facing our first season with a first Match on the 15th, November. Our recruitment is still open and new players are welcome to join us on our monday training. In particular, we are still looking for a Goalkeeper to put some friendly competitive pressure on Markus our number 1 choice (more commonly called Rolf when wearing an Akita shirt...). If you are a keeper or just like pain and want to play in the HK league, this is your chance and just post a comment on the blog. From now on, everyone in the team will be able to provide contribution to the blog, we will post results and news and hopefully get a large number of new recruits. Keep fit P.A. (Number 11)