Just two weeks after returning from Italy, the England handball team boarded a plane for Basque Country to compete in the Basque Open near Bilbao. Pete Cohen, Dave Mew and Ady Lee were feeling like veterans after the learning curve in Italy, and the new additions to the team were Peter White, Kerry White, Dom Redmond, Lia Redmond and Jess Lumbard.

Everything was going smoothly until ten minutes after our 52 seater coach left Bilbao airport on the motorway. There was a crash from the back and the coach started shaking, followed by a yell from Dave who had just spotted the back left wheel bouncing past the coach down the middle lane! Our heroic driver wrestled with the wheel and managed to steer us to the hard shoulder where we awaited rescue and worked on establishing international relations with the Dutch ladies team. Every cloud...

We arrived at the Basque Pilota centre just in time for the opening ceremony, which included a Pilota demonstration - a huge court played with a fist-sized rock hard ball, like a cricket ball, and no gloves. Every shot was accompanied by an appaling sound of bruised flesh, and every few minutes the players would numb their hands in baths of ice-water. We were worried as we had to play these guys the next day, albeit at one-wall handball.

We took our learnings from Italy straight onto court, with Ady Lee and Peter White going 10-1 up against the Basques and come the singles, Pete Cohen taking a 9-0 lead over Ireland 1. In both games it was discovered that handball is not as straighforwards as we thought - a change in style from the opposition saw 15-11 and 15-9 losses, but the signs were encouraging. Dave Mew meanwhile counted himself fortunate with taking three points off 'Rookie' Wright, several-time world champion, in the singles. The Americans once more proving themselves a different class.

Kerry White flew the flag in the ladies tournament, winning her first ever game against Holland 1, and then going on to win her group beating Basque 2, booking a place in the semi-finals against USA 1. As with all of us, it was just the final kill shot that let her down, as she really gave the first seed a run around. Dom Redmond beat her Dutch counterpart in a thrilling 15-14 game, and in the U18s, Lia Redmond and Jess gave a good account of themselves - Jess' first ever game was against the current world champion!

The tournament ended with a fantastic 5 course banquet with free-flowing Rioja from the region, and an opportunity to plan future events with the other nations. In 2008 we will be going to Ireland, Italy and Spain, with possible tours to Holland and New York, as well as regular opportunites to play one-wall handball in London.

P.M.C.

Basque Open Handball Championships 2007 - Report by Peter Cohen
Created 21st January 2008 by Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk

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