Coaching

David Fink and Ivan Burgos Lead Junior WPH Clinic at the MAC

Posted on October 20, 2026October 20, 2026 by DV

JR WPH Press, Portland, OR — Jr WPH proudly partnered with Coach Jean Kastner & the MAC to host an energetic, high-impact jr handball clinic in Portland, last weekend. Featuring nearly 20 young players, the event showcased essential skills before heading into spirited and fun action.

Led by WPH’s David Fink alongside R48pro touring star Ivan Burgos, participants split into focused instructional groups to maximize court repetitions and receive individualized feedback from the pros.

Building Fundamentals: From the Swing to the Serve

The clinic zeroed in on core mechanics designed to give young athletes immediate confidence on the court:

Stroke Mechanics: Players learned how to translate natural overhand throwing motions from baseball and football into handball swings, before progressing into balanced sidearm power and fluid underhand lift.
Footwork & Accuracy: Instruction emphasized positioning feet directly toward the intended target to drive balls deep into the corners with maximum control.
Service Execution: Juniors dialed in timing and technique, focusing on letting the ball drop low to strike clean, legal serves past the line to dictate the pace of the rally.

Team Challenges and Tournament Play

The session closed with high-energy team competitions, challenging squads to race one another to connect on fifteen consecutive clean front-wall strikes. The high-repetition drills set the perfect tempo for the official junior handball tournament that followed the clinic.

Junior WPH continues its global mission to provide clinics, coaching resources, and court opportunities for young athletes across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and beyond.

Watch the full clinic feature here: 2026 Junior WPH Portland Handball Clinic

JR WPH Sponsors 5th Annual Las Cruces Jr Tournament

Posted on October 18, 2026October 19, 2026 by DV

Las Cruces, NM, JR WPH Press, 10/17/26

Tournament director Frank Holguin and JR WPH were thrilled to present the 5^th Annual Las Cruces Invitational Junior Handball Tournament and JR WPH Clinic on Saturday, October 17 at Lions Park in Las Cruces, NM.

Juniors played singles in the morning, followed by a special JR WPH instructional clinic led by two-time Race 4 Eight Stalsberg Cup champion Lucho Cordova, and doubles following the clinic.

“The clinic was good,” stated Coach Cordova. “I taught the kids how to serve by taking three steps instead of one to cover the entire service box. Then I taught the juniors how to return the serve and how to fly kill. Frank is going a great job with the juniors in Las Cruces. It’s great to see.”

“It was a great day of competition, food, giveaways a great lesson for the kids from one of the greatest handball players to come out of our area,” stated Las Cruces Junior Handball tournament director Frank Holguin. “In the 18-and-under division, Luis Cordova III swept the singles with Richardo Garcia coming in second. The next Cordova in line, Luan, swept the 13-and-under division, with Liam Herrera coming in second. In the 11-and-under short court two-bounce division, Lucy Ferme won the girls title, while newcomer Mathew Quintero won the boys. Matthew traveled seven hours with his family to attend the event from Farmington. This was a great community event with many local sponsors assisting with costs, supplies and volunteerism. A special thanks to USHA and WPH for co-sponsoring the. event.”

JR WPH proudly provided shirts for the junior players and sponsored the JR WPH junior handball clinic.

Thank you to Las Cruces Invitational Junior Handball Tournament Director Frank Holguin for an outstanding event and for his passion for growing this great game.

Pictures courtesy of Frank Holguin.

More information on the 5^th Annual Las Cruces Invitational Junior Handball Tournament HERE

JR WPH Coaches HERE

JR WPH would love to have you join our team. If you are interested in joining Team JR WPH as a coach, please contact JR WPH Director David Fink at David.fink@wphlive.tv

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.

Become a WPH Patreon HERE

David Fink

WPH Senior Writer

JR WPH Hosts Clinic & Tournament at Portland Classic

Posted on October 12, 2026 by DV

Portland, OR, WPH Press, 10/11/26

JR WPH, alongside the MAC handball coach and WPH Cornerstone Award recipient Jean Kastner, proudly presented a junior handball clinic and junior handball tournament following the Men’s R48 Pro Final on Sunday at the famed Multnomah Athletic Club. “JR WPH was thrilled to be involved with the exciting MAC junior handball initiatives and we were proud to offer expert coaching to the MAC juniors, as well as watching the MAC’s future handball stars compete in the 2026 Race 4 Eight Portland Classic junior brackets,” stated the WPH’s David Fink.

WPH Master Instructor David Fink and WPH Coach and R48 #7 Ivan Burgos led a group of 18 juniors through various games and drills to help the junior players develop better technique and have more fun on the court. Juniors learned to serve, let the ball drop, and play points under the watchful eyes of Coaches Fink and Burgos.

Thank you to the MAC’s Jean Kastner and the WPH’s Che Lowenstein for recruiting and coaching so many future handball stars. Thank you to JR WPH Coach Ivan Burgos for helping JR WPH grow the game.

JR WPH Coaches HERE

JR WPH would love to have you join our team. If you are interested in joining Team JR WPH as a coach, please contact JR WPH Director David Fink at David.fink@wphlive.tv

Become a WPH Patreon HERE

Coach Mulkerrins Leads JR WPH Clinic at the Aggieland

Posted on September 28, 2026September 28, 2026 by DV

JR WPH Press, College Station, TX, 9/28/26,

JR WPH Coach Martin Mulkerrins led a JR WPH Clinic for more than a dozen collegiate handball players during the 2026 Aggieland, focusing on various serves and in-match strategies.

“I really enjoyed this clinic, as almost all the participants were new players from across the four collegiate programs in attendance, and in most cases, they were playing their first tournament,” stated JR WPH Coach Mulkerrins. “There were questions around the execution and return of the Z serve, how to improve technique and hitting the back wall shot. We had demonstrations of those shots and serves as well and discussion on how to practice them. We also had discussions around transitioning from the big ball to the small for their upcoming events”.

“The clinic was outstanding,” reported WPH reporter Noel Aguilar. “Coach Martin had 15 college students in the court.”

Thank you to JR WPH Coach Martin Mulkerrins for continuing to inspire handball players in Texas and across the U.S. and beyond.

JR WPH Coaches HERE

JR WPH would love to have you join our team. If you are interested in joining Team JR WPH as a coach, please contact JR WPH Director David Fink at David.fink@wphlive.tv

Become a WPH Patreon HERE

Don’t Think About The White Bear: Thought Suppression

Posted on September 13, 2026September 13, 2026 by DV

Junior World Players of Handball Foundation Press, September, 13th, 2026:

Written by JR WPH Coach Ciana Ni Churraoin

JR WPH Welcomes Coach Ciana HERE

A lot of the time if we don’t like a thought, we try to avoid them, change them, and make them go away. And we often, perhaps without knowing, encourage others to do the same.

Here are some examples:

Don’t think about making mistakes
Don’t think about how nervous you are
Don’t think about failing the exam
Don’t think about how bad this could go

Before we go on I would like you to try this simple activity: I want you to start a timer for 1 minute, close your eyes, and don’t think about ANYTHING. Shut your mind off. No thoughts.

How did that go? Were you able to think about absolutely nothing?

Let’s do that again. Now I want you to turn on the timer, close your eyes, and as soon as you have a thought I want you to open your eyes and see how much time has passed.

How long did it take? Two seconds? Four? Ten?

This simple activity highlights that it is very hard to control our thoughts or to think about nothing. Even when we tell ourselves “think about nothing”, we are thinking about something. The same way the waterfall keeps flowing, thoughts are endless.

Similar to that waterfall, it is impossible to control what types of thoughts surface and how they will impact us. Some are helpful and some are unhelpful to us.

Let’s talk about thought suppression.

There are a lot of reasons why we try to suppress or change certain thoughts. They can feel uncomfortable and we might think that certain thoughts are problems if they appear and that we will perform worse because of them. Therefore we don’t want them and try to get rid of them when they appear. For example: many people associate nerves with something negative, so they may say “don’t be nervous” or they may associate planning for mistakes with an increased chance of making mistakes, so they say “don’t worry about mistakes”. Our mind and body is built to protect us, so we try to block out / avoid certain things to do so.

Not only is avoiding / blocking out certain thoughts very difficult to do successfully, it can also prove to do the opposite of what you actually intend.

In 1987, psychologist Daniel Wegner et al. published the famous White Bear Study. In this study, he examined thought suppression by asking his participants to think about anything but a white bear.

Very few people were successful at suppressing the thought of the White Bear.

Not only did most people struggle to block out the white bear but the ones who felt they were successful later experienced a REBOUND EFFECT. Meaning, they had many more thoughts about a white bear and those thoughts felt much stronger compared to the people who had struggled to block out the white bear in the first place.

This study actually found that suppressing the thought had the opposite effect of what was intended. It actually made participants think about the white bear MORE.

Think about that for a second. How often do you tell yourself to not think about something? Are you able to not think about it? Have you ever experienced something similar to the white bear study?

Going back to the examples at the start. There is nothing wrong with thinking about making a mistake, being nervous, failing an exam, or being worried how things will go. It is normal to have these thoughts. It’s what makes us human. These very thoughts can actually help us prepare and handle the adversity that may lie ahead.

It’s thinking that we shouldn’t be thinking these thoughts that can be problematic. Most of the time, it’s not the actual thought that’s impacted us, it’s our response and understanding of the thought that we are experiencing.

If you think about the white bear study, it’s the people who were unable to suppress the white bear that didn’t think about it in the long-run. They did not experience the rebound effect. They had a thought, accepted that it was there, and after the study, they moved on.

So what can you do with this information?

Instead of trying to avoid a thought, remind yourself that a thought is just a thought, thoughts are not always true and that you can choose how you respond to it.

As a coach, allow your players to have all their experiences. They do not need to think in a specific way. They may even benefit more from knowing there is nothing wrong with thinking a certain way. It is what they do with those thoughts that really matters.

Let’s look at how two different coaches handle the same situation:

Player A & Coach A:

– Player A: What if I make the same mistake I did in the last game?

– Coach A: Don’t worry about mistakes until they happen

– Player A: Okay…

Player B & Coach B:

– Player B: What if I make the same mistake I did in the last game?

– Coach B: That’s ok. You might. And you also know how to respond to mistakes. How will you do that?

– Player A: If I make the same mistake, I will take a deep breath, remind myself that mistakes are a part of the game, and focus on returning the serve.

I think we can all agree that Player B & Coach B handled the situation more effectively. Instead of avoiding, telling them to deal with it when it happens, and maybe causing more concern, we come up with a working solution.

So next time, you find yourself trying to avoid certain thoughts / emotions, or encourage someone else to do the same, take a second, and consider: How can I respond to this more effectively? How can I help this player with this concern / thought?

JR WPH Coaches HERE

JR WPH would love to have you join our team. If you are interested in joining Team JR WPH as a coach, please contact JR WPH Director David Fink at David.fink@wphlive.tv

Become a WPH Patreon HERE

JR WPH Clinic at the 2026 R48 Men’s LTE in Mexico!

Posted on September 13, 2026September 13, 2026 by DV

Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Junior-WPH Press, September 13th, 2026:

JR WPH was proud to host a junior handball clinic at the 2026 Abierto Mexicana de Handball R48 Men’s LTE, with Race 4 Eight pros John Bike and Dylan Schmitt working with the Juarez youngsters after the R48 final. Coaches Bike and Schmitt worked on serves and serve returns with the juniors, followed by rallies.

Thank you to John Bike and Dylan Schmitt for inspiring the next generation of players in Juarez.

JR WPH Coaches HERE

JR WPH would love to have you join our team. If you are interested in joining Team JR WPH as a coach, please contact JR WPH Director David Fink at David.fink@wphlive.tv

Become a WPH Patreon HERE

How Coaches and Players Can Manage Expectations

Posted on September 7, 2026September 7, 2026 by DV

When game-day finally arrives, the buildup of pressure, adrenaline, and excitement can often dictate the outcome long before the first point is even played. In the recent WPH feature on game-day psychology, experts dive deep into how both players and coaches can keep their cool, align their goals, and navigate the unpredictable nature of competition.

Key Takeaways for Game-Day Success

Understanding the Mental Shift: Transitioning from rigorous training mode to competitive execution requires a distinct change in mindset. Athletes must learn to let go of preparation anxieties once they cross the threshold into the match arena.
Communication Between Coach and Player: Aligning expectations before stepping onto the court ensures that both sides are working toward realistic, adaptable targets rather than chasing perfection.
Handling Pressure and Momentum Swings: Matches rarely go entirely according to plan. Learning how to reset emotionally after losing a run of points is essential for maintaining composure under fire.
The Post-Match Reflection: Evaluating performance based on effort, adaptability, and execution—rather than strictly the scoreboard—lays the groundwork for sustainable long-term improvement.

Whether you are stepping onto the court as a competitor or guiding from the sidelines, managing your mental framework is just as critical as physical conditioning. Check out the full discussion in the video linked above to refine your game-day strategy!

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JR WPH was thrilled to welcome Ciana Ni Churraoin as a JR WPH Coach in 2026. Coach CNC is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant with a Master’s degree in Sport & Exercise Psychology (Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2020), Certified Strength & Conditioning Coach, and experienced handball coach. On the court, CNC has applied her expertise to her own performance which shows through her achievements, such as winning the 40×20 Open World Championships, Senior All-Ireland titles in singles and doubles, and winning a Women’s Race 4 Eight stop in 2024. Coach CNC will be a frequent contributor to the WPH website, social media pages, and YouTube page, providing content for handball players to develop their mental and physical performance. Coach CNC will also coach JR WPH clinics at Race 4 Eight events.

JR WPH Coaches HERE

JR WPH would love to have you join our team. If you are interested in joining Team JR WPH as a coach, please contact JR WPH Director David Fink at David.fink@wphlive.tv

Become a WPH Patreon HERE