Handball is a game that I had never even heard of until coming to Kenya, yet somehow I spent almost every weekend in May travelling throughout Central Province watching the Icaciri handball team compete. It turns out we are missing out one of the most exciting and fun-filled sports I have ever seen. Handball seems to be a mix of soccer and basketball: players get called for travelling like basketball, but the ball is thrown into a goal similiar to that used on a soccer field. 
The game is incredibly fast moving and the ball changes hands quite alot which adds to the energy of the play. Each game consists of two 25 minute halves and a 5 minute half-time. Beginning in March, the Icaciri team started competing in our local zone and managed to make their way to the provinical tournament held in Murang'a District. They beat out hundreds of other teams to play in the finals for Central Province and fell just one game short of going to the national tournament in Western Kenya! Congratulations to them!! One of my favorite things about the handball team is their ability to smile and laugh their way through anything! Their journey this year wasn't an easy one, but they managed to surpass everyone's expectations because they work together in a way I have seldom seen. I can't help but adore the girls on this team from their captain, Cate, to Gikonyo, the lead scorer. (*Both shown in the picture above) They are amazing and the joy with which they go about every activity never fails to refresh and inspire my spirit.
