Coaching

JR WPH Skills Clinic in Texas

Posted on April 26, 2026April 26, 2026 by DV

College Station, TX, WPH Press, 4/25/26

JR WPH Clinic

Texas A&M Head Coach, Martin Mulkerrins coached a clinic with Angelo State University Coaches Diarmuid Mulkerrins and Aoife Holden to students, recent graduates and players from around the state. For many players the tournament had motivated them to continue to improve their game, and through group discussions, the consensus was to find courts to practice over the summer months to focus on improving the non-dominant hand.

Coaches posted the question, “How much time do we spend practicing our non-dominant hand.” Most of the players concluded that they practiced their dominant hand significantly more, but yet once a match starts, most serves and shots their opponents hit will be directed at the non-dominant hand. When it comes to ‘return on investment’ for the time spent practicing, there was also consensus that 50% or more of the time spent in many court sessions should focus on shots with the non-dominant hand. Different ideas and drills were discussed and demonstrated on how to improve the non-dominant hand, as well as how to hit shots with proper form. The latter paid particular attention to emphasizing the importance of getting the bend in the elbow for side arm strokes as opposed to rigid, stiff-armed shots.

“It was great to have the opportunity to have a clinic with the group at this time of the year, as it will hopefully provide some technical feedback, as well as motivation for players to develop their game over the summer to be better placed to hit the ground running in the Fall,” stated Martin Mulkerrins.

Randolph Cup, written by Martin Mulkerrins, Diarmuid Mulkerrins, Eilish Owens, and Aoife Holden

Article written by Martin Mulkerrins, Diarmuid Mulkerrins and Aoife Holden

The Doug Randolph Cup is a unique, co-ed team-based tournament (five men and three women), competing for the Randolph Cup and a share in $10,000 in scholarships. The tournament celebrates the significant contributions Doug and the Randolph Foundation for Higher Education Inc. have made to the sport of Handball. The competition entered its third year in the third weekend of April at College Station with Angelo State University aiming to complete a three in a row.

The Randolph is a round robin tournament between Texas A&M, The University of Texas and Angelo State University, who have each received endowments of $2 million dollars from the Randolph Foundation. The fourth Randolph Cup participant is Missouri State University, who has received a $1 million endowment from the Randolph Foundation.

The Randolph Cup format is one men’s singles, one women’s singles, one women’s doubles and two men’s doubles, with each match playing two games to 15 points, no tiebreakers, and every point counts.

Following the Friday evening and Saturday morning rounds, Texas A&M built a 23-point lead over second place Missouri State before the teams matched up against one other in the final round. Texas A&M extended their lead after the Men’s and Women’s doubles matches and secured the title after Caitlin Behne scored the fourteenth point in game two of the Women’s Singles. By scoring a total of 419 points, Texas A&M won the Randolph Cup by the highest margin in the three-year history of the event.

Angelo State University hopes to host the fourth edition of the Randolph Cup in 2027, pending their court renovations. Next year’s Randolph Cup is expected to be even bigger, as a fifth school is expected to participate, in addition to adding a WPH Men’s and Women’s Race 4 Eight Pre Qualifier. Stay tuned for more exciting news for Collegiate Handball!

Randolph Cup Statistics and Fun Facts by Diarmuid Mulkerrins and Aoife Holden

Final Scores of the 2026 Randolph Cup

Texas A&M – 419 points
Missouri State University – 365 points
Angelo State University – 314
University of Texas – 131

Doug Randolph Cup Roll of Honor

2026 – Texas A&M University – 419 points

Team: Ashley Fuselier, Derek Schiripa, William Henry, Matthew Love, Alex Snyder, Caitlin Behne, Gracia Leonard, Katie Mills

2025 – Angelo State University – 364 points

Team: Austin Colwell, Israel Lopez Jr., Cade Whitley, Dylan Whitley, Jacob Mitchell, Taigan Rivers, Kinzi Jo Leon, Joanna Gato, Will Jost (Sub)

2024 – Angelo State University- 400 points

2025 Team: Diarmuid Mulkerrins, Austin Colwell, Israel Lopez Jr., Dylan Whitley, Jonathan White, Aoife Holden, Taigan Rivers, Kinzi Jo Leon

2026 Players that have played three Randolph Cups (2024-2026 inclusive)

It is a huge honor to be selected to represent your school in the Doug Randolph Cup. Over the past three years, 68 different players have participated in the Randolph Cup. Fifteen players represented their school twice. Below are the nine players who have represented their school in each Randolph Cup:

UT: JP Sammis and Andy Shen

ASU: Taigan Rivers, Austin Colwell, Israel Lopez Jr.

TAMU: Caitlin Behne and William Henry

MOST: Nick Wilson and Luke Jordan

Many thanks to Doug Randolph and the Randolph Foundation for higher Education Inc. for their incredible support of handball, and in particular, collegiate handball. A special thank you to tournament director Tommy Ball for such an amazing event combining the Randolph Cup into a huge tournament of 141 entrants, 102 of whom were current college students. Thank you to Eilish Mulkerrins for streaming the Randolph Cup on the TAMU YouTube Page and for the photos provided for this article.

Keep an eye out on juniorhandball.org, as new clinic opportunities and recaps pop up weekly. Want to coach a clinic or a junior handball program? Need more information regarding junior handball? The Junior WPH group spans multiple countries, continents and oceans with clinics happening daily. We can help! Contact WPH Development Director David Fink at david.fink@wphlive.tv

To enable Junior WPH to continue to host junior handball clinics and tournaments across North America with Certified WPH Coaches, the World Players of Handball invites you to make a tax-deductible donation today in supporting the growth of the game. 100% of the donations received by the WPH go towards junior handball development. Donate on-line HERE or send your generous gifts through PayPal (HERE) or by mailing checks to: WPH, 3602 E. Ft. Lowell Rd., Tucson, AZ 85716

Become a handball insider by enjoying never before seen videos, pro commentary, special awards, Sports Casts archives and new episodes, live broadcasts, and much more by supporting the WPH and inspiring the next generation of players through the WPH Patreon program.

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JR Clinic at Oregon State Singles

Posted on March 2, 2026 by DV

Beaverton, OR, WPH Press, 3/1/26

Former WPH Women’s pro Jean Kastner hosted an outstanding JR WPH clinic at the 2026 Oregon State Singles Championship for fifteen junior handball players. The first 30 minutes featured instruction, with Coach Kastner explaining the rules and basic handball techniques to the junior players. The juniors were then split into two groups, girls and boys, who each played a double-elimination bracket. The boys bracket was won by Everett Lowenstein, son of WPH cameraman extraordinaire Che Lowenstein, and the girls bracket was won by Sierra Steele, daughter of former state champion Matt Steele. Thank you to Jean Kastner for hosting the amazing JR WPH clinic!

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David Fink

WPH Development Director

Mid-America JR Clinic

Posted on March 2, 2026 by DV

Bowling Green, OH, WPH Press, 3/1/26

JR WPH Coach Rodney Fink enthusiastically led a junior clinic at the 2026 Mid-America Regional 4-Wall Championships & R48 Pre Qualifier. Coach Fink focused on the sidearm stroke, ceiling shot, back wall shot, and point play.

“The clinic went really well,” stated Fink, who coached the clinic in between his 77+ singles and doubles finals. “We worked on letting the ball drop to proper point of contact, whip action on side arm stroke, using legs on ceiling shot, back wall baby steps to point of contact, and ended with king of the court singles. The kids had a lot of potential.”

Thank you to Coach Fink for an outstanding clinic and thank you to Hope in Handball’s David Botero for bringing his group to the 2026 Mid-America Regional 4-Wall Championships.

Become a WPH Patreon HERE

David Fink

WPH Development Director

’26 Kickback Classic Wraps

Posted on February 10, 2026February 10, 2026 by DV

Phoenix, Arizona, Junior-World Players of Handball Foundation Press, 2/9/26

The Carl Hayden Handball Club was proud to present the 2026 Doubles Handball Kickback Classic on the campus of Carl Hayden High School starting on the first Saturday in February and ending on Monday. The 2026 Kickback Classic featured 16 junior players and eight open players competing on the high school’s 3-Wall courts. Players played between four to eight games during the event.

“We had an epic battle for the junior singles title on Monday,” exclaimed Carl Hayden Handball Coach Chris Hogan.

JR WPH was proud to sponsor the prizes for the 2026 Kickback Classic, providing WPH DigiFlex shirts and gloves for the junior players. JR WPH is proud to have sponsored Carl Hayden Handball since 2019 and to support Coach Hogan’s vision to grow handball at Carl Hayden High School and throughout Phoenix.

Pictures courtesy of Chris Hogan

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David Fink

WPH Development Director

JR WPH Clinic at the George Lee

Posted on February 9, 2026February 9, 2026 by DV

Dallas, Texas, Junior-World Players of Handball-Press, 1/25/26

The WPH were delighted to help sponsor the 79^th George Lee Invitational, which is not only a historic tournament dating back to 1947, but also a key tournament in Texas and the region for Collegiate Handball players in their preparation for the Collegiate Nationals. The 2026 George Lee attracted 40 students from Texas A&M, the University of Texas, Angelo State University, Missouri State University and San Jose. Martin and Diarmuid Mulkerrins and Race 4 Eight Bear Bash tournament director and MSU Coach Christian Madsen enthusiastically coached a JR WPH instructional clinic for the collegiate players.

The clinic focused on power serves and variations of lob serves for both first and second serves. The objective was for the collegiate athletes to have practical feedback to work on for the next ten days as they prepare for the Collegiate Nationals at the U.S. National Handball Center in St. Louis in mid-February. The clinic ended with a Q&A session with Martin, Diarmuid and Christian, which included additional technical questions on the serves as well the mental aspect of the sport and developing the non-dominant hand.

“We had another great clinic today with great interaction,” stated Martin Mulkerrins. “Similar to last year with Leo Canales, the co-presenting approach this year with Diarmuid and Christian worked really well. There were also a lot of players who had attended previous clinics, and I thought that was great as the clinic had a lot of technical information and questions which built on the discussions and demonstrations at previous clinics at tournaments in Waco, Texas A&M and Dallas over the past year”.

Pictures courtesy of Eilish Owens.

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David Fink

WPH Development Director

JR WPH Clinic at the STL

Posted on February 1, 2026February 1, 2026 by DV

Saint Louis, Missouri, Junior-World Players of Handball Press, 02/01/2026-

JR WPH was thrilled to present a junior handball clinic for more than a dozen Missouri youngsters on Sunday morning at the 2026 St. Louis Race 4 Eight. WPH Master Instructor David Fink led the youngsters through a demanding dynamic warmup, followed by sidearm stroke instruction with the strong and off hands. Each player had a chance to hit practice shots, learning their new skills. The youngsters then incorporated their new techniques on the serve and back wall shots.

“The JR WPH clinic was certainly a highlight at the incredible first pro event at the U.S. National Handball Center,” stated the WPH’s Fink. “The kids have a lot of excellent coaches at the Center and throughout Missouri and we are excited to see the youngsters develop a passion for our lifetime sport.”

Following the clinic, the youngsters played a junior tournament, showcasing the U.S. National Handball Center’s next generation.

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David Fink

WPH Development Director

JR WPH Clinic in Canada

Posted on January 26, 2026January 26, 2026 by DV

Calgary, AB CAN, Junior-World Players of Handball Press, 1/25/26

Canadian handball star Shane Vigen enthusiastically coached a JR WPH clinic at the 2026 Alberta Open 4-Wall Handball Championships.

Coach Vigen focused on technique and hitting percentages, explaining not only the proper way to hit the ball with both hands, but what shot to hit in various situations.

“I asked the players to hit the ball with awful form, then good form, then pointed out the obvious,” Coach Vigen would later say. “Then we hit the easiest shot – mid-court, chest high and I said, ‘that’s your never-miss shot.’ I tried to bring awareness to their hitting percentage in those situations. Same with warmup shots – 9/10 ceiling shots good hand, maybe 6/10 off hand. Lastly, I explained that handball is played with both hands, every shot. No dead hands. I expressed that I never wanted to see them hitting overhands with their other hand resting on their thighs.”

JR WPH was thrilled to inspire junior players in Canada. Thank you to Coach Shane and tournament director Guy Martin for an outstanding JR WPH clinic in Calgary.

Pictures courtesy of Myles Bestianich

Become a WPH Patreon HERE

David Fink

WPH Development Director