Francesca Graham has played all kinds of sports in her life, including netball, touch rugby, football and volleyball.
But one sport has captured her heart, a sport which is currently showcasing its best aspects on the shores of Lake Jarun in Zagreb’s capital; beach handball.
The New Zealander discovered the sport in her 20s and with her club side, London GD, it has led her around Europe, as her side chase EHF European Beach Handball Tour (ebt) points and titles.
New season starts here
The Jarun Cup is the traditional European circuit summer curtain-raiser and in 2025, it has a record 24 teams in its senior women’s tournament, making it an ideal start to any season.
“We look forward to this tournament starting the season and we’ve come for the last few years, which has been great,” said the 31-year-old.
“Because we don’t have a huge amount of training beforehand, getting that game experience under our belts before some of these other big tournaments means we figure out what we need to work on over the next months. We then work on that in training and then head to those big tournaments, like the ebt Finals at the start of the June.
“Our aim there is for the quarter-finals and then from there, who knows? We change our aim to each game. I mean, ultimately, you go to win, right? But we’re realistic, and know our team and the growth of our team.”
Team first
The growth of the London, UK-based team has been impressive with the side finishing ninth overall for the 2023/24 ebt season, including two runners-up spots, and thus securing that ebt Finals spot. For the 2024/25 ebt season they have already recorded a fourth-placed finish, at the Winter Prague Open in January.
“We’ve got a core group of players that have grown together,” said Graham when asked about the side making recent inroads into the ebt tournaments and taking medals. “We started out in maybe 2017 or 2018 together and we didn’t take it as seriously then as we do now. Then, it was more about the fun tournaments and enjoying it, but we started to see that actually we can do quite well, so we started to take it a bit more seriously.
“Then, you get those frustrating games where you’re just losing by one point,” she added. “We honestly felt like we were on the cusp for a couple of years, and it was really frustrating. So to now be able to now push through that is the cohesiveness, right? A team that plays together is going to win. You could have one amazing player but that’s not going to win you a game or a tournament, you have to play together.
“For a London club, you get people from all walks of life in London, and so just having that inclusive culture and diversity of players as well is really important – creating that family away from home.”
Hard work on and off court
That togetherness is something that is seen time and time again in team sports, but with nearly all the teams at the Jarun Cup self-funded, that working towards a common goal is crucial, on and off the court.
“We have one player take responsibility for a tournament and for the Jarun Cup it is me,” explains Graham about the process involved in her team making it to Zagreb. “I book the accommodation, talk to the organisers, do the registration, and all those kinds of things. To coordinate the team for the next tournament someone else in our team takes responsibility for it – we take it in turns.
“In terms of training strategy, we kind of have a coaches committee, because, unfortunately, we don’t have that many beach handball coaches in the UK, which is something we’ve really struggled with over the years. So, it’s myself, and teammates Tania (Corti) and Maria (Marselli). We come together and Maria leads it, and Tania and I support her around the strategy for the games.
“Then, when we’re at a tournament, we have some coaches who then come and coach us for the games, specifically from other teams that we’ve met across the years and who are happy to help. If I wasn’t playing, I would coach, but it’s difficult if you’re playing too. Hats off to those who do it, for example we’ve got Vladi (Ignacio Vladimir Palomino Fidalgo) here, who is also playing for EFE Tigres Level. It’s a lot to focus on your game and then help another team, but, maybe in the future.
“In fact, due to a concussion injury I had last year, I spent last season coming to tournaments and helping out on the sidelines because I couldn’t play. This year, it is Tania, because she’s preparing for a little one (pregnancy), so even if you can’t play, you still have a role in the team.”
Transferable skills
With such a diverse background of sporting talent and experience on two continents, Graham is well-placed to offer advice to anyone coming from another sport considering a step onto the sand.
“Beach handball so dynamic and fast-paced, but so many of the skills overlap. I grew up playing netball, touch rugby, football, volleyball, and only found handball kind of 10 years ago,” she explains.
“In Europe, people grow up playing handball, and they have those skills from a very young age. But in New Zealand, you get people finding handball around the time they go to university (18 years old). Those skills translate to handball very easily. Defence is very like touch rugby; working together across the core, even in the attack in touch rugby, you’re trying to find the gap.
“In the UK and New Zealand you have a lot of netball players, so you have to get out of the kind of thought of not taking steps and then being allowed to take some steps, but those skills do translate a lot and beach handball is easier to pick up than indoor handball.
“Netball is, officially, a non-contact sport, but there is a little bit of contact – that is quite similar to beach handball; you want to be away from the player a little bit when you’re blocking. It’s similar to netball; you can’t be right up in their face. The blocks in netball when you have your hands up over the ball, a lot of that translates, especially on the defensive side of things in beach handball.”
Youth investment
On the second day of competition at Jarun, London GD beat Team Blue 2-0 with Graham impressed at the opposition talent on show from the team which is the U17 national team of Italy who are preparing for the YAC 17 European Championship this summer.
“100%. 1,000%,” says Graham when asked if she would have loved to have had the opportunity to be part of such a national beach handball team programme at that age. “I see these young people playing all across Europe and the investment to come to these tournaments and play high level club teams, it’s incredible.
“The more experience you get, the better, right? That’s something we miss in New Zealand, because we’re so isolated. We just don’t get that exposure to the games and that’s what’s going to make you better. You can train as much as you like, but game experience is key. They have heaps of potential there and they’re doing all the right things – they’ll be the one winning these games in a few years, when we will be retired.”
Future steps
Retirement. The inevitable part of a sporting career.
While Graham has many more years as an athlete left, she has one eye on bringing her European knowledge of beach handball back with her to the Southern Hemisphere and give something back to the sport which has given her so much.
“Eventually, I want to go back to New Zealand to live and I could take a lot of experience from here back there for the young New Zealand team,” she explained. “I love the sport and once I do decide to stop playing, eventually, I would love to still be involved in some way.
“Maria is the same – she’s got a coaching qualification now as well. I haven’t got that yet, but I would like to do it. She coaches us a lot, in fact, from the very beginning, she was kind of coaching us. I have learned so much from her, just her knowledge of beach handball. She has very good knowledge of the strategy behind games.
“When I came to the UK I played for maybe two years or three years, but from playing with her and her coaching me, it just elevated my game a lot.”
Pictures: Paweł Jakubowski/PAWI.PL