HANTH (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ΧΑΝΘ), or HAN Thessaloniki (ΧΑΝ Θεσσαλονίκης), is a Christian youth development organisation that is based in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, and which comprises the homonymous Greek multi-sport club. The

multi-sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

was founded in 1921, and has teams in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

(founded 1919),

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

, and others sports. HAN Thessaloniki is a part of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

in Thessaloniki, which is a Christian universal welfare movement. The full name of the club is Christianiki Adelfotita Neon Thessalonikis (CHANTH) – which is commonly abbreviated as either HANTH or HANTh (Χριστιανική Αδελφότητα Νέων Θεσσαλονίκης (ΧΑΝΘ)). Historically, the most successful sports department of HANTH has been the men's basketball team. In recent years, the club's most successful teams are the volleyball and handball teams, which have played in the higher level Greek national championships in their respective sports.

History

HAN Thessaloniki was the first team which imported the sport of basketball into Greece. HANTH organised the first unofficial regional basketball championship of Thessaloniki in 1924, with the participation of HANTH,

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

Iraklis Thessaloniki Gymnasticos Syllogos Iraklis ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής, en, Gymnastics Club Heracles), commonly referred to as Iraklis, is a Greek multi-sports club based in Thessaloniki. The club was founded in 1908 as "Mace ...

, Armenian Union, VAO,

Maccabi Thessaloniki Maccabi Thessaloniki is a multi-sport club in the city of Thessaloniki, historically representing the Jewish community of the city. It maintains or maintained departments of football, basketball, volleyball, athletics, Olympic weightlifting, tab ...

, and Akoah. They also organised the first unofficial Panhellenic Basketball Championship in 1926, with the presence of HANTH,

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

, PAOK, Iraklis, and

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

. Since the beginning of the official Panhellenic Basketball Championship, HANTH has managed be the championship's finalist one time, in 1930. HANTH was also active in the sport of volleyball from its first years. It organised the first regional volleyball championship of Thessaloniki in 1923, and a new championship in 1924, with the presence of HANTH, Iraklis, Aris, Sportive Etoile, Byron, American School, and Nouka School. HAN Thessaloniki was also one of the first sports clubs to create a handball team in Greece. The handball team of HAN Thessaloniki was founded in 1979, almost simultaneously with the beginning of the first Greek Handball Championship, which the team has also competed in. Over the years, the HANTH sports club has featured Greek athletes such as

Georgia Abatzidou Georgia Abatzidou (born 19 April 1969) is a Greek long-distance runner. She competed in the women's marathon at the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially t ...

, who competed in

marathon running The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

, and Nikos Iliadis and Giannis Sidiropoulos, who competed in

Olympic weightlifting Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lift ...

Departments

* Men's Basketball Club * Men's Volleyball Club *Women's Volleyball Club * Men's Handball Club * Men's Water Polo Club *

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

(Men's) *

(Women's): **5× Panhellenic Women's Marathon Champion: (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005) *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

: **11× Panhellenic Men's Freestyle Wrestling Champion: (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971) **2× Greek Freestyle Wrestling Cup Winner: (1996, 1997) *

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

: **4× Panhellenic Men's Judo Champion: (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980) *

Tae Kwon Do ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

Weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift Weight training#Equipment, weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various t ...

: **12× Panhellenic Men's Weightlifting Champion (1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983) *

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

Table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

(Men's) *

(Women's) *

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

Sports facilities

The sport facilities of HAN Thessaloniki are located in the centre of

, near the White Tower. In 1923, the first basketball court of HANTH was built. It was an open air court, that hosted important sporting events in Thessaloniki. In 1934, the classic indoor sports building of HANTH was completed, and the sports activities of the club moved there. In the early 2000s, the open basketball court was demolished, and a new indoor basketball hall, the Y.M.C.A. New Sports Center, was built, with a capacity of 1,500 spectators. In 2013, HANTH founded the first basketball museum in Greece.

References

External links

Official page
{{A2 Ethniki Volleyball HANTH Organizations based in Thessaloniki Multi-sport clubs in Thessaloniki YMCA