In my own little world, I still haven’t quite gotten through the first day’s slate of 8 matches, and I couldn’t be much happier about the quality of the product so far. A few glitches to start, but the 1.5 Mbps quality stream is easily the best picture that fans have ever had to watch a major Handball tournament. If you’ve ever watched the Champions League video at ehftv.com www.ehftv.com and have gotten a bit of a headache from the blurry quality of the lower speed video you should definitely check out the streaming package. And at 18.99 Euros for every single match it’s also cheaper than previous offerings. I don’t know how you spend your discretionary funds, but this is quite a deal compared to my monthly satellite TV package.

Full disclosure: Just in case you were wondering THN has received some modest compensation from the EHF for the Live Streaming advertisement. But as some have pointed out in our forum, I love to critique everything, so rest assured that wouldn’t have stopped me from ripping them if the product was substandard.

User tip #1: If you don’t want to know the score or the current standing of the tournament I recommend that you have a sheet of paper handy to cover the right hand third of your monitor. And you should have a piece of tape so that it can hold itself up while you type in your username and password. I’ve tried to get the EHF folks to remove this from the main page, but was told that most users are watching live.

User tip #2: This is a big one. For the first couple of matches I was somewhat disappointed with the quality of the picture. But, it turns out that I simply wasn’t getting the 1.5 Mbps stream option to load properly. I would click on the little HQ square in the lower right hand corner, but it wouldn’t load properly and I’d get a black screen. A way to get around this, though, is to click on the HQ square [b]immediately[/b] after you select the match you want to watch. I’ve done this for the last few matches and the 1.5 Mbps stream now loads with no problem. A massive thanks to reader, Mark Yazer, for this tip.

THN (23 Dec 09): An Early Xmas Present: EHF to give me the bits for Euro 2010!: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.910

The men’s 2010 European Championship throws off today in Austria. Here are some thoughts on the upcoming Championships.

[b]What’s at stake:[/b] Besides simply the desire to win the tournament, 3 nations will secure bids to the 2011 World Championships. As France (defending champion) and Sweden (host) have already qualified they won’t factor into the ranking of the top 3 teams. Assuming tournament favorite France makes the semifinals the other 3 teams that would join them would also qualify for the World Championships. If Sweden also does well 5th place could be a deciding match.
What the Bookmakers think: France is a very strong favorite to win the title with Denmark, Spain and Croatia seen as their strongest challengers.

Odds to win: (From www.bet365)
France 13/10
Denmark 5/1
Spain 6/1
Croatia 6/1
Poland 13/1
Germany 14/1
Serbia 24/1
Sweden 24/1
Norway 24/1
Iceland 24/1
Slovenia 39/1
Russia 59/1
Hungary 149/1
Czech Republic 299/1
Austria 499/1
Ukraine 499/1

[b]French coach channels Pat Riley:[/b] France is the reigning Olympic and World Champion, so there is now much talk of going for the “Triple” by adding reigning European Champion to their resume. French Coach, Claude Onesta, is using this goal as a way to motivate his players and to avoid complacency. For us old schoolers out there this sound a lot like LA Lakers coach Pat Riley, who in the late 1980’s coined the moniker “Three-peat” as part of their quest to win 3 titles in a row.
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-peat

[b]My Prediction: [/b]The three-peat didn’t work for the Lakers then and my hunch is that it somehow it also won’t work for the French now. On paper there’s no real reason for France not to win this tournament. They’ve still got the best players and they are reasonably healthy as they enter the tournament. Still something tells me that French angst and complacency will combine to result in a slip up in either the finale or semifinal. The team most likely to execute the slip up is Croatia which is surely more hungry and has a revenge motive from their loss to France at the WC last year in Zagreb. I think Vori and Duvnjak’s playing in the Bundesliga this season will make them more battle hardened. Another dangerous team will be Spain with naturalized citizen Arpad Sterbik now in the goal. A hot game from him could also prove France’s undoing. For an order of finish I’ll predict:
1) Croatia, 2) France, 3) Spain

[b]Potential Surprise Team:[/b] I think Russia is a better team than they’ve performed of late. They’ve got good players, Igropulo, in particular, and they are due to to have a better performance.
[b]Most likely to disappoint: [/b] With a backcourt minus Hens and Preiss, Germany might not even make it out of the first round. A safer prediction for sure is that we will see more Heiner Brand complaints that the influx of foreign players in the Bundesliga is hurting their national team.

[b]Time Shifting:[/b] With on demand streaming of the European Championships available, I will probably see very few if any games live. Most likely, I’ll start watching at around 8:00 PM here in Vegas. So, as I will be in my own little world for the next couple of weeks, don’t be looking for any up to the minute updates at THN. On top of that, my fear of finding out the score before I see matches will probably also impact other handball news related coverage. If you’re sending me an email make sure it includes no spoiler information.
THN (23 Jul 08): Extreme Time Shifting in the Desert or How I Hope to Watch Olympic Handball: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.539

[b]European Championships Official Song: [/b] All I can say about this is that there’s no denying the simple fundamental truth that nothing quite says “Handball” like an Austrian guy with a trace of a British accent wearing a white skullcap singing a cover of a Neil Diamond song written as a homage to Caroline Kennedy. “Good times never seem so good… so good… good” Let the game begin!
Euro 2010 Website: Official Song Released.
DJ Otzi Official Site: http://www.djoetzi-music.de/ (Click the video link for the song. You gotta see it to appreciate it.)
“Sweet Caroline” Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Caroline

The 3rd part of the Washington Post series on the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) was published yesterday. The third piece looks at the possibility of the USOC receiving some of its funding from the U.S. government. Many of our readers around the world might be surprised to learn that the USOC receives no funding from the U.S. government and in turn, the U.S. Team Handball Federation (USA TH) receives no funding as well. The USOC instead receives the bulk of its funding from TV and sponsorship revenues that the IOC shares with the U.S. The percentage that the U.S. receives is a point of controversy and may have contributed to Chicago failing to get the Olympics.

Switching to government funding could have implications for minor sports like Team Handball. Historically, minor sports in the U.S. have received the bulk of their funding from the USOC. In the last decade, the USOC decided to run itself more like a “business” and this resulted in the decision for a pay for performance plan that meant that more money would go to the sports that can get medals. As Team Handball only supplied the possibility of 2 medals (men and women) and had virtually no hope of realistically competing for a medal funding for the sport dropped substantially. A switch to government funding could lead to more equitable sharing amongst the sports as the USOC would have more oversight. You could even run into the possibility of Congressional meddling should USA Team Handball ever establish a resident training program in some state. I.E., some congressman could be incentivized to make sure that funding is maintained at the university in his district.

Regardless, the fickleness of USOC funding is likely to remain. This is why the USA TH has been seeking alternate revenue sources such as its own sponsors and support from the international community. Hopefully, the USA will be able to wean itself out of this dependency, but the reality is that this won’t happen overnight

USOC IN LIMBO
- PART I: RIFT WITH THE IOC: Deteriorating USOC-IOC relations threaten both organizations: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122101900.html?sid=ST2009122602221
- PART II: LOOKING FOR A LEADER: USOC seeks answers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/12/26/ST2009122602221.html?sid=ST2009122602221
- PART III: In search of revenue, time to tap Uncle Sam?: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/13/AR2010011304258.html?sid=ST2010011304440

From the news accounts and photos (see links below) it appears that a good time was had by all at the recently concluded Big Apple tournament. Participating in the tournament were 5 club teams from Germany and the hosts, New York City Team Handball. As I reported earlier there were some space and time limitations that precluded this tournament from having more American participation. The tournament was won by a club from Stuttgart and in addition to the tournament an all star game was held with many former and current Bundesliga stars participating.

The entire event was largely conceived by Karl Gladeck of German company, TR Team Travel, as a way of introducing Handball to the USA and allowing German fans to mingle with top Bundesliga stars in a unique setting. Besides Handball many of the visitors took part in the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration and attended an NBA basketball game between the New Jersey Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Note the photo op with Pascal Hens and Shaquille O’Neal.

Although, not an official Bundesliga event it was good to see that the General Manager of the league, Frank Bohmann made the trip. Here’s hoping it opened his eyes to the possibility of more aggressively pursuing the vast, untapped market in the U.S. Sure, the tournament and venue were small, but it’s still notable that a sizable contingent of Germans flew to the U.S. for this minor event in the midst of a recession. Certainly it’s worth exploring whether something could be done on a larger scale.

The German Federation, a separate entity from the German Bundesliga, is working with the U.S. and Polish Federation to play a Germany – Poland National Team exhibition in Chicago on 17 July. It will be interesting to see how that this match is promoted and whether it can avoid the low attendance figures that the French Miami tournament had last year.

The key is to balance the European travelers with an American audience that unfortunately doesn’t exist yet. Mr Bohmann met with USA Team Handball President, Dieter Esch and General Manager, Steve Pastorino so surely steps to grow such an audience were discussed. One such step that I’ve promoted ad nauseam is the need for TV broadcasts in the states. Barring a major deal with ESPN or NBC Universal let’s hope that Bundesliga webstreaming is brought back on line even if it is just for the few fans that are already here in the States.

USA Team Handball: Team Stuttgart Wins Big Apple Tournament (3 Jan 10): http://usateamhandball.org/news/2010/01/03/team-stuttgart-wins-big-apple-tournament/30278
USA Team Handball: German media pick up Big Apple Tournament (4 Jan 10): http://usateamhandball.org/news/2010/01/04/german-media-pick-up-big-apple-tournament/30293?ngb_id=42
New York City Team Handball Club: http://www.newyorkcityteamhandball.com/bigapple.php
Handball-World: Handball goes New York (31 Dec 09): http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=&auswahl=23569
Handball-World: Bundesliga Stars celebrate New Year's Eve together in New York (2 Jan 10): http://www.handball-world.com/o.red.c/news.php?GID=1&auswahl=23585
Handball-World: Big Apple Tournament started – THC New York in the semi (3 Jan 10: http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=1&auswahl=23588
A-Shaq jersey for Hens: http://www.handballwoche.de/artikel/bundesliga/news/ein-shaq-trikot-fuer-hens/
Bild.de: Pascal Hens meets Shaq (4 Jan 10): http://www.bild.de/BILD/sport/mehr-sport/2010/01/04/hsv-handball/pascal-hens-trifft-nba-star-shaq-o-neal.html (with photo of the two stars)
Stuttgarter Zeitung: Development after the New Year's Eve Party (2 Jan 10): http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/stz/page/2335512_0_2147_-entwicklungshilfe-nach-der-silvesterparty.html
THN: If you build it, will they come? (18 Apr 09): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.734
THN: German Bundesliga blocks internet Handball broadcasts to rest of world (22 Sep 09): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.827
Handball-World: Tournament in New York: All-Star team beats U.S. Selection (4 Jan 10): http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=1&auswahl=23597
Handball-World: Tournament in New York a great success – not only for the winning team from Stuttgart (5 Jan 10): http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=1&auswahl=23598

As the self proclaimed world’s #1 proponent of internet web streaming of Handball matches I was very pleased and a little surprised by the EHF’s recent announcement of their upcoming Euro 2010 web package. The key sentence:

“All games of the EHF EURO in Austria will be available on the internet at a 500 kbit/s rate as well as at a [u][b]1.5 Mbit/s[/b][/u] rate so that subscribers can optimise the service to their own technical possibilities.”

For those of you who don’t know, 1.5 Megabit/second is a dramatic step up in service compared to previous offerings for the World and European Championships where speeds of 450 and 750 Kb/s have been the norm. 1.5 Mb/s isn’t quite the same picture quality you typically see on TV, but it’s very close and there’s a lot less pixilation when compared to 750 Kb/s.

Unfortunately, the service will not be available everywhere. Sorry handball fans in Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belarus you’ll be restricted to the TV matches in your respective countries. Not too often is it better to be a Handball fan in say, India or the U.S, but as long as TV executives are still living in 1999 instead of 2009 we’ll have to suffer through these archaic rights restrictions.

Finally, perhaps I shouldn’t celebrate too much just yet as it remains to be seen as to whether the actual package will match the advertisement. The Euro 2008 service was to put it kindly, less than satisfactory. The Euro 2010 throws off on 19 January.

EHF (16 Dec 09): Follow the EHF EURO 2010 live on your computer!: http://www.eurohandball.com/article/12777
THN: World Championship Handball Web Streaming: Slow, but Steady Progress (16 Jan 09): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.673
Handball Video Streaming ($43 vs. Free): Hmmm…. I’ll take Free, Thank You (14 Feb 08): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.455
THN: Women’s World Championship Video Streaming: More Bits Please (6 Dec 07): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.423

A few items of note from the recent Women’s World Championships in China

Pool play provides a second chance: Runners-up France started this year’s tournament in dismal fashion losing to Brazil 22-20 and Denmark 24-16, before rolling off 7 straight victories over Congo, Sweden, Germany, Angola, Russia, Austria and Spain enroute to the final. A large pool of 6 teams gave France 5 games to get their act together and gel as a team. If the format had been with smaller pools of 4 or 5 teams France might very well have played in the President’s Cup.

Expat Fans: This article tells the story of a small group of French Expats that cheered on their team in China: http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/community/news/2009-12/492415.html

Where were the fans?: The IHF put a brave face on the small numbers in attendance at their final press conference, but early round matches were very poorly attended with official crowds of 100 and in many instances less. One player blog commented that the players outnumbered the crowds in some cases. Other reports indicate that crowds for later matches were larger but inflated by what appeared to be “forced attendance” from groups that were wearing matching uniforms. Speculation aside, China was reportedly the only nation to bid for the event and the IHF should be commended for trying to promote the sport outside of Europe. The simple reality is that Women’s Handball, even more so than the Men’s game, has a very limited appeal outside of Scandinavia and the Balkans.
Chinaview.cn: IHF officials satisfied with handball World Championship in China (20 Dec 09): http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/20/content_12674741.htm

Minnows get whacked: The performance of nations like Australia, Chile and Thailand was less than spectacular and some European blogs and news reports have called for the return of the B World Championships. The B World Championships as the name implies was a secondary championship with lower ranked teams from around the world that the IHF used to hold. Entry into the A World Championships was then limited to the winners of the B World Championships in a promotion-relegation system. I’ll have more to say on this topic after I complete a “ranking of the continents” article, but here’s a story about Thailand’s experience in the meantime:
Haandbold.com: Thailand: Modest goals were achieved (21 Dec 09): http://www.haandbold.com/nyheder.php?id=19315

The sports movie is as American as apple pie. American football has Brian’s Song and Remember the Titans. Baseball has Field of Dreams, Bull Durham and the Natural. Basketball has Hoosiers and Hockey has Miracle! and Slap Shot. Soccer has Goal! and Victory. And now Rugby has Invictus.

Invictus (Latin for unbeaten), opened in theaters this weekend in North America and South Africa. The film depicts South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup championship and Nelson Mandela’s statesmanship in using his support of the “whiteman’s game” to help bring his country together. The film is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as the South African team captain, Francois Pienaar. It’s a wonderful story line and there is already talk of it being an Oscar contender.

Aside from the movie itself, the promotional impact for the sport of Rugby in the U.S. will be massive. Commercials have been frequently promoting the movie during NFL and college American football games. Literally, millions of potential fans/players will see the movie either in theaters or DVD in the coming year. For youngsters not familiar with the sport, they will soon be asking where can I play this game. For old timers with misconceptions, it will be their first real exposure to the sport and it will squash whatever notions they had that rugby is merely an excuse for college kids to drink beer. Follow on effects will be more players and more customer demand for matches on TV. Add in Rugby 7’s (a modified version of the 15 a side game) recent inclusion to the Olympic program and you could not ask for a better publicity blitz.

Right now, one can only dream of a Team Handball movie with the kind of star power and promotion Invictus has behind it. There have been a couple of films with Handball themes. Korea’s “Forever the Moment” chronicles the 2004 Women’s Olympic team and did pretty good business in that country. The independent film “Machan” tells a fictionalized version of the phony Sri Lankan Handball team that used handball as a ploy to emigrate to Europe. These are nice films, but you really need major studio backing to have an Invictus like impact.

You also would need a compelling story and right now I’m not aware of any Handball story that could be sold to a major studio. Maybe an Iceland Gold medal in Beijing would have fit the bill, but it lacks the inner conflict that South Africa had in 1995 or the USSR-USA rivalry backdrop that USA hockey had in 1980. Maybe Bosnia & Herzegovina could go on an improbable run to an Olympic medal with a multi-ethnic team of Bosnians, Croats and Serbs playing side by side. Certainly, that would be an achievement, but still it would be tough to sell a sport even less well known than rugby.

Got an idea for Handball movie plot: Share it on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Handball-News/108817968908

VIDEO: Invictus Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqKjVo-9qso
THN (27 Aug 07): Can you teach an old dog a new trick: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?extend.372
THN (10 Nov 08): In Search of a Handball Zee Ngwenya: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.629
THN (9 Jul 08): Korean Handball Movie Available Online: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.531
THN (3 Sep 08): Sri Lankan Handball Movie Debuts at Venice Film Festival: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.591

Philip Hersh, who writes for the Olympics Blog at the Los Angeles Times has a posting on live webcasts of figure skating. He first highlights a statement he made 3 years ago concerning the state of figure skating on TV.

“The forecast is so ominous that it could turn figure skating into primarily an Internet sport as a broadcast commodity, barely a decade after its over-the-air network TV ratings and income were sky high."

He then backtracks from this original statement to note that:
1) The quality of webcasts are improving and younger viewers are more inclined to watch them on their computer
2) The internet is giving more fans the opportunity to watch it live
3) The TV revenue has decreased, but the adspace on the ice rinks are still getting exposure.

As perhaps the world’s biggest proponent of online webcasts for handball, I can only say hear-hear. The IHF is making the Women’s World Championship available and the EHF even provides Champions League matches for free. If only the Liga Asobal, Handball Bundesliga and others would realize that the TV money will come if they make their product available to more folks on line. The sooner the better.

LA Times (8 Dec 09): Webcasts no longer doomsday for figure skating: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2009/12/we.html
THN (22 Sep 09): German Bundesliga blocks internet Handball broadcasts to rest of world: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.827

These recent articles in the New York Times highlights a recent soccer match fixing scandal in the lower divisions of German soccer. What’s depicted here could also describe the situation in Handball’s lower leagues in Europe or even to a certain extent the top leagues as Handball players are not nearly as well compensated.

New York Times: Soccer on Fields Ripe for Fixing: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/sports/soccer/07soccer.html?pagewanted=all

New York Times: Player Pulled Into Soccer Betting Maelstrom (8 Dec 09):

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/sports/soccer/09fix.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Perhaps you might have noticed that more clubs seem to be pulling their goalie earlier in matches. Traditionally, this risky tactic has been reserved for the very last minute of a match because the risk of an open net has been seen as too great. Lately, however, more and more clubs are using this tactic when they lose a player for two minutes. The logic apparently being that they are better off keeping an equal 6 on 6 balance while on offense. Typically, the extra court player plays backcourt for about 15 seconds and then substitutes out for the “real” goalie.

And sometimes the “real” goalie plays offense and as Constanta’s Mihai Popescu shows they can even score. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSP9w83YJ0g

So does the possibility of an 12 meter cannonball strike by your pulled goalie justify the risk of your opposition getting an easy goal into an empty net? My intuitive reaction has been that this strategy is total nonsense. After all, if pulling your goalie was such a good idea why don’t teams do it for an entire game?

But, being that I’m an Engineer (in my day job) I decided to run some numbers to back up my intuition. In doing so I was surprised to find out that this strategy isn’t as foolhardy as I thought. In fact, depending on how likely you think different outcomes are it’s a sound strategy.

For the sake of argument let’s make the following assumptions:

Likelihood of Team A scoring when:
- Down a man (5 on 6): 15%
- Pulling a goalie (6 on 6): 30% (note: this is not the same as a regular 6 on 6 since the “6th man” often stays back a little in order to be ready for the substitution

Likelihood of different Team A readiness levels on their next defense as a result of their trying to score with a pulled goalie:
- Fully ready (Made goal): 30%
- Fully ready (no fastbreak opportunity for Team B ): 20%
- Partially ready (partial fastbreak; resulting in the goalie not being fully ready to defend): 30%
- Open goal (turnover or easily recovered missed shot results in an open net): 20%

Likelihood of Team B scoring:
- When Team A is fully ready: 60%
- When Team A is partially ready: 80%
- When there is an open net: 98%

Using these percentages it can then be calculated that the pulled goalie strategy is marginally superior. (For those so inclined the math is in the in the extended text.) With the pulled goalie strategy a team can expect to be up a goal 12% of the time; tied 33%; and down 1 goal 55%. The traditional strategy results in being up a goal 6% of the time, tied 43%, and down 1 goal 51%. Or to think of it in terms of expected value, pulling a goalie results in a -.436 deficit vs. -.45 for the traditional strategy. A razor thin margin for sure, but still a slight nod to the pulling the goalie strategy.

Now we can argue if the percentages chosen are “representative”. Truth be told, they will vary greatly depending on the teams playing. Accordingly, so should the decision on what strategy should be taken. In general, if your defense is not very good under normal circumstances, the more sense it makes to pull your goalie. In other words, if they are going to score against you anyway, you might as well improve your chances to score against them. Conversely, if Thierry Omeyer is in the goal it would be foolish not to keep him in the goal where even an uncontested fast break is no sure thing. This is why I question former Norway National Team coach, Marit Breivik’s use of this tactic. With one of the best teams in the world and a more than competent goalie the odds suggests that this might have been a suspect strategy.

Another question worth contemplating is whether certain clubs might even want to consider playing 7 on 6 full time. And indeed some of the weaker Champions League clubs have done exactly this against the elite clubs for significant stretches of a match. Such a move is very disruptive, but it usually doesn’t take too long for the top clubs to adjust and punish the tactic. Reportedly, the Argentine women have been using this tactic at the World Championships in China, but based on results it hasn’t been too successful.

For more on the math involved see the extended text

For a traditional defense where the goalie stay put it’s relatively simple
Percent Team A scores (5 on 6) – Percent Team B scores (when Team A is fully ready on defense) or simply .15 -.60 = -.45

Or to think of it another way if this situation happens 100 times the resultant outcomes would be
9% Team A: 1; Team B:1
6% Team A: 1; Team B:0
51% Team A:0; Team B:1
34% Team A:0 Team B:0

The calculation for pulling the goalie is a little more complex due to the varying states of defensive readiness and the varying times they face that particular state of readiness:

Percent Team A scores (6 on 6) –
[(% Team B scores against fully ready Team A x % time Team A scores) +
(% Team B scores against fully ready Team A x % time Team B has no fastbreak opportunity) +
(% Team B scores against partially ready Team A x % time Team A is only partially ready) +
(% Team B scores against empty net x % time there is a an empty net)]

.30 – [(.60 x .3) + (.60 x .2) + (.80 x .3) + (.98 x .2)] = -.436

18% Team A: 1; Team B:1
12% Team A: 1; Team B:0
55% Team A:0; Team B:1
15% Team A:0 Team B:0

Promoting Team Handball in nations where the sport struggles for any media attention can be a challenge. In fact, in these nations any article in a mainstream news outlet about the sport is usually a cause of minor celebration. As a result of not being covered, national and regional federations, as well as clubs, usually do a fair amount of self promotion. I’ve written a few times about how important this is http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.540, and about how sometimes the self reporting has been a little bit misleading http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.787.

Recently, the Alberta Women’s team travelled to Chicago to participate in the Windy City tournament. As part of their self-reporting the team posted 5 video blogs on Youtube http://www.teamhandball.ab.ca/league.php?scriptName=LEAGUEINFO&leagueID=12092&leagueInfoID=47877 (Scroll to the bottom). For the uninitiated, a video blog can perhaps best be described as informal video containing information similar to what you might read in a written blog post. In Alberta’s case the video blogs were part travelogue, part “shout out” to the folks back home, and part recaps of the club’s matches. If I were in charge the content provided would have been more related to the matches, but I highly doubt that I was part of the targeted demographic.

So while I might have changed what was recorded, I am intrigued by the possibilities it presents for clubs and federations. As some theoretical examples of what could have been, consider the USA Women’s trip to Poland, the Canadian Men’s Team trip to the Dominican Republic or Australia’s upcoming participation in the World Championships. 5 minutes of recording, consisting of game footage, post game interviews, and sure, why not a little bit of travelogue would be greatly appreciated by the fans back home. And, if we’re thinking about targeted demographics these types of videos are bound to enhance recruiting as perspective players (ages 12-20) get a better glimpse of just what an opportunity these trips are.

Now some of you might say that players travelling on national team trips to important competitions don’t have time to be recording and editing video. Instead they should be resting or preparing for the next match. To which, I say, “Pullease, give me a break!” Maybe things have changed since I took a couple of overseas trips, but I still fondly remember never having more free time to read and play cards in my entire life. Amongst 12-15 players and support staff the workload to create video and web posts would not be overwhelming. More likely, there’s bound to be 1 or 2 tech savvy folks that probably would have to be pulled away from doing it. I contacted the primary creator of the Alberta postings, Sara Cyrankiewicz, and she indicated that she spent about 30 minutes or so editing each clip. Factor in that she’s done it a few times and we’re probably talking about 2-3 hours of “work” for a team before they get better at it through practice.

So the question for Federations out there shouldn’t be, “Can we do it?” Instead, the question should be, “Why aren’t we?”

THN (Jul 2008): Australian Junior Women In Macedonia: Getting Beat on the Court, but Reporting on it in Style: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.540
THN (Jul 2009): Real news from official Handball websites?: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.787
Alberta Sr Women page with link to Youtube videos: http://www.teamhandball.ab.ca/league.php?scriptName=LEAGUEINFO&leagueID=12092&leagueInfoID=47877

The Pan American Team Handball Federation’s (PATHF) Junior Women’s Division 1 Championship are currently taking place in San Jose, Costa Rica. Through 2 match days, Mexico and the Dominican Republic look to be the class of this (Under 20) competition, while relative newcomers Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala appear to be at least one step down in class. Barring a major change in performance Mexico and the Dominican Republic should advance to the PATHF Junior Championship next year where they will take on Brazil, Argentina, Greenland, Uruguay, Puerto Rico and Chile. The top 3 teams from that tournament will then advance to the Junior World Championships next summer in South Korea.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Women’s team consisting of players ranging in ages from 14-25 traveled to Poland where they took on the Polish Women’s National Team and participated in an under 21 tournament against Norway, the Czech Republic and Poland. Predictably, for a very inexperienced team taking on quality competition, the scores ranged from ugly (33-12 against the Poland Jrs) to downright brutal (59-11 to Norway). While, some might argue that those scores indicate that the trip was a waste of time, I don’t fall into that camp. As I wrote back in 2006 http://teamhandballnews.com/news142.html, even the worst blowout is a valuable learning experience for the players of the losing team and nations also get a very clear benchmark of where they stand and how far they need to go.

That being said, however, when the gap becomes too great there are diminishing returns for the losing side. Ideally, a trip will include a match or two against top sides, as well as matches against comparative foes. This is why I’m a big fan of the current World Championships format which gives sides like Australia a “lesson” during group play, but then gives them an opportunity to compete on a more equal footing in the President’s Cup.

Arguably, the ongoing PATHF tournament in Costa Rica would have been just such a tournament for the U.S. In all likelihood, the U.S. would have been smoked by Mexico and the Dominican Republic, but they would have been competitive against the other 3 sides. These tournaments would also have given the U.S. players a taste of what competition is like in Latin America. On down the line as the U.S. improves one can also hope that the U.S. will qualify for World Junior and Youth championships where players get great exposure to scouts for professional clubs.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty well documented that I’m not a big fan of PATHF. But, I still have the same questions that I raised last month when the U.S. didn’t participate in the Men’s senior Div 1 Championships. Except in this case an even stronger argument could be made that the ongoing “youth movement” would have been served pretty well by this tournament.

USA Team Handball is expected to release some of its planning documentation in the near future. Here’s hoping it clearly explains what the grand strategy is in terms of which teams will play where and why?

Canadian side note: According to the Canadian Federation Facebook page, Canada didn’t even get an invite to this tournament. It should also be noted, though, that they probably wouldn’t have participated anyway due to their current focus on the Sr. Programs.

USA Team Handball: Dipping Toes in International Waters: http://usateamhandball.org/news/2009/11/22/dipping-toes-in-international-waters/29259
THN (Sep 2006): Is it Better to Get Blown Out or to Just Stay Home?: http://teamhandballnews.com/news142.html
THN (Oct 2008): Analyzing the US decision to not participate in PATHF: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.854
PATHF Div 1 Juniors Results: http://www.panamhandball.org/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showResultsRank&p=8&Itemid=26
Canadian Federation Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canadian-Team-Handball-Federation/165918018883

Christer’s response downplayed the problem and exaggerated the impact of the potential solution I’m advocating. First off, let’s reiterate what the “problem” is and acknowledge that it is indeed a real problem. The problem we are discussing here are actions taken by players and even coaches in the last few seconds of a match to disrupt/stop the team with possession of the ball from scoring by any means necessary. Christer maintains “that there is fortunately only one Prokop, and the risk for ‘copycats’ is very small.” While Prokop’s action was the most egregious one people have seen (thanks to youtube) at the end of a match, it’s by no means the first time it’s ever happen. Two commenters on our Facebook page were eye witnesses to similar actions, presumably by coaches.

What more commonly happens, though, is that players on the court perform the unsportsmanlike acts with the most popular method being tackling or hacking the player about to throw the ball in play at midcourt. The player is awarded a red card, but a few precious seconds run off the clock and the defense gets the opportunity to fully organize itself for the last second shot. The most recent occurrence was just two weekends ago when Laima Bernataviciute of Alcoa FKC stopped play simply to prevent one more goal. Predictably, the EHF penalized her with a one game suspension. http://www.eurohandball.com/article/012710/Suspension+of+Alcoa+FKC+player At least in this case it didn’t result in her club advancing to the next round. And as my earlier article http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.651 shows there are a lot of copycats out there and one game suspension penalties have done absolutely nothing to deter this “clever” end of game maneuver.

So, Handball observers you can only be in one of two camps. You can either prefer the current set of rules and punishments which in the end, obligates players to commit unsportsmanlike fouls at the end of a match or you can recognize that there is a problem and seek a better solution/deterrent. Count me as squarely in the latter camp!

A short refresher: The solution I’m proposing, the technical penalty shot, would be awarded when a player commits a foul which results in a direct red card. In addition to the two minute penalty, the team that was fouled would be awarded a penalty shot and then would also get possession of the ball after the penalty shot.

Clearly, if this solution was implemented, it would forever alter play at the end of a match. Gunnar Prokop certainly wouldn’t have stepped on the court to stop the Metz fastbreak. A “maybe” fastbreak goal would have been replaced with a more certain penalty shot. And even if the penalty shot was missed Metz would have yet another attempt to score. And this wouldn’t just stop ridiculous maneuvers like Prokop, but other more common unsportsmanlike fouls like tackling/hacking the player about to throw in the ball after a made goal.

Christer indicates that such a punishment would be out of proportion, but he doesn’t make much of a case to explain why that is. He ignores the fact that the current combination of red cards and post game disciplinary measures is having no effect and then make a misleading reference to basketball free throws. For clarity, let’s not confuse the concept of the technical foul with the standard foul in basketball. At the end of a basketball game it’s true that some matches degenerate into free throw shooting contests as the trailing team’s only hope is to foul the other team and hope they miss their free throws. But, as Christer points out these fouls are done within the standard norms of play. Players don’t tackle the opposition with unsportsmanlike fouls because the penalty is the more severe technical foul, which results in free throws and the opposing team still retaining possession. As I envision it, the same sort of thing would happen in Handball. Teams would still seek to foul players to stop play, they just wouldn’t tackle and hack players outside the standard norms of play. In other words, there would be proportional consequences for the level of infraction.

Christer also highlights another problem in that officials would have to make “subjective” calls as to whether certain fouls warranted a penalty shot. He even indicates that until about 30 years ago there was a similar provision in the rules that “turned out to be disastrous.” Although, he didn’t actually mention why it was disastrous I can only speculate that some officials made some questionable calls in the awarding of these penalty shots. This, of course, ignores the reality that officials make hundreds of calls a game which are already subjective and open to interpretation. Officials are human beings and sometimes they make the wrong call, even for inappropriate reasons. As a long time basketball player, I can remember being subjected to a ref or two who I felt was unfairly biased and a little too quick with the whistle when it came to calling a Technical foul. More notably, this has happened on occasion at higher levels, but it’s infrequent due to the fact that officials can be disciplined. Perhaps the most famous example is the abrupt end of NBA Official Jake O’Donnell’s career: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_O'Donnell.

Fortunately, referees abusing their power is the rare exception. Most players and coaches, in fact, will begrudgingly agree that they generally had it coming to them when they got the red card. The solution, therefore, is not to take away an official’s ability to control the game. And is it any real surprise that the coaches don’t want to see the return of the Technical Penalty Shot?—What a deal do they have now in Handball! Can you imagine basketball being played without “technicals”? Only in Bobby Knight’s fantasy world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvRO2GE4x4M

No, the solution is instead to give officials another tool in their toolbox that can be used sparingly. Direct red cards are not a common occurrence and apart from the last few seconds of a match nobody ever desires one. And adding a “Technical Penalty Shot” will eliminate that crazy desire as well.

Handball’s Last Minute Problem (Part 1): Time to add the Technical Penalty Shot: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.873
Handball's Last Minute Problem (Part 2): John has good intentions… but gets his ‘solutions’ from the wrong sources!: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.875