The fourteenth edition of the Jarun Cup 2022 international beach handball tournament Jarun Cup 2022 lasted from April 28 to May 1, 2022. After the tournament did not take place in 2020 due to the COVID -19 pandemic and was played at the end of August last year due to epidemiological measures, this year the tournament returned to its usual date on May 1.
In this year’s edition, about 140 matches in 8 age groups were played on 4 sunny days, with a total of 55 teams from 12 European countries participating. In addition to the participants from Croatia, Germany, Greece, Poland, Sweden, Great Britain, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Italy, Serbia, Hungary and Cyprus were also represented, making the Jarun Cup one of the largest European beach handball tournaments (over 500 participants and 50 volunteers).
In the senior category, the guests from the Netherlands, the team from Westsite Amsterdam, proved to be the best prepared. Silver went to the team of BHC Dubrava, bronze to the team BHT Ideja from Zagreb. In the senior competition, we saw the Croatian final, where the team of BHC Zagreb Handballdirekt won gold, while the boys of BHC Harena from Zagreb won silver.
The bronze medal went to the guests from Serbia, the BHC Student team, which was reinforced by players from Spain. As part of the tournament, in cooperation with the #handballin association and our prominent representative Maida Arslanagić, a workshop was held where children with disabilities had the opportunity to try their hand at beach handball. The smiles of the children and the feedback of the caregivers and parents confirm that we made the right step and encourage us to organize similar workshops in the coming years as part of the tournament.
A workshop on volunteering was also held as part of the tournament. At this workshop, the experiences of volunteers and volunteer organizers were shared, and guidelines for improving volunteer satisfaction were presented and adopted, which we hope to implement in the coming years. The end of the tournament was also broadcast live on national television (SPTV) to further promote beach handball.