HANDBALL is one of many minority sports on the rise since the Olympics in 2012, and one Southend-born man loved it so much he is now an international referee.

Nick Le-Mon, 27, fell in love with the sport during London 2012, in which he saw a number of matches and decided to give it a go.

He is now a referee in the England Handball Men’s Super Eight League and is part of a two-man officiating team who are headed to Kosovo today to officiate in the IHF Emerging Nations Championships, with Jason Hollis.

The Shoebury-born Le-Mon will join some of the best officials in the world to lord over the tournament, which is held over this week ending on Friday.

And he says he loves his new role, although admits it is a time consuming hobby as he works full time at HSBC.

“I was a football referee before I tried my hand at handball and I have always enjoyed it,” he said, having previously refereed youth cup finals at Southend United’s Roots Hall ground.

“It is great to see the Olympic legacy is living on as so many people are now taking part in sports like handball.

“I have had the chance to visit places like Prague with my officiating and I will be going to Sweden next year as well.

“I can’t recommend it enough if people wanted to give it a go. I got involved as there was a real shortage of referees and I have never looked back.”

The area is something of a hotbed for handball talent, with Wickford’s Bromfords School crowned national champions in the under-16 age group last spring.

And Pitsea’s Josh Da Silva is Great Britain’s under-19 captain, and is currently spending a year in Denmark at the IHA Handball Academy having represented his country at the under-21 World Championships earlier this year.

Da Silva is also heading to Pristina with Le-Mon, and the referee says the rate the sport is improving is staggering – only five years ago 25 schools competed in the handball schools competition, a number that has since risen to more than 900 this year.