Women’s 20x20 vision should improve handball
AN exciting new and far reaching initiative in sport, 20x20, is set to become a major force across women’s sport. It is aiming to create a cultural shift in our perception of girls and women in sport. By increasing visibility of women’s sport it will become a greater part of who we are and what we follow. There is already so much to celebrate when it comes to women’s sport in Kerry and in Ireland, but there isn’t enough noise.
The initiative seeks to change the subliminal bias in the Irish psyche that exists around girls and boys, or women and men, when it comes to sport. The name of the initiative is shorthand for 20% by 2020. In Kerry, women’s handball, has fallen way short of the herculean days on the 1980s and 1990 when Kerry players were bringing national titles to the county on a regular basis.
The 20x20 initiative has set a number of important targets to achieve their aims in relation to the involvement of women in sport. They are seeking 20% more media coverage of women in sport by the end of 2020 and 20% more female participation whether at player, coach, referee or administration level by the end of 2020. They are also aiming for 20% more attendance at women’s games and events by the end of this year.
This isn’t a ‘women for women’ initiative, it’s ‘all of society for all of society’. If sport is good, which we all know it to be, then more sport is better. If we all play, we all win. 20x20 is asking all sections of
Irish society to pledge one small action to increase the visibility of women’s sport in Ireland because if she can’t see it, she can’t be it. The 20x20 concept partnered with the Federation of Irish Sport and, with its support, all of Ireland’s leading sporting organisations have come together to pledge their active participation in the initiative.
The question now for Kerry handball followers is can the 20x20 initiative improve the standards and the mass participation of women’s handball in the county.
Currently Women’s handball in Kerry is failing to replicate the herculean days of the early 2000s when Ballymacelligott Handball Club boasted some of the top female stars in Ireland. Among the pioneering stars of that era were 2009 All-Ireland 60x30 Doubles champions the Prendeville sisters, Maebh and Ashley. Ashley also won three All-Ireland Singles titles.
Another star of that time was the All-Ireland Intermediate runner up, Catriona Casey. Also on that list of incredible players was multi All-Ireland champion Marie Daly, the 2008 All-Ireland Under-17 60x30 Doubles winners Alanna Diggin (Tralee Fitzgerald Jones Club) and Hazel Prendeville (Ballymacelligott) and Munster 2009 Under-12 60x30 champions Michaela O’Donoghue and Aisling O’Brien.
Now that victory torch is been passed on to a new generation of younger players, all still attending Primary School.
The largest number of young players are attached to Glenbeigh Handball Club and are from the wider Mid Kerry region. They tasted success in 2020 before the Covid 19 lockdown.
Clodagh Quirke won the County Juvenile Championships Under 10 Singles title in Glenbeigh adding the Kerry Cumann na mBunscol Championships Under 11 Singles title to her list of successes.
Another Glenbeigh player, Dawn Griffin, was runner-up at the Kerry Cumann na mBunscol Championships Under-11 Singles competition. At the County Juvenile Championships she was also runner-up in the Under-10 Singles championship.
Maggie Quirke, another exciting prospect for the future, won the County Juvenile Championships Under-12 Singles and the Under-12 Mixed Doubles tile.
The Ballymacelligott Club has a star player in Evelyn Mason. At the County Juvenile Championships Under-12 event she finished runner-up in a very competitive Singles final.
Other exciting players are senior player Aoife Walsh (Currow) and Under-14 player Roisin King from Glenbeigh.
However for handball to grow and develop in Kerry many more female players are needed in all the clubs to ensure the viability and sustainability of the sport in Kerry. While it is encouraging to see juvenile players enjoying the game, clubs also need an input of teenagers and older female players.
Only time will tell if the 20x20 initiative bears fruit in Kerry.