Maddy Brocket aspires to help others learn handball skills. PHOTO: GEMMA SINCLAIR

A Gore teenager who has represented New Zealand in handball twice since taking up the sport just 18 months ago has her sights set on giving back to the sport.

Maddy Brocket, 17, represented New Zealand for the first time in the International Handball Federation’s Championship, in Rarotonga, in October last year.

She next wore the silver fern at last month’s inaugural Under 20 Trans-Tasman Junior Women’s Handball Cup in Hamilton.

‘‘It was pretty shocking, knowing that . . . I hadn’t had much experience playing that sport,’’ she said.

Many of her teammates had been playing for at least twice as long as she had.

Now, she is aiming to coach budding players from her school.

‘‘[I’d like to] . . . coach a team down here if we could get one going,’’ she said.

She would like to teach handball in her school’s physical education (PE) classes.

The Blue Mountain College year-13 student broke into the sport at the start of 2025, and attended monthly training camps in Dunedin and Waimate from the middle of last year.

Handball is a fast-paced, seven-a-side sport in which players pass and dribble a ball with the aim of throwing it into the opposing team’s goal.

It has been growing in popularity in New Zealand.

Giving it her all on court is handball aficionado Maddy Brocket at the Trans-Tasman Junior Women’s Handball Cup in Hamilton in May. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

At the training camps she learnt scoring involved throwing the ball as hard as possible, and that jumping far and high was also key.

It was there she trialled for New Zealand and made the cut.

Maddy said she enjoyed playing handball as it involved learning new skills compared to those found in rugby and netball.

Maddy is no stranger to ball sports; she played Rippa rugby from about the age of 7, started netball in her first year at Blue Mountain College, and competed in hockey when she was about 12.

She plays in Blue Mountain College’s Senior A netball team.

At the tournament in Rarotonga, New Zealand faced Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia and comfortably won all of their pool matches.

The recent Trans-Tasman Cup in Hamilton saw the squad of 17 face off against Australia’s junior women’s team. In their two matches, New Zealand beat the visitors 28-22 and 25-21.

She also played one match for Otago, in the New Zealand Club Championship against Canterbury, Wellington and Auckland in 2025.

gemma.sinclair@alliedmedia.co.nz