Over the past two years, Philippine Tribune has published articles on Bevan Calvert, a Filipino-Australian handball player. For our readers who may have missed those articles, allow us to share some background on this young dynamo.
Bevan’s involvement in handball started when he played for Turramurra High School. After high school, he played for Hills Club [and later with Harbourside Club] and got recruited in the New South Wales Team. He helped NSW win in the Junior and Senior National Championships. Philippine Tribune watched Bevan play high level handball at the Junior National Championship held at the Blacktown Sports & Leisure Centre in June 2007. ABS-CBN reps Ania Aquino and Valerie Cabal were also at the event to interview Bevan on camera. The story was aired in TFC around the world.
Bevan eventually became a member of the Australian Men’s Team. He was only 18 then. He represented Australia in the 2005 World Championship held in Tunisia. At this game, Bevan had the enviable role of taking penalty shots against the then world number one team, Croatia. He scored five goals against the world number one Goalkeeper and was the highest scorer in that tournament.
Bevan was also part of the Australian Team that played in the 2007 World Championship. During the game against France, Bevan scored an amazing goal which was wildly cheered by the spectators. A week later, he was told that his goal was selected as the Play of Day and was shown before the NorwayDenmark game which was watched by millions of people worldwide. and
Bevan’s Filipino heritage is from his mother Violi who was the Immediate Past President, currently Consultant and one of the Founding Officers of the North Shore Filipino-Australian Association. Violi has also taken the role of Media and Public Relations officer of the Australian Handball Federation since October 2006. Bevan has always “flown” the Philippine and the Australian flags whenever he is on the court or being interviewed by members of the media. His achievements in handball had been recognised in 2002 by being one of the recipients of the Philippine Community Council-Philippine Air Lines Youth Award in Sports and also through the FILCCA Youth Award in 2006.
As luck would have it, Bevan has been signed up for a two-year contract by TM Tonder which finished strongly at fifth position in the First Division League at the close of the competition season. He and three other players joining TM Tonder were presented in a Press Conference which was coincidentally held on Bevan’s 22nd birthday on 4th April.
We wish Bevan Calvert continued success in his sport. We are certainly proud of his achievements and will continue to follow his progress and share with our readers information on how he is doing in Denmark.
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