In England, the most popular sports are football, rugby and cricket. It’s not often your mates tell you they’re off to watch the handball at the weekend. It’s a relatively unknown sport - despite being exciting and fast-paced. Players need to be strong, powerful, agile and very fit. It’s also part of the Olympics.

An arena with a legacy

Within the London 2012 Olympic Park, a 7000 seated handball arena is being built. When the Olympics are over, the plan is to adapt the use of the arena, allowing it to accommodate a range of sports such as basketball, badminton and indoor football.

First STEM Challenge

The first STEM Challenge is being run in association with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and will be based around the planning and construction of the London 2012 Handball Arena. Teams will be required to locate a suitable site for a National Handball Arena and design certain key features, using a range of experimental, investigative and research tools to inform the plan.

Teams will be expected to present their results to the judges, volunteer STEM Ambassadors, who will visit participating schools to meet the teams. Shortlisted teams will then be asked to submit their entires online (photos, videos, presentation files - you will be told exactly what to upload) for the next round of judging.

Full information on the judging process can be found here.

Intrigued? You should be. Make sure your school is signed up so that you can enter a team!