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Bettendorf, Spokane, Adrian, Myrtle Beach, York: How should we Decide the Location for our Handball National Championships?

(Iowa. A place to grow up… absolutely; A place to visit… not so much)

Handball Coming to Iowa?

When I first heard that USA Team Handball was headed to Bettendorf, Iowa for its annual National Championships I burst out laughing. I spent the first 18 years of my life living on a farm in Iowa and while it was a great place to grow up, it’s nearly last on my list of places to visit, because there’s virtually no reason to ever visit Iowa unless you have family there. Don’t believe me? Check out this list of places to vist; it even includes my hometown, Brooklyn #7. Your closest option to Bettendorf will be the World’s Largest Truckstop #21)

It’s also generally not one of the easier places to get to. There are worse places, but I suspect there will be quite a few handball people flying to Chicago and then driving 2+ hours to get to Bettendorf.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of the catcalls and complaints that would have materialized if former CEO Martin Branick was still in charge and had announced that handball was coming to Iowa. Holy crap! There would have been a revolt and calls for his removal. You thought Spokane was bad…

Well, anyway, just something for everyone to contemplate while waiting in line for your rental car, driving the 2+ hours to Iowa, paying your tolls and staring out at the endless corn and soybean fields. Yes, plenty of time to contemplate life, how our handball world has improved and whether all the disruption of the past year has been worth it.

How Should we Decide the Location for our Handball National Championships?

But setting aside the merits of Spokane or Bettendorf the larger question is whether it even matters very much where we hold our National Championships. I think the answer to that question depends on what we or USA Team Handball is trying to accomplish with the National Championshps. Here are some goals/objectives I’ve heard postulated:

  1. Provide particiants the best possible on court experience: Generally everyone likes to play their matches on a good full sized court. Good lighting, actual stands for viewing, working scoreboards, courts in one location are some of the features desired. Teraflex floors are a nice addition too.
  2. Ease of travel for as many participants as possible: It’s impossible to make everyone happy, but typically having the national championships within easy driving distance to several clubs and next to a major airline hub makes travel easier
  3. Minimize costs for participants: This is closely related to ease of travel, but not always. Sometimes having the championships at a location with cheap food/lodging can offset travel inconvenience. In particular, I think the cheapest nationals I ever attended was in 1988 in Marquette, Michigan. Very inconvenient to get to, but free room and board at Northern Michigan University which at the time was trying to broaden its training center bonafides.
  4. Minimize costs for USA Team Handball: Renting a facility can be expensive, but this can sometimes be offset by deals to guarantee visitors. The downside is the deals tend to be in less desired locations.
  5. Introduce handball to a new city/region: While generally not the highest priority bringing a championship to a new locale can spur development. The 2010 National Championships in Las Vegas were a major factor in getting a new club started there.
  6. A “reward” for development efforts in a city/region: Again, this can be an add-on goal, but national championships in Minneapolis (2012) and Detroit (2020) (cancelled by COVID) are examples of this and can be a good opportunity to showcase the sport
  7. Introduce the broader handball community to a new handball residency program location or hub of focused activity: In 1992 and 1993 the National Championshps were held in Philadelpia as kind of a warm up to the short lived residency program there. Several championships were also held in Atlanta in the 1990s as it became a major hub of handball eforts in conjunction with the 1996 Olympics. Originally there was talk of the 2025 National Championships being played in Charlote at the U.S. Performance Center which would be right out of the Philly playbook of the 90s.

Cost Trade Offs and Who Ends up Paying

One doesn’t have to think too long or hard to realize that some of these goals can be met at the same time. And, that some are in direct conflict with each other. In particular, there will almost always be a direct conflict with minimizing costs and providing the best possible experience. i.e., good experiences tend to cost more money. Not always the case, but generally the case.

Probably the biggest trade off relates to whatever deal USA Team Handball ends up making with a host city. I haven’t seen the numbers, but one can surely guess that less desirable locations charge less money and/or offer incentives. Most notably, the two year deal former CEO Ryan Johnson surely cut with Spokane was likely a good one and for a cash strapped NGB it looks better on the bottom line. But, then everyone had to travel to Spokane and that adds up. One would have to have greater insight to all the numbers, but I suspect that the cost savings was essentially paid by greater member travel costs.

Bettendorf by the Numbers

Here’s a rough assessment of how Bettendorf fits with the goals identified

  1. Quality Venue. Sight unseen, the TBK Bank Sports Complex looks like a fine venue. One of the interesting developments of the past 10 years or so has been the addition of facilities like this all over the country.
  2. Ease of Travel. Bettendorf is harder to get to, but not impossible. I was even surprised to see that there’s a direct flight option out of Denver. Others will like find it cheaper to fly to Chicago and drive. A few clubs that normally have to fly like Minnesota, Chicago, and Milwauke can even drive to Bettendorf
  3. Minimize participant costs. Bettendorf is likely pretty reasonable in terms of lodging. As discussed flight and drive will add up for some folks
  4. Minimize USA Team Handball cost. As discussed I suspect the Quad Cities cut a decent deal and with more and more facilities like the TBK Bank Sports Complex being built there’s more competition.
  5. Introduce handball to a new region. See below
  6. A reward for development efforts. See below
  7. Introduce the handball community to a new handball hub. See below

The 50 year Iowa Handball Cicada

As far as I know my home state has been pretty much devoid of handball. In fact, the only handball played there that I know of was a U.S. Women’s National Team tryout held at Iowa State University in the 1970s. And, now in 2025 handball has returned like a 50 year periodical cicada. While it would be nice if a 3 day tournament ignited a new handball passion in the Quad Cities, I’ve been around long enough to know that is very unlikely. There might be a local TV news report and a few random passers-by at the TBK Bank facility, but that’s about it.

As most U.S. clubs are currently reliant on expats, the Quad Cities (population, 385K) is simply too small to realisitically support a handball club. And, the same is true for any city in Iowa. The largest metro area ( Des Moines, pop ~750K) is still too small. I also don’t think Iowa attracts very many immigrants from handball loving countries. Of course, a club not reliant on expats could conceivably get started from scratch, but that would be extremeley challenging. Realistically, the only two possiblities would be starting club teams at the two largest universities, Iowa and Iowa State, but as they are a bit geographically separated from other clubs that would also be challenging.

So… in all likelihood a little handball cicada swarm will hit Bettendorf for 3 days only to return x number of years later… hopefully, shorter than 50 years.

A Missing, Aspirational Goal?

One possible goal that might seem strange in its omittance would be to create the best possible fan experience. After all, it is a National Championship. Shouldn’t we be more concerned with putting on an entertaining show? Of course, that would assume there are actually any fans beyond the participants. Even friends and family members are typically lacking at a U.S. Handball National Championship.

Here are some reasons as to why fans are lacking:

  • Not a priority: Conducting a National Championships is a major operation with multiple moving parts. The focus is the participants and making sure the tournament runs smoothly
  • The Format (Too Many Teams): Our National Championships is an all comers event for anyone who wants to come. There are some good teams playing at a decent level, but there are also development teams and weekend warriors reliving their glory days. Everyone that wants to play handball should have the opportunity to do so, but maybe a National Championship should just be for the top teams.
  • The Format (Too Many Games in Too Little Time): Playing 5 matches over 3 days? Pro handball players in top physical condition complain loudly about playing 2 matches in 2 back to back days. All too often the Sunday championship matches feature two tired teams playing out a battle of attrition. It’s typically not good handball.

While it would be nice to solve this problem by just making the fan experience a priority and changing the format to a Final Four or some other fan friendly format, doing so won’t neccessarily solve this problem. Or, since we’re in Iowa, let’s quote Field of Dreams: “If you build it… They will come.

And, here’s James Earl Jones end of movie monologue telling Kevin Costner that “People will come

Sorry, that only works in the movies. It’s not so easy to artificially create demand. I’m not saying we shouldn’t put more priority on packaging our National Championships. Just saying that we should have tempered expectations.

That said.. if you’re intrested and have a little free time you could go and visit the actual Field of Dreams and one of Iowa’s biggest tourist sites. Just an hour and half drive from Bettendorf

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USA Handball Talk (Episode 44): West Point and USA Men’s National Team Right Back/Wing, Gary Phillips

Gary Phillips is one of the best prospects to ever come out of a USA Collegiate Handball club. Earlier this month he led West Point to a 17th straight Collegiate Handball title and was selected as the tournament MVP. At the IHF Emerging Nations Championships he was selected to the all star team. An unprecedented accomplishment for a handball athlete still in college.

I sat down with Gary during the Collegiate Championships to learn more about his background and plans for the future. Here are some of the topics we discussed:

  • Air Force upsetting West Point in Pool Play (West Point came back in knockout play to win their 17th straight collegiate championships)
Phillips on attack vs North Carolina; Photo courtesy of Rod Apfelbeck
  • The three players in the past 40 years that had John saying, “Who the hell is that guy…”
  • Playing on the national team with Americans who’ve learned handball in another country
  • Playing at the Jr World Championships in 2023 with “glue” and against more experience goalies
  • Playing with the Sr National Team at the Emerging Nations Championships in March and getting selected as the all-star right wing
  • Playing right back vs playing right wing
  • Gary’s backgound and being recruited to playing QB for West Point football
  • Transititioning from American football to handball
  • West Point competing at Club Nationals in May
  • Gary’s chances of joining the Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP)
  • The challenge Europeans sometime have in properly assessing the potential of stateside Americans who started playing handball at older ages
  • How playing for a top club on a daily basis can accelerate player development

Watch on YouTube or listen/download the mp3 file at the top of the page.

If you have any suggestions for future topics that you would like us to consider please let us know on social media.


Don’t miss an episode:

  • Subscribe on YouTube: Link (Earliest Availability)
  • Subscribe to the  podcast in iTunes: Link
  • Follow the  Team Handball Handball News podcast on Spotify: Link
  • Or use this RSS Feed to sign up for the podcast in your favorite podcast aggregator: Link

And, be sure to check out the podcast archive with interviews and great  handball discussion going all the way back to 2006: Link

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Commentary: Assessing USA Handball Tournament Organization Pre-Union, During the Union Year and Post-Union:  Same as it ever was…

(The analog scoreboard on Court 3 at College Nationals:  Not electronic and missing some numbers)

As Usual:  Spirited Competition

This past weekend, as I usually do, I attended the Collegiate Handball National Championships.  The competition was spirited and didn’t disappoint.  From my perspective here are a few notable highlights:

  • My alma mater, Air Force, defeated West Point in pool play for the first time in several years only to see West Point re-assert themselves in the knockout stages for yet another title. (17 in a row, now)
  • Meanwhile in women’s play, North Carolina knocked off West Point in the Gold Medal match to end the West Point women’s streak at 4 titles
  • In Men’s Division 2 play, a new side, Kentucky, ran through the tournament undefeated to take the title over Case-Western.  It’s nice to see a new program do so well.  And, a shout out to Josh Palmer of Colorado State who did a solid job as a newcomer GK playing for Case-Western.  Maybe we’ll see the CSU Rams there next year.
  • All the results: Link

Sort of as Usual:  Organizational Challenges

Beyond the play on the court, though, there were some organizational challenges.  Here’s a list of what I observed:

  • Court 3, which was only used on Friday night, didn’t have an electronic scoreboard so the match time was kept by phone and the score had to be kept with the rotating strips. (see photo)
    • Adding insult to injury the analog score strips were missing a one and a zero… hence the post-it note.
  • Referees weren’t always on time for match start… but, they were always found without too much delay
  • Volunteers for scorekeeping weren’t always available… hence my stepping in to the void on Friday night
  • The cameras for video streaming weren’t always set up for operation
    • And, when the cameras were set up, they weren’t always manned… hence my stepping in on several occasions
    • And, the matches were streamed online at some non-traditional website locations, but the price (free) was right
  • I saw a set of handball goals fall apart on a couple of occasions.  Nothing major and nothing a wrench couldn’t fix

Same as it ever was

It’s been quite a few years since I organized a handball tournament, but I still remember what it’s like.  And, if you’ve ever organized or even just attended a few handball tournaments, none of what I described should surprise you.  Those sorts of things happen.  Sometimes the event goes off without a hitch, but usually there are a few hiccups.  And, then on occasion (like this past weekend) things add up and it can make the event look at times like a bit of a train wreck.  However, in almost 40 years of observing handball tournaments, our handball community pretty much always finds a way to cross the finish line.  There’s always complaining, but folks generally step in to help and right the ship.  This has been true whether it was a tournament under the old US Team Handball Federation, USA Team Handball, the short lived US Handball Union or at independent events sanctioned by no one.

I’ll now take my 40 year timeline and zoom in on the last 3 seasons.  The 2022-23 season organized under USA Team Handball CEO, Martin Branick, the 2023-24 season organized by US Handball Union Director, Michael King and the 2024-25 season organized by USA Team Handball CEO Michael King.

During those 3 seasons I attended a SoCal Beach Handball Championships, 3 Samala Cups in Colorado and 3 Collegiate National Handball Championships.  And, I also watched quite a few matches online over the past 3 years.  I don’t want to pretend like I was some IG inspector walking around with a clipboard meticulously grading organizational performance using carefully established criteria, but in my opinion there’s not a whole lot to separate the organizational standards of the past 3 years.  If anything, last weekend’s college nationals puts this season below the other two seasons, but the sample size is still pretty small, and, as I highlighted previously sometimes things happen.

In very simple terms: Nothing has really changed and I don’t think there was much of a problem in the first place. Collectively, we know how to run a U.S. style weekend tournament. (Maybe, we should rethink whether we should be conducting so many weekend tournaments… but, that’s a commentary for another day.)

Was it all worth it?

So, if I’m a bit generous, and assess that nothing has changed organizationally, the rhetorical question is “Was it all worth it?”  And, by “it” I’m referring to the whole crazy sequence of events from the creation of the US Handball Union to the unorthodox firing of Martin Branick and his immediate replacement with Michael King.  And, of course, all the Board resignations and reputational damage that USA Team Handball garnered in the process.  Well, the answer is so obvious it doesn’t even really need to be answered.  I mean we’re talking some serious rationalization here, if you’re firmly in the “Yes, it absolutely was worth it” camp. Because 7 months into the new era… there’s not a whole lot to show for.

And, if you’re in the “Yes, eventually it will all make sense, but it will take some time” camp that blames the current situation on the challenges that were inherited let me clear up something for you.  It’s true that any newcomer inherits the problems (and successes) of his predecessor.  And, under normal hiring circumstances it’s reasonable to have to some sort of grace period before progress is expected.  But, when one comes into a role under very abnormal circumstances… There really shouldn’t be any grace period.  This is because the justification for blowing everything up is that things have gone totally to hell in a handbasket… and the newcomer is clearly going to be so much better that we can’t wait or be bothered with a normal hiring process. That any additional, self inflicted new challenges caused by the disruption will be small potatoes in the big scheme of things.  Otherwise, you just wouldn’t risk taking such action.  It just couldn’t possibly be worth it.  

And, while we’re just talking about tournament organization here, if one believes the Board of Director Meeting Minutes from last year the whole US Handball Union situation was the catalyst that eventually led to 3.5 board members deciding to blow everything up. Or… maybe it was just ostensibly the reason given so that other changes could be made? Regardless… it all just has me shaking my head.

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2025 Women’s Sr NORCA Championships Information Page

The USA Women’s Sr National Team is participating in the 2025 North American & Caribbean (NORCA) Champhionships. The tournament is being played at the Mexican Olympic Training Center in Mexico City. The five participating teams will play a round robin and then the top 2 teams will play a gold medal match and the the 3rd and 4th place teams will play for bonze. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Handball Championships in December in Germany/Holland. Matches are being live streamed on the Mexician Olympic Committe and Handball Store Mexico Facebook pages.

USA Roster

Likely Athlete Court Positions

Schedule/Results

  • Monday, 7 April March
  • Tuesday, 8 April
  • Wednesday, 9 April
  • Thursday, 10 April
  • Friday, 11 April
  • Saturday, 12 April
    • Bronze Medal Match Canada vs USA 26-20 Video
    • Gold Medal Match Cuba vs Mexico 32-21 Video

Final Standings (Unofficial)

Final Ranking

  • 1) Cuba (Qualifies for 2025 World Championships)
  • 2) Mexico
  • 3) Canada
  • 4) USA
  • 5) Puerto Rico

Links

  • USA Team Handball Roster Announcement: Link
  • USA Women’s Fundraiser: Link
  • IHF News Article: Link

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USA Wild Card for 2025 IHF Women’s World Championships Now in Doubt

A 2018 IHF Council Decision

In 2018, the IHF Council made a decision to award wild card qualifications to the USA Men and USA Women for the 2025 and 2027 IHF Handball World Championships. The rationale for the decision was to support the development of the USA National Teams in preparation for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (2018 IHF Council Minutes, pages 8-9) This has been widely known for several years and from a USA perspective knowing that the U.S. could count on participation and gaining experience in two major tournaments in the lead up to the Olympics was reasurring. Many sites like the Wikipedia page for the 2025 Women’s World Championships had “penciled” in the USA as one of the already qualified nations.

A Quiet Omission and an Important Condition

Eariler this week, however, the IHF published a news article highlighting an IHF Council decision on 27 March to award a wild card to China for the 2025 World Championships. Quietly absent from the article, however, was a passing mention of the other Wild Card that had been awarded to the USA.

I contacted both the IHF and USA Team Handball for clarification. I haven’t heard back yet from USA Team Handball, but the IHF confirmed that the IHF Council has not awarded the 2nd wild card yet. And, a closer look at the wording for the original IHF Council decision in 2018 includes an important caveat or condition to the wild card award. Namely the award is conditional on the USA national teams having “reached a certain performance level”

What Does a “Certain Performance Level” Mean?

With the October 2018 IHF Council Minutes stating that the USA National Teams will be awarded a wild card provided that they have reached a “certain performance level” one can strongly infer that the IHF Council has assessed that the USA Women have not reached that level. While that level is not defined in any way, it’s hard, if not impossible, to argue that recent results have been satisfactory. Since the 2019 PANAM Games the USA Women have failed to win a match in official competition. And, these are not losses to good or even mediocre European sides. No, these are losses to peer competition in our region, the weakest handball region in the world.

Upcoming NORCA Championship: An Opportunity to Show Potential

All is not lost for the USA Women. Next week they will be competing in the North American & Caribbean Handball Championships, where the tournament winner will receive an automatic bid for the World Championships. I haven’t seen a roster yet, but perhaps with some new players and a new coach, the team can surprise and take home a title. And, barring that show some promise and potential to IHF Council members that will be watching from afar. Maybe the U.S. can even show enough potential to merit a “certain peformance level.” After all, that open wild card has not been awarded to another nation yet.

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2025 Women’s Jr PANAM Games Qualification Information Page

The USA Women’s Jr National Team is participating in a North American & Caribbean Qualification tournament for the Jr PANAM Games. The tournament is being played at the Mexican Olympic Training Center in Mexico City. The top 3 teams will qualify for the Jr PANAM games in Asuncion, Paraguay from 9 to 23 August, 2025. Matches are being live streamed on the Mexician Olympic Committe and Handball Store Mexico Facebook pages.

USA Roster

Likely Athlete Court Positions

Schedule/Results

Final Standings (Unofficial)

USA Team Handball Roster Announcement: Link

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USA Handball Talk (Episode 43): USA Men’s National Team Center Back, Benjamin Edwards

(Benjamin Edwards at the 2025 World Championships in Norway)

Benjamin Edwards is just 18 years old, but has already played for the the U.S. Men’s national team at the Youth, Junior and Senior levels. During the 2025 World Championships in Norway I sat down with Benji to talk about his handball journey to date and plans for the future..

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

  • Playing for top club, Veszprem in a pre-season tourney
  • Getting started with handball
  • His connection to the U.S.
  • Moving to the Veszprem Academy at age 15
  • Potentially getting “loaned” to another club
  • Playing in Hungary’s 2nd division
  • How USA national teams develop a team spirit
  • Prospects for the U.S. at the 2028 Olympics and beyond

Watch on YouTube or listen/download the mp3 file at the top of the page.

If you have any suggestions for future topics that you would like us to consider please let us know on social media.


Don’t miss an episode:

  • Subscribe on YouTube: Link (Earliest Availability)
  • Subscribe to the  podcast in iTunes: Link
  • Follow the  Team Handball Handball News podcast on Spotify: Link
  • Or use this RSS Feed to sign up for the podcast in your favorite podcast aggregator: Link

And, be sure to check out the podcast archive with interviews and great  handball discussion going all the way back to 2006: Link

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2025 IHF Trophy (Intercontinental Phase) (Youth) Information Page

The USA Youth Men’s National Team is participating in the IHF Trophy (Intercontinental Phase) Championship in Pristina, Kosovo. This page is intended to serve as a handy reference point for the tournament.

USA Roster

Likely Athlete Court Positions

Schedule (Note: The USA has started Daylight Saving Time while Europe won’t start until 30 March; hence the 5 hr difference between US ET and CET)

  • Wednesday, 12 March <Off Day>
  • Thursday, 13 March
  • Friday, 14 March
  • Saturday, 15 March,
  • Sunday, 16 March
    • 3rd Place: USA vs Uzbekistan 38-36 (20-12) Video Stats

Links

  • USA Roster Announcement: Link
  • Official Roster provided to IHF: Link
  • Team Cumulative Stats: Link
  • IHF Competitions Page: Link
  • Match Web Streaming: Link
  • Tournament Page (Wikipedia): Link
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2025 IHF Trophy (Intercontinental Phase) (Juniors) Information Page

The USA Junior Men’s National Team is participating in the IHF Trophy (Intercontinental Phase) Championship in Pristina, Kosovo. This page is intended to serve as a handy reference point for the tournament

USA Roster

Likely Athlete Court Positions

Schedule/Results

  • Wednesday, 12 March <Off Day>
  • Thursday, 13 March
  • Friday, 14 March
  • Saturday, 15 March
  • Sunday, 16 March
    • 1st place match: USA vs Uzbekistan 33-32 (18-13) Video Stats

Links

  • USA Roster Announcement: Link
  • Official Roster provided to IHF: Link
  • USA Cumulative Stats: Link
  • IHF Competitions Page: Link
  • Match Web Streaming: Link
  • Tournament Page (Wikipedia): Link
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2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship Information Page

The USA Men’s National Team is participating in the IHF Emerging Nations Championship. This page is intended to serve as a handy reference point for the tournament

USA Roster

Likely Athlete Court Positions

Schedule/Results

Links

  • USA Roster Announcement: Link
  • Official Roster provided to IHF: Provisional Final
  • IHF Competitions Page: Link
  • Final Cumlulative Stats: Link
  • Match Web Streaming: Link
  • Tounament Page (Wikipedia): Link
  • IHF profile on Sigurður Guarino : From Iceland to the USA: Dream debut for Guarino at the 2025 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship: Link
  • IHF Article on All Star Selection: Link
    • Drew Donlin was selected at pivot/best defender
    • Gary Phillips was selected at right wing

USA Handball Talk (Episode 42): A Board Meeting Revelation Explains a Pivotal and Puzzling Judicial Committee Decision

On 12 February, 2025, the USA Team Handball Board of Directors held their monthly meeting and I recorded the open public portion of the meeting. The meeting started out with a seemingly mundane discussion regarding a proposed new member, Margaret Rubin for the Nominating and Governance Committee.

However, I was agape to find out that Rubin, who also serves on the Judiciary Committee had a 7-8 year relationship with USA Team Handball CEO, Michael King. This is relevant because she had played a pivotal role in 3-2 Judiciary Committee decision that prevented the board from reviewing Board decisions that had taken place while Ebiye Udo-Udoma had been improperly removed from the Board. Which, of course, included the infamous 3-2 board decision to remove Martin Branick from the CEO position and immediately replace him with King. The entire sequence of events can be seen here: Link

This podcast focuses on the most recent revelation and some of the inherent problems with the way everthing went down this past summer. Yes, if your “means” to achieve your “ends” is crappy enough… you don’t get the ends you thought you were getting.

Watch on YouTube or listen/download the mp3 file at the top of the page.

If you have any suggestions for future topics that you would like us to consider please let us know on social media.


Don’t miss an episode:

  • Subscribe on YouTube: Link (Earliest Availability)
  • Subscribe to the  podcast in iTunes: Link
  • Follow the  Team Handball Handball News podcast on Spotify: Link
  • Or use this RSS Feed to sign up for the podcast in your favorite podcast aggregator: Link

And, be sure to check out the podcast archive with interviews and great  handball discussion going all the way back to 2006: Link

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U.S. Women’s National Team: What’s Next? (Part 4): Assessing the Borsos Era: Poor Results, but Mostly not her Fault

This is part of a series of commentaries that address the future of handball in the U.S.  In Part 1, I summarized the U.S. Women’s National Team poor results of the past 4 years. In Part 2, I addressed the need for USA Team Handball leadership to consider proactive steps to broaden the talent pool. In Part 3, I highlighted an Out of the Box possibility.

The USA recently parted ways with Women’s National Team Head Coach, Edina Borsos and immediately launched a search for what appears to be a short term assignment coaching the National Team at the upcoming North American & Caribbean Handball Championships, 6-13 April in Mexico City.

A Dismal (but not Surprising) Record; Does that Alone Justify Firing?

In terms of wins and losses the firing is certainly justifiable. In major competitions the U.S. Women compiled an 0-0-8 record. Yes, the Borsos era ended with the U.S. Women failing to win a single match in major competitions. I also don’t think a single match was won in friendly international matches, but perhaps there’s a win out there against some lower level club team. (Results of friendly matches were often never reported… a whole other issue I won’t delve into here.)

How can one possibly argue against sacking a coach with such a dismal record? Well, here goes: The USA women haven’t played a single match in the past four years where they were the better team on paper. In most cases they didn’t even have a decent chance for an upset. If you know anything about the sport of handball it’s very self-evident: The talent to effectively compete has simply not been available. It’s not even worthy of debate.

Go ahead, put Thorir Hergeirsson in charge of the U.S. Women if you want. Maybe he could have X’d and O’d a victory over Canada or Mexico at some point in the last four years, but I doubt it. Given the talent available the results are not surprising. And, unless there are some new dual citizen upgrades to the U.S. roster I suspect that we will very likely continue our losing streak in April.

If one defines “coaching” as taking the athletes you have available, forming them into a team and getting said team to perform to the best of its capabilities… then, in my opinion, Coach Borsos actually did a pretty decent job.

If, however, one expands the coaching role to include efforts to identify, evaluate, recruit and develop talent… then one might argue that it is indeed time for a coaching change.

Identifying, Evaluating, Recruiting and Developing Handball Athletes: How the U.S. is Different

Before I address the question as to how coaching applies to identifying, evaluating, recruiting and developing handball athletes it’s important to highlight how what might apply for a typical handball nation doesn’t quite fit for the U.S. and vice versa.

For a nation where handball is popular, the job in this regard, for the national team staff is much simpler. For the most part they don’t have to identify or find talent. That talent is readily available and their job is primarily one of evaluation or figuring out who has national team potential. Recruiting is also very limited. Occasionally, there may be some athlete who doesn’t want to play for the national team or perhaps some foreign national that needs to be persuaded to play for his adopted country, but it’s not commonplace. And, with a strong club system in place individual skill development is less neccessary so development focuses more on teaching athletes how to progress in a national team environment.

For a nation like the U.S. where handball is virtually unknown, however, recruiting is a more intensive effort. Primarily, this is because there are no real pipelines in place. And, because of this the U.S. has to identify, evaluate, recruit and develop athletes for alternative sources. For the U.S. the three primary cohorts are:

  • Dual Citizens: This cohort consists of American citizens that have lived most of their lives in nations where handball is popular. These athletes have to be found and then persuaded to play for the U.S. After they’ve been found and committed to play for the U.S., the U.S. then evaluates and develops these athletes much the way a European nation would.
  • Americans already playing handball in the U.S.: There aren’t a lot of Americans playing handball in the U.S., but there are some. These athletes can be evaluated much the way a European nation does, except that the talent pool is so small, it’s actually possible to evaluate every single handball athlete. Additionally, as the handball development is typically rudimentary it’s important to assess potential talent and to take into account that the age/skill level could be dramatically different from what one would expect in a handball nation.
  • Americans who have never played handball: This is perhaps the strangest cohort to someone from a handball nation. Needless to say… they are not doing this in Denmark and Germany. But, for many years this was the primary source for American handball athletes. And, to state the obvious… identifying, recruiting, evaluating and developing athletes like this requires a unique skillset. One that a typical handball coach, may or may not have.

Who’s in Charge of Finding and Developing Talent? And, do we have the Resources to Make it Happen?

So, I’ll now go back to my earlier statement: “If, however, one expands the coaching role to include efforts to identify, evaluate, recruit and develop talent… then one might argue that it is indeed time for a coaching change.” And, I’ll try to answer that statement as best as I can. And, it truly is, “best as I can” because I don’t think it’s ever been clearly defined who’s in charge of what. Or, as I wrote back in Oct, 2023, I think the lack of new talent is more of a “management” issue than it is a “coaching” issue.

Going back to the ancient history of when I played for the national team in the 1990s U.S. National Team coaches, especially the European ones, played little to no role in the finding and recruitment of athletes. They conducted tryouts and evaluated athletes for further development, but other members of the USA Team Handball staff did the legwork to bring those athletes in. Over time, particularly as resources dwindled, coaches became more engaged in recruiting efforts. They pretty much had to because if they didn’t do the recruiting they might not even have any athletes to coach.

More recently, USA Team Handball actually had a High Performance Manager, Krista Austin, on staff from 2021-23. Logically, recruiting was part of her job jar, but it’s not entirely clear what expectations were and how recruiting responsibilities were split with the coaching staff. And, when funding diminished in 2023 she left the organization and was never replaced.

Back to the Question at Hand: Does the Firing Make Sense?

I digress, so back to the question at hand. Assuming that coaching wasn’t the primary issue and that Coach Borsos is essentially being fired for failing to successfully identify, recruit, evaluate and develop new talent… One could make a very solid case that she has clearly failed in these areas. USA rosters have included teenagers that weren’t quite ready and aging veterans that should have been pushed out by new talents several years ago. Instead there have been very few new talents. And, none of them have been head turning, gifted athletes. With that lack of success, both in terms of results and recruitment, why not give someone else a try?

Well, here are a few reasons why one might say the firing wasn’t justified on recruiting grounds:

  • Did her job description clearly articulate recruiting responsibilities?
  • Is there some sort of documentation with recruiting performance expectations?
  • Was she given the resources to be a successful recruiter?

I don’t know for a fact… but, I’m guessing the answer to each of those questions is “no.” Perhaps during her tenure under three different CEOs there were some discussions pertaining to identifying, recruiting, evaluating and developing new talent. I sure hope there was. It seems there might have been.

Fledging efforts to expand the talent pool were conducted. U.S. based training camps were conducted. We even had a D2 basketball player with very little handball training play significant minutes at a NORCA Championship. But, this sort of thing was surely pretty new to Coach Borsos and being based in Europe made those sort of efforts challenging.

Ideally, discussions related to talent pool expansion should have taken place prior to hiring. And, requirements related to this skill set should have been articulated in the job announcement. Looking back, I suspect that those in charge observed the success Coach Hedin was having with the U.S. Men and decided it could be replicated… without understanding that the U.S. Women were not gifted the same dual citizen talent pool. And, that the ability to recruit new athletes might be the most important skill required for a U.S. Women’s Nationa Team coach.

Sometimes a Change is Needed

So to review:

  • Coach Borsos didn’t win a single match in major competitions… but, the U.S. was clearly the weaker team in every single match they played.
  • Coach Borsos had very little success in terms of recruiting new athletes… but, it’s unlikely she was hired to perform that challenging job and wasn’t given much in terms of resources to be a successful recruiter.

Or, to put in other terms:

  • Coach Borsos was very unsuccessful… but, it was mostly due to circumstances beyond her control.

In many ways it’s not really fair and not her fault. In my opinion, she was simply hired for a coaching situation that did not match her skillset. This was true the day she was hired and it’s still true four years later.

And, what is that coaching situation? Well, as I’ve alluded to, it’s the stark reality that our current talent pool of national team athletes is very thin and not very talented. If we want to field a competitive team at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles new talents are needed. The current talent pool will not get us there.

It’s still very unclear how the U.S. will tackle this challenge, but it will likely require some significant changes in how we manage and coach our U.S. Women’s National Team. And, if that’s the case we should indeed look to hire a coach to match that new coaching situtation.

But… do we know what that coaching situation will be? Do we have a plan for our Women’s National Team? Assuming the answers to those questions are “no” shouldn’t the U.S. first figure out what we want to do/can do?… And, then hire a coach to meet that need? I sure think so and will argue that case in a follow on commentary

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50 Years in the Sport: Former USA National Team Coach, Javier Garcia Cuesta’s Book on his Handball Career now Available with English Translation

Javier Garcia Cuesta had a long and distinguished handball career that included participating in four Olympics, one as a player (72, Spain) and three as a national team coach: 1984 (USA), 1992 (Spain), 1996 (Egypt). He had multiple stints coaching USA National Teams and his autobiographical retrospective on his career, “50 Years in the Sport” is now available with English translation at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Here’s the blurb from Amazon:

“Javier Garcia Cuesta dedicated his professional life to studying, developing, and coaching the sport of handball in his native Spain and around the world. He competed in the 1972 Olympic Games and the 1974 World Championship for Spain, before beginning a long and highly esteemed career growing and improving the game. 50 Years in the Sport is Javier’s story-one full of passion for handball, along with his great mastery of the skills and strategy needed to be successful. While he accomplished much on the court, his greatest legacy will be the impact he leaves behind with players, coaches, administrators, and so many friends in the game. He is admired for his dedication, loyalty, and commitment to build successful programs and see handball grow and thrive in the years ahead.”

Purchase on Amazon: Link

Purchase on Barnes & Noble: Link