The region’s men’s and women’s teams competed against Canterbury in Dunedin at the weekend in the first of three rounds for the shield.
Otago Handball club member Cassandra Dawson said although the teams did not win, the competition went really well.
The men’s team lost by only two goals, 31-29, which was gutting, Dawson said.
The women’s team was trailing by just one goal at halftime, but ended up losing by eight, 36-28.
"Considering the last few times we’ve been down by about 15 or 20, eight is a massive improvement, so we’re pretty stoked with that," Dawson said.
Canterbury was full of experienced players, whereas Otago focused on the development of its junior players, she said.
And it was paying off.
"What we noticed is that we’re probably starting to match them on an individual skill level but, unfortunately, we’ve just got more training to do with a bit of a team game play."
That would be the focus for the next two months, before the teams meet again for round two.
On Sunday, after the shield competition, New Zealand high performance coach Tim Rayner hosted a training session.
About 20 players from Dunedin, Christchurch and the new Queenstown club attended.
The session focused on new skills, defensive work and game play.
Dawson said it was great for the players to get to know and play alongside each other.
"It was awesome."
