Around 30 teams from as far apart as Glasgow, Bournemouth, London, Edinburgh and Southampton will compete at the 2011 BUH Championships, demonstrating the continued growth of handball as the sports looks to the future beyond London 2012.

The winning BUH Championship teams will go forward to the EUSA European Universities Handball Championships in Rijeka, Croatia, later this year, representing another major step up for British University players.

Entry to the event is free for spectators.

Britain's men's team captain Ciaran Williams will be in attendance and refereeing, while British Handball's Performance Director Lorraine Brown and women's team manager Mel Chowns will also be there scouting for future international talent.

Split into the main championship and a plate competition, the men's championship event has attracted three teams from Loughborough and two from Lincoln as well as others from Southampton, UC London, Cranfield, AECC Bournemouth and Bath.

In the women's championship Loughborough field two teams and will take on Cranfield and Lincoln.

The plate competition has men's and women's teams from Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Manchester, Nottingham and Leeds Met, while the men's plate has also attracted entries from Imperial in London, Warwick, Oxford and Bath. Southampton/Oxford field a joint team in the women's plate event, as do Imperial/UCL.

Games will take place on both days at University Park in Nottingham and Sutton Bonington just outside the city, while the finals on Sunday are all at Sutton Bonington.

Matches are 15 minutes long, allowing for more than 70 throughout the weekend.