First African Tchoukball Championship

From the 13th to 14th august 2010, on the Aviation Social Centre, in Accra (Ghana) was held the first African Tchoukball Championship, with the participation of the male teams from Togo, Benin and Ghana.
All the matches were very intensives and with a very tight scores, having the winner just on the final minutes! After having defeat Benin in a amazing and very difficult matches, Togo and Ghana met in the final.
Despite of having the best defense of the tournament, Ghana couldn’t hold the victory and in the last 2 minutes of the match, the strong boys from Togo won by score of 47 x 43.
At the end of the competition, all the three countries received from the hand of the director of International Promotion of the FITB, mr Julio Calegari, the medals, trophies and some gifts/equipments (balls, uniforms, cds, nets/elastics).
The Ghana B team also took part in the event by playing friendly matches with Togo and Benin.
Results
Ghana (A) 46 x 45 Benin
Togo 37 x 10 Ghana (B)
Benin 50 x 55 Togo
Benin 36 x 17 Ghana (B)
Ghana (A) 43 x 47 Togo
Final Classification
1st – Togo
2nd – Ghana
3rd - Benin
At the closing ceremony, a pioneer medal and a certificate was given by mr Calegari, on behalf of the FITB to :
Mrs Olga Kpodzo – first person to take a team from Togo to a FITB international event.
Mr Clement Ligan – first person to take a team from Benin to a FITB international event.
Mr Alfred Kobina Arthur – for the organization of the first African Tchoukball Championship.
On the 14th of august, a training session in Dansoman neighborhood was conducted by mr Calegari. The participant from all the 3 countries had opportunity to learn more about the technique, defense and attack.
Later some matches were organized with mixed teams, with 2 players from each country.
The event was a great success and provided a lot of motivation for all the participants to continue the promotion of tchoukball and to improve their skills. The next FITB African Tchoukball Championship will be in 2012 and Togo and Benin are already preparing their bid and their team for this event, when we expect the participation of event more countries.

Ghana getting ready for the African Championship

On the 27th of July the men adult team from Ghana had a training session in Dansoman, Accra with the brazilian coach Julio Calegari. This is part of the preparation of the national squad for the first African Tchoukball Championship to be held on the 13th and 14th august !

First African Championship

From the 13th to the 15th of August 2010, in Accra, Ghana, will be held the First African Tchoukball Championship.

It will be a great oportunity to meet teams and friends from other african countries gathering to celebrate the fast growth of Tchoukball in the continent !

For more information, write to Alfred Arthur Kobina - abaako43@yahoo.com

New players in Ghana

On the 3rd and 5th of march 2010, mr Julio Calegari, director of international promotion of tchoukball for the FITB came to Accra and held a workshop for the students of the Oral Roberts International School. A group of 25 boys and 15 girls took part of the training session accompained by mr Quayson, who is the responsable for the sports in the school.

This was part of the program to prepare and select players to represent Ghana in the First African Tchoukball Championship.

Workshop in Accra

On the 19th of august 2009, mr Julio Calegari, director of international promotion of tchoukball for the FITB went to Accra for a workshop on playing and coaching skills. This event was organizes by the GTA (Ghana Tchoukball Association) and also had the participation of mr Albert Griegoulou from Ivory Coast who got some nets,cds and promotional material to bring to our new contacts back on his country and also in Mali and Burkina Fasso.
All those efforts in this regions of Africa have 2 main goals: the promotion of tchoukball in new countries with the creation of new national federation and the gather of them to the participation on the first african tchoukball tournament to be held in Accra in 2010.

Tchoukball in Ghana

Ghanaians as from may this year be introduced to a new sport- tchoukball This was revealed in an interview with Mr. Alfred Kobina Arthur, the man behind the introduction of the tchoukball and the president of the Ghana Tchoukball Association.
He said tchoukball is a real team sport which demands good observation, constant attention by all participants and intelligence of all facets of the game as is good athletic ability.
He said the game of tchoukball was created by an eminent Swiss biologist Dr. Hermann Brandt who did not feel comfortable with the shocking injuries associated with other sports which discouraged people from participating and sometimes stopping even the toughest of athletes from taking part further events due to injuries.
Mr. Arthur stressed “unlike the other sports, tchoukball came out of a scientific research with the aim to introduce a sport that abhors physical contact”.He said the basics of the game are simple, with throwing and catching at the heart of the game. He further indicated that no physical contact whatsoever is allowed, therefore making mixed teaching of the game not only possible but to be encouraged.
The game could be played both indoor and outdoor, stressing that Ghana would begin with the outdoor as indoor facilities are constructed in the future. He said beach lovers now have a great game to play and would enjoy it as such.
He said countries like Argentina, Austria, Brazil, India, Italy, Malaysia,Pakistan, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Great Britain, Japan, Kenya, Taywan, South Korea and the United states of America among many other countries play tchoukball and with the support of the FITB (International Tchoukball Federation) they also take part in international championships held every two years for men, women and junior players.
Mr Arthur opined that the game holds the potential of raising future champions from Ghana and are committed as an association to ensure that the necessary materials needed for the game are made available. He indicated that students in second cycle institutions would be among the first group of individuals to experience the game.
In may 20th, was held the first tchoukball presentation in Accra with the presence of the director of international development of FITB, mr Julio Calegari. The FITB donate to the GTA a pair of tchoukball frames and some promoting and teaching material. The game is played in 3 periods of 15minutes each with 7players on each side on a field of 14x26 meters, but adaptations are possible accordingly with the number of players and space available. There is also the beach tchoukball version that is officially played in a 10x20 field with just 5 players a side.
Mr Arthur said his outfit was committed to ensuring the successful introduction of the game to Ghanaians and invited corporate institutions to come on board. He said his outfit takes inspiration from Taiwan, who in the 1980’s took tchoukball to a different level with substantial investment making it the 3rd sport of Taiwan and having consistently over 100 teams for their national championships. He revealed that Switzerland and Great Britain, two founder countries of the Federation International de Tchouckball (F.I.T.B) the games governing body cemented the international presence of tchouckball in Europe and Italy is now developing the game at an extremely fast rate.
Mr Arthur expressed confidence that he believes Ghanaians would excel in the game and indicated that after a period of about a year of introduction of the game, a national league would be introduced.
He said the mission of his outfit was no different from the governing body’s mission which is to govern, manage and develop a prominent team sport with a high national awareness.
He stressed “the aim of fair play in tchoukball is not to create champions, but to contribute to the building of a more harmonious society”. He said it idea which guided the creator Dr Hermann Brandt’s thoughts.
Mr. Arthur indicated that his body’s goal is to ensure that Ghana participates in the next world championship which comes off in 2010.

What is Tchoukball?

Tchoukball is a non-contact sport, which combines the pace and excitement of handball and volleyball to make it the fastest handball sport around. It's a relatively new sport that was invented by Swiss biologist Dr Hermann Brandt in the late 1960s and introduced to the public in 1970.

Tchoukball is played by two teams of nine, and the aim of the game is to shoot the ball at one of the two frames set in a semi-circle at either end of the pitch. There are three main positions to play – shooter, centre pivot and inner. Shooters do the scoring, centre pivots concentrate on keeping the ball moving and inners defend the frame area.To score a point, the ball must hit one of the frames then bounce back outside the semi-circle without being caught by the rival team. It doesn't matter which end of the pitch you score. When the ball is passed or caught each player may only hold onto it for three seconds. Players can only move three steps while holding the ball, and teams are only allowed three passes before they must shoot.
Although a full size international court is 40m by 20m, the size can be varied to suit the age group and the number of players and space available. As Tchoukball is a non-contact sport it can be played by boys and girls as young as seven or eight. Like volleyball it can also be played on a variety of surfaces – indoors on wood, outdoors on grass.For further information on Tchoukball see the International Tchoukball Federation website http://www.tchoukball.org/ and http://www.genevabeach.ch/