The New Caledonia Office des Postes et Télécommunications is proud to present this new 110 XPF stamp issue designed by Thierry Mordant and dedicated to the Women’s Handball Pôle Espoirs (young talents hub).
Set up by the French Handball Federation, the New Caledonia Youth and Sports Department and the New Caledonian Handball League, the Noumea Pacific Women’s Handball Pôle Espoirs aims to provide support services to prepare talented young players for high performance sport.
Located in Dumbéa and attached to Edmée-Varin College in Auteuil and Grand Nouméa High School in Koutio, the hub is tasked with spotting and training New Caledonia’s promising young women handball players so that, alongside their school work, they can access the French Handball Federation’s top facilities.
In 2018, the hub welcomed 22 boarders aged from Year 8 to Year 12, who train 7 times a week at the hub’s premises and play for their clubs at the weekend. New Caledonia boasts 10 clubs and 1,200 competition licence holders, half of whom play handball at school under the aegis of the UNSS (National School Sports Union).
Currently, four of the hub’s young players have been selected for National training courses and two have been included in the French Team (16-17 & 20-22 age groups). Even if the hub’s young boarders do not all end up by going into professional handball, their experience will have taught them independence, discipline, maturity and ambition, qualities and values which are key to driving the empowerment of Oceanian women.
For further information, contact the Noumea Pacific Women's Handball Pôle Espoirs on: (+687) 51 92 58.
