A USA Women’s Sr Team recently played three matches vs Puerto Rico. Here are the results: (Source: Puerto Rico Handball Federation Facebook Page: Link)
June 15: Puerto Rico 34 – 19 USA
June 16: Puerto Rico 30 – 24 USA
June 17: Puerto Rico 35 – 21 USA
Here are the leading scorers for the USA over the 3 matches: (Source: Puerto Rico Handball Federation Instagram Account: Link) (Note: These stats were updated based on a new post)
Jessica Kuster-Medina, 13 goals
Katie Timmerman, 12 goals
Kathy Darling, 9 goals
Beatrice Cangas-Perez, 8 goals
Rylee White, 7 goals
Kasey McCravey, 6 goals
August Raskie, 5 goals
Maegan Barkley, 4 goals
Devyn Holbrook, 2 goals
Ellie Brown, 2 goals
Photos/Videos:
Match photos (Puerto Rico Handball Federation) 1, 2, 3
Short highlight reels (Purerto Rico Handball Federation and Pro Live PR): 12
Behind the scenes videos (Various USA Team Handball Women’s Instagram: 123
New Recruit Research
The USA team appeared to be mostly composed of relative newcomers to the team. I haven’t seen an official roster, but I was able to do some top level online research of some of the new recruits. (And, of course, being online research via Instagram, LinkedIn and old college sports bio pages there’s bound to be some inaccuracies). That said, here’s what I found out:
Jessica Kuster-Medina
Age ~34, 6’2″ Rice University (2014), D-1 Basketball athlete, 6 year pro
And, not just a “D-1 athlete”, but perhaps the all-time greatest basketball player in Rice history. Really? Yes, really. Check out this video: Link
Age: ~26, 5’9″, Concordia (2023), D-2 Basketball athlete, 2 year pro
Actually, started playing in 2023, but took a 2 year hiatus to play basketball in South Korea. Check out this recent podcast for more information: Link
The Ohio State University Team Handball Club recently travelled to North Macedonia over their spring break. The contingent consisted of 15 athletes, 1 photographer/videographer and 3 coaches (JD Orr, Max Littman and Arvid Rohdin). The team flew into Skopje and based out of Bitola where they played scrimmage matches vs the Pelister U21 and U18 sides. The team also did some sightseeing in Ohrid and Thessalonika, Greece. The highlight of the trip was attending the Eurofarm Pelister – RK Vardar match with some of the Buckeye sitting in the Ultras Section. Surely, a one of a kind experience.
This is the fourth Spring Break trip that Ohio State has taken to Europe. Previously they’ve traveled to Norway, Denmark and Hungary. I’m working on some commentaries explaining why I’m “all in” on College Handball. Chalk this trip and experience up to Reason #1: College Handball is just cool.
Links from the trip
Bitola News: Friendly match between the youth of Eurofarm Pelister and their peers from Ohio in Bitola (photo gallery): Link
Babam Bitola: Ohio students cheered on Pelister in Bitola tonight: Link
(LA THC celebrates their recent National Championship)
This past weekend the Los Angeles Team Handball (LA THC) won the inaugural USA Team Handball National Cup competiton with two wins over ChicagoInter (37-28) (42-27) and a 33-33 draw vs the New York Athletic Club (NYAC). This gave LA THC an overall record of 9-1-1 to put them in 1st place for the final National Cup Standings. (Note: The USA National Cup is a not a Knockout Tournament Cup as is commonly played in Europe, but more akin to a National League, albeit with matches played over just three weekends) As the winner of the National Cup, LA THC will represent the USA at the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Club Championships which will, in turn, serve as the NACHC qualifier for the Club World Championships (formerly known as the Super Globe)
A Strangely Quiet Title on USA Team Handball Platforms
LA THC has certainly trumpeted its National Championship with multiple posts on social media platforms. 123 European handball sites like Handball-World and GoHandball have been intrigued with all the retired pros playing for LA THC and have reported on it as well. Meanwhile, USA Team Handball has been strangely quiet with, I think, no mention of LA THC winning the title on social media and no article on its website. In fact, I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think there’s been any website posts regarding the National Cup all season.
If you start a brand new season long competition to determine a National Champion… One would think this would become a centerpiece for promotion with a dedicated section on the website with current standings, leading scorers and other statistics. Especially, when handball outlets around the world are suddenly taking interest in a USA domestic club competition. Instead… it’s almost like it’s being purposely hidden. Why?
Positive Elements of the National Cup Format
Before I try to answer that question, I’ll first address the National Cup itself. While it has been pilloried by some right from the start I actually like some elements of the competition. In particular, I’ve never liked having a one weekend, winner take all tournament (i.e. the U.S. Open National Championships) to determine a National Champion. Never liked it… but, understood why it was the practical solution for an amateur competition in a very large country. I also never liked the overly complicated points system for determining which clubs would compete in the elite division at Nationals. The National Cup essentially replaced one Open Nationals tournament with three Tournament like weekends in a quasi league format. And, with three tournaments it made it more expensive and theoretically impractical to fly in ringers, mercenaries to improve a club’s chances of winning a title. Overall it was a format far more likely to truly determine the top club in the U.S.
A Competition Plagued with Problems (Predictable and Unforeseen)
But, while there was some positive aspects to the competition it’s been been plagued with problems and challenges to include:
Lack of Support from Key Stakeholders (i.e. Top Clubs): While it’s relatively easy to come up with a new format for determining a National Champion getting consensus from all the top clubs in the U.S. is a far more challenging task. In particular, the last two national champions, the California Eagles (2024) and New York City (NYC) (2025) declined to participate. While one might simply write off the concerns of the Eagles as a manufactured team it’s pretty hard to do the same with perrenial contender, NYC, the largest club in the U.S. I do not know what coordination took place as the latest edition of the Competition Rulebook was developed, but there’s a fine art to ensuring all stakeholders are heard, compromised is reached and community buy-in is obtained. In short, dictating solutions is easy… building consensus is hard.
Flown in Players Bolstering Rosters to New Extremes: USA Clubs adding players who live nowhere near the location of the club to their rosters is nothing new. And, I have addressed this concern multiple times with increasing rancor. In theory, changing the format from one winner take all event tournament to three weekend tournaments should have made flying in players cost prohibited. But, the reality is that three clubs (LA THC, NYAC and ChicagoInter) to varying degrees, found the money and took roster boosting to new extremes. While this buzz was attention grabbing, particularly for foreign handball outlets, the overall look was concerning for Americans more focused on the development of stateside athletes.
Venue Shortcomings and an Unannounced Venue Change: I don’t think there were any issues with the first “tournament” in Chicago, but the second tournament in Denver was played on a narrow court. The third tournament was schedule to be played in conjunction with Army-West Point’s Annual Scott Pace Tournament, but instead it was quietly switched to the Velo Sports Center in Carson, CA (a suburb of Los Angeles). There was no announcement as to why the venue changed, but I’ve been told that West Point’s no stickum (resin) requirement and the lack of web streaming were the reasons behind this move. The Velo Sports Center was clearly a great venue, but the change meant that West Point couldn’t attend… It would have been pretty strange to not attend their own tournament. Coupled with the Denver Wolves not attending (purportedly due to injuries) this meant the final tournament had only 4 of the 6 participating clubs attending.
An Unnanounced Double Forfeit for Roster Violations: When LA THC played to a draw vs NYAC I had thougth they had won the overall title by virtue of their superior W-L-D record and that they needed that draw to win. According to multiple sources, however, the title had alreadly been decided due to roster violations by both NYAC and Chicago leading to them double forfeiting their first match. Further, I’ve been told that the Tournament Disciplinary Committee only made this ruling after both the USATH Handball Board President, Patrick Jalabert and CEO, Michael King, were removed from the Committee due to their conflict of interest. Jalabert has been the Chicago Inter President for years, but I’m not sure what Michael King’s conflict would be. He’s actually played for both NYAC and LA in the past, but I don’t think he’s ever been affiliated with Chicago.
Commentary: Bad Optics and a Competition with an Uncertain Future
Could this last incident be the reason why there has been no official USA Team Handball reporting on LA’s title? Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see a possible connection between the two. It was yet another case of “bad optics” for USA Team Handball’s Leadership team. But, was it so bad that world famous handball players celebrating a USA Championship had to be ignored?
With a competition limping to completion with a third of its teams absent and mired in controversy one wonders whether the National Cup will be a one and done experiment. Time will tell. Hopefully, there will be some lessons learned that can be evaluated by a reinvigorated Competition Committee. Perhaps a committee with all the top clubs empowered and committed to craft a more workable solution. One that can have a few Euros playing to provide some promotional benefits, but at the same time facilitate more state side Americans participating and growing the game.
(Handball at the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City? No longer just wishful speculation. I actually think it will happen now.)
Duncan Mackay, who has been covering Olympic Sports for more than 30 years recently posted an article on his Zeus substack (subscription required) that planning is well underway to dramatically reshape the Winter Olympics Programme.
While there have been many reports and commentaries discussing the merits of moving some Summer Olympics indoor sports to the Winter Olympics they have typically been pieces along the lines of that it’s something being floated for discussion.
Mackay’s article, however, makes it seem very much like a done deal, particularly with this sentence:
The article highlights that some expensive winter sports like bobsled could be gone and then specifically mentions volleyball and handball as sports that could be added. It then highlights that IOC officials are discussing the possibility of offering some sports “the opportunity” to switch from Summer to the Winter Olympics. And, that the offer might very much be one those sports really don’t want to refuse. As in, the alternative will be to no longer be in the Olympics, period.
Commentary
As has been discussed before, handball switching to the Winter Olympics would be an epic game changer for the sport, especially in countries like the U.S. Every four years Curling gets a real boost in popularity and it doesn’t take much to imagine handball very quickly getting an even bigger boost. Whereas, in the bloated Summer Olympics it’s tougher for handball to break through with all the competition from the other more well known sports.
And, this reporting is really big news because it very much sounds like Summer Olympic sports are moving to the Winter Olympics. That the “good idea” is becoming reality and much quicker than anticipated. Reporter Duncan Mackay has been around quite awhile and he surely was talking to people on the inside; to officials that wanted to get this message out.
Would it shock me if the International Handball Federation (IHF) is given “the opportunity” to switch to the Winter Olympics? No, not at all. And, given that, I would argue that the IHF should actually go proactive. That the next time they meet with IHF officials they should make it clear that they would very much welcome the opportunity to do so.
There would be repercussions. In particular, the IHF and Euroean Handball Federation (EHF) would need to sort out what would happen with their January big money maker events. They currently alternate the Men’s World Championships and Men’s European Championships every January. One organization would lose a monetary stream. But, the overall benefits would be enormous so I’d like to think something could be worked out.
There are also some real positives to such a switch. With the current setup athletes have a window every four years with 3 big tourneys (European Championships, Olympics, World Championships) in a 13 month span. The switch would eliminate that and would ensure that athletes have every summer off to recuperate.
And, from a U.S. biased perspective I can already see Team USA taking the court at the 2034 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. Instead of another Olympic boost for the sport necessitating beating both Argentina and Brazil at the PANAM Games to qualify we would have another hosted Olympics just six years out from Los Angeles.
(Carolina celebrates their victory over Treasure Coast: Link)
This past weekend the University of North Carolina (UNC) hosted it’s annual Carolina Blue Cup. The UNC alumni team, Carolina Blue, took the title with a 26-23 victory over Army’s 1st team, West Point- Black. Aaron Hamm had 8 goals for Carolina Blue and Owen Rodgers scored 6 for Army.
In the 3rd place match UNC’s 1st team, Carolina, defeated Army’s 2nd team, 26-23. The full results for the tournament are at the bottom of this post.
Treasure Coast Debut
But, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this annual tournament was the debut of a Men’s National Devolopment Team which was referred to as “Treasure Coast”. For the unitiated, the Treasure Coast is the regional name for the coastal area north of Ft Lauderdale, including the town of Fort Pierce, where Westwood Academy High School will serve as a training center for developing handball athletes. A handful of athletes are already currently training there and more may be identified at a tryout being held there this weekend. If you follow the USA Men’s National Handball Team social media pages (InstagramFacebook) you likely have seen some videos talking about the training taking place.
The team had a humbling debut against a field of 8 collegiate clubs and 4 at-large clubs. In Group play they narrowly defeated Air Force, 31-30 and easily defeated SUNY Cortland, 33-12, to win their Group. However in knockout play they lost to Carolina, 33-34 in the quarter finals and then tied a relatively new club team with just 9 players, Charlotte Flight, 32-32. Overall, they finished 7th in the field of 12 teams.
Video of the matches vs Air Force and Charlotte can be seen here:
Treasure Coast Roster (A Mix of Newcomers and Collegiate Veterans)
The Treasure Coast roster featured a lot of inexperienced newcomers to handball, but also included a core group that was actually more experienced than most of the teams participating in the tournament. In particular, I think the 3 West Point grads (Considine, Miller and Phillips) were each Collegiate National Championship MVPs. Pitt’s Greenstein spent the Fall semester in the Netherlands playing with a club team and Liden was on the Jr National Team. The rest of the roster included a few athletes with limited club handball experience and several who’ve only been playing a couple weeks. It’s a mixed group, but several have NCAA D1 experience in Football, Baseball or soccer.
Commentary: Closing the Gap to Collegiate Clubs and on to the National Team Level… not as Easy or Quick as one Might Think or Want it to be
The Freshman in question is Nate Wolfe. He’s a lefty and has only been playing handball since September. Similarily, Jack Tierney, a junior at AF sliced and diced the Treasure Coast defense for 14 goals in their narrow defeat.
Without a doubt, it’s bad optics for a USA Team Handball National Development Team to lose or just narrowly defeat a collegiate club. This past week the USA Men’s National Team social media channels featured plenty of weight training posts… but, none on its debut in competition. Yeah, I’m guessing the social media channels would have looked a little different if Treasure Coast had won the tournament.
And, having seen the team’s participating and some of the team rosters on USA Team Handball’s Sport 80 platform before the tournament, I figured Treasure Coast had a good chance of taking the title. They had enough quality experienced players and were facing relatively low level clubs. It didn’t work out that way and I think the team’s lack of playing together was a significant factor. And, for sure, the newcomers, despite some strong athletic backgrounds still have a long way to go. Yes, college club athletes who have only been playing a year or two have a significant experience advantage even against D1 athletes. These newcomers will close the gap and eventually have no problem against lower level USA clubs, but, as was demonstrated this past weekend, it will take longer than one might think.
There are multiple reasons why it will take awhile.
A raw talent gap… but not so wide: First, some of these collegiate teams have athletes that aren’t much of a step down in raw talent from their D1 counterparts. On average, solid collegiate clubs like West Point, Carolina and Air Force have at least 1 or 2 such athletes on their team.
Experience: If the raw talent gap is manageable, handball experience will trump that superior raw talent
Learning to play handball takes time. Even to learn the basics to play competently against lower level teams it takes a while. And, then to learn the fine points of the game it takes even longer. Finally, to master those fine points… we’re talking years.
And, if you are now thinking, “Hmmm, I wonder then how long it will take newcomers to close the gap with the athletes on our current Men’s National Team?” The best team we’ve had since the mid 1980s… Well, then you are asking the right question.
And, if you know the answer to that question it then leads you to a basic conclusion, which can best be summed up as… What in the hell does USA Team Handball think it’s doing in Fort Pierce, Florida?
Last Wednesday, USA National Team athlete, Isabela Da Cruz played the last 15 minutes in OGC Nice‘s French 1st Division match vs St Amand and made the most of her opportunity, scoring 3 goals with active play on both offense and defense. She was clearly OGC Nice’s bright spot in a 23-32 defeat and deserving of the club player of match award. This video shows the three goals she scored and the entire match can be seen at this link. (queued up to the last 15 minutes) (Side note: St Amand’s Head Coach is former USA Women’s National Team Coach, Edina Borsos)
OGC Nice’s 1st team is currently in 5th place in the Butagaz Energy League and Da Cruz plays behind the team’s leading scorer, French International player Marie-Helene Sajak. Da Cruz who is 19 years old and turns 20 later this month gets most of her current playing time with OGC Nice’s 2nd team which plays in NF1, the 3rd level of French Women’s handball. For the 2nd team she has 35 goals in 10 matches for a 3.5 goals/game average. (See Below)
Commentary: Unfair Expectations, Now on a Path to being Met
I first heard of Da Cruz back in 2021 and the bio of a 15 year old American, 5’9″ (176 cm), left handed, Right Back who had already played some handball in Brazil seemed too good to be true. And, my expectations further climbed when she made the leap to move to France to attend a French Handball Academy in Dijon. To put things into perspective, this was a remarkably unprecedented move for a U.S. Handball player. We have hardly anyone this age even knowing what handball is, let alone playing the sport and being deemed worthy of attending a French Handball Academy.
When I started to see her play for U.S. Youth and Jr National Teams my expectation was for a European trained player to tear through inexeperienced North American and Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) competition. So, I was disappointed to see a competent player, but one prone for mistakes and somewhat hesitant at times. Over the course of several competitions I saw improvement, but nothing to the level to match my expecations.
Fast forward to today and I’m rethinking those initial expecations and deeming them unfair. The trajectory of development is different for every player. And, looking back at my own skills development in different sports… I really should know better. Slow and steady development can lead to a moment when everything starts to come together and click.
Perhaps, one shouldn’t read too much into one 15 minute stretch in a match, but I now see a player where things are coming together. Isabela Da Cruz doesn’t have lightning 1v1 speed, but she’s starting to understand the game and is putting herself in position to score and/or be a threat to score so she can make that next pass for a great scoring opportunity. I’m not sure what the trajectory end point will be, but she’s just 19 years old… with plenty of time to further improve.
In a nod to Pablo Torre’s successful podcast I share some information I found regarding how Port St Lucie, Florida possibly got on USA Team Handball’s radar as a national team residency program location. Joining me to discuss is 1972 Olympian, 1976 Olympic Head Coach and former USA Team Handball Board President, Dennis Berkholtz.
Here are some links to topics and issues discussed in the podcast:
The 2026 EHF Men’s European Handball Championship will start this Thursday, 15 January and will conclude on Sunday, 1 Febuary. Here is some information on streaming, how to follow the tournament, and who the sports betting sites have favored to win the tournament and premliminary groups.
Streaming / TV
As usual, your options for watching the 2026 EHF Euro will vary depending on where you live. However, not as usual, the availability of ehfTV has significantly changed. And, I’ve got some good news and bad new for you. The good news is that ehfTV will be geoblocked in fewer nations. The bad news is that ehfTV is no longer free. That said, a subscription for every EHF Euro match is 11.99 Euros. (There also is an individual match option for 2.99 Euros/match) This is a very reasonable price for a dedicated fan like me and probably still low enough for a sizable percentage of casual fans, too. I think just about everyone is a bit annoyed with subscription fees for multiple services, but this is pretty good value.
Here’s a list of the nations that will have no matches or just some matches available on ehfTV
No matches: Faroe Islands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, France and Germany
Some matches: Spain and Switzerland
All matches: Rest of World
For nations without a TV contract your viewing options are pretty simple: Either pay for ehfTV or don’t watch the EHF Euros. In nations where there is a TV contract and ehfTV is available you’ll need to do a calculus of whether your in country TV viewing options will suffice. (i.e. you might only get some matches available on TV and you’ll need to decide whether you’ll want to pay for ehfTV to watch the other matches.) To see what broadcasters are showing a match check out the ehfTV TV Guide: Link
VPN and Piracy
Previously, I would add a note about using VPN to possibly get around geo-blocking, but this is less practical now. It might be possible to get access to a handful of matches, but I think even in countries like Germany you would then need to pay for a subscription to access the Dyn streaming service. And, of course, there are piracy options, but is it really worth it to watch a grainy feed on a shady site? The choice is yours, but 11.99 Euros seems like a way better deal to me.
USA Broadcaster Interest
My efforts to help facilitate some of the matches being shown on a U.S. TV or streaming channel came up short, but there was some good dialogue. As past inquiries have often resulted in no response whatsoever, this has me feeling a bit optimistic. And, that maybe, just maybe this will lead to future broadcasts for other competitions in the not too distant future.
How to Follow the Competition
Competition Wikipedia Page: Link (For simple, easy to find schedule, results and standings Wikipedia is the place to go)
EHF Competition Page: Link (Official Stats and match summaries)
Links to social media, The Spin Podcast and the official EHF App: Link
At a top level major handball tournaments are starting to feel a bit like the Liga ASOBAL with Denmark playing the role of Barcelona. And, with the exciting question be who will get 2nd place. Of course, that’s just what it “feels” like and Denmark actually hasn’t won the European Championship since 2012. So, we’ll see if the curse continues or whether Denmark is doubly motivated to win it again. For sure, the betting odds have them as heavy favorites at -300 or 1/3 odds or a 75% implied chance to win the tournament
(Handball Inside’s Instagram Story montage of Los Angeles Team Handball’s recent recruiting spree)
Our Germans are Better than their Germans
Back in the day, long before I became America’s #1 handball fan, I was a Flight Test Engineer at Edwards AFB in California. As such, it probably wouldn’t shock you that the 1983 movie, The Right Stuff, is one of my all time favorites. Parts of the film were actually filmed at the base and Chuck Yeager used to periodically show up at the Officer’s Club on Friday nights because he was a living legend and kind of owned the base. In one memorable scene, Senator (and later president) Lyndon Johnson is told that the Russians are ahead in the Space Race because of all the German rocket scientists working for them only to be told by Wernher Von Braun, that “our Germans are bettter than their Germans.” Which, indeed, ultimately was proven true in the end.
Yes, one of the lesser known tales, is that at the end of WW II, Germany actually manufactured a pretty capable rocket, the V-2, and, both the Soviet Union and the United States were very interested in aquiring the knowledge behind that technical development. And, thanks to Operation Paperclip, the U.S. did a better job and over 1,600 German scientists, engineers and technicians were resettled in the U.S. after the war. The U.S. has plenty of very capable people, but this German core helped us get the job done once we put our mind to it.
Our Germans are Better than your Danes
80 years later a different talent acquisition battle is taking place on American handball courts. This time two teams, the Los Angeles Team Handball Club (LA THC) and the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) have both “acquired” European handball players to bolster their prospects of winning the USA Team Handball National Cup. Initially, I thought that only LA THC was bolstering their roster with Viran Morros and Domogoj Srsen coming from Europe along with most of the upper echelon handball athletes (Drew Donlin, Ty Reed, and Akuro Zuwed) living in the U.S. joining the team. But, then NYAC suprised LA THC at the first weekend of competition in October. This is because NYAC had very quietly added some Danish Handballers to augment their roster. LA THC lacked backcourt scoring and NYAC beat them 28-24 and whined about losing to a “Danish team.” I found this to be amusingly hypocritical and posted this on Instagram.
In response to the upset LA THC went on a recruiting spree and barring Mikkel Hansen quietly coming out of retiriement for NYAC they should dominate play with the addition of these athletes this weekend:
Michell Gabriel Hildebrandt
Alexander Hermann
Maximilian Hermann
Dalibor Doder
Martin Johannes Strobel
Tobias Reichmann
Joscha Ritterbach
Vid Kavticnik
Yes, just like the Soviet Union launching Sputnik to wake up the U.S., NYAC’s win in the first weekend tournament has woken up LA THC. The match has yet to be played, but, on paper, their Germans (and Austrians, Swede and Slovenian) are better than NYAC’s Danes. Way better.
Some Positive Aspects of this Development
While, I can’t help but chuckle at this whole development there are some positive aspects of it to include:
Publicity (Rest of World): Handball publications in Europe have been covering these player acquisitions as if they are somehow similar to Simon Pytlick signing with Berlin. And, some social media posts have gotten a significant number of likes and comments about how cool it is. I’m not sure if it really moves the needle much, but it doesn’t hurt for the world handball community to contemplate the possibility of handball in the U.S. becoming bigger even if it’s very debatable if it’s actually occuring.
Publicity (USA): In theory, former professionals playing handball in the U.S. could trigger greater handball interest in the form of press coverage, fans showing up to watch matches or watching competition online. I haven’t seen any signs of that yet, but, in theory, it could happpen.
Better competitition for upper level handball players in the U.S.: The U.S. may not have a very robust talent pyramid composed of handball athletes in the U.S., but it does exist. And, if you are at the very top of that pyramid your opportunities to play against similar or higher level competition are few and far between. The importation of some high quality athletes to play against (even if it’s just three weekends) is a good deal for those handful of athletes at the tippy top.
Great learning experience for the West Point collegiate program: Of the six teams participating in the USA Team Handball National Cup only one team is primarily American with an average age under 30 and that team is Army (West Point). Perennially, the top collegiate program these athletes who’ve only been playing handball 1-4 years and an average age of ~21 have yet to win a match in the competition, but they undoubtedly are learning a great deal from the experience.
The Negative Aspects
Deceiving the world handball community: All of the publicity surrounding these developments are announced like it’s a European club signing an athlete. The reality is that these athletes are essentially flying to the U.S. for a couple of weekends to play handball for teams that are only sort of connected to the location in their team name. LA has a supporting cast of athletes who do live in LA, but many of the top players don’t live anywhere near there. I think the situation is even more stark with NYAC as I’m not sure if any of the athletes on the NYAC 1st team live in New York City. Further, this is a competition structure unlike anything in Europe as it is essentially recreational handball played in nondescript gyms with the only spectators being friends, family and players from the other teams. This is handball in the United States for the last 50 years.
Punishing clubs trying to do develop the “right way”: The result of this handball arms race is that it’s challenging for clubs to effectively compete with just local talent. No, in order to compete for a title a club will almost always need to add players at key positions. This has been going on for years… it’s just gotten more pronounced lately. And, while one might argue that the same thing happens with pro clubs in Europe bringing in foreign talent to bolster the roster that point neglects the reality is that those are professional clubs and when those clubs bring in talent… the talent moves to that city to practice with the team. Another complication is that bringing in talent like that for big tournaments can even have a reverse “West Point” effect in that up and coming players lose playing time and valuable learning opportunities to the more experienced temporary members of the club.
Significant lost opportunity costs: People can spend their time and money on whatever they want to. And, this includes roster additions to win a competition. I don’t know what arrangments have been made to secure the sevices of these players, but I’m guessing it might be just as simple at travel and lodging costs. That might not seem like much, but when you’re talking multiple flights from Europe and lodging those costs start to add up. With handball in America facing many challenges one doesn’t have to think very hard to come up with alternative ways those funds could be spent to develop the sport in the U.S. But, again that’s the choice of the clubs and to LA THC’s credit they donated $1,000 to a new club at the University of Georgia. In my opinion, that’s the best thing so far to come out of this venture and I hope more such donations are on the horizon, hopefully to some new collegiate clubs in the LA area.
Just Marketing Buzz?
As someone who’s been around the block a few times both in the business and handball world, I’ll be the first one to tell you that marketing is very important. You can have the very best product or plan, but if you can’t sell it… that’s a problem. However, the reverse can also be true with the marketing way out in front of a loosely defined concept. And, in the age of the internet with content creators and influencers creating “marketing buzz” can even morph into the primary objective. Can even be interpreted as the primary metric of success. I don’t think that’s entirely what’s happening here, but it’s a significant component.
Or… Something more Tangible?
Marketing buzz is often over-valued, but it can be the first step towards achieving something more tangible. Beyond the buzz, the primary tangible objectives appear to be winning the USA Team Handball National Cup, the North American Club Championships and to go to the Super Globe. This super charged LA THC team should be able to easy accomplish these objectives. Going to the Super Globe is “something” to shoot for, but it also is the most maligned handball tournament in the world. At this year’s edition I was puzzled by the dismal attendance for a match between Magdeburg and Veszprem why it was so paltry and Handball influencer, Rasmus Boysen provided a succint explanation.
No Upward Wrexham Path in the U.S.
Some social media posts have made references to “elevating handball” in the U.S. This is pretty vague and can be interpreted in a number of ways. I think a lot of Europeans envsion a plucky amateur club spending money to climb into the professional ranks like FC Wrexham has famously done and how handball clubs like Hamburg‘s rebirth in Germany or more recently Hoj Elite in Denmark have done.
Unfortunately, that’s not how things work in the U.S. For one thing there are no professional hanball clubs to compete against and even if there were U.S. sports don’t have promotion and relegation. LA THC, NYAC or any other club are not going to continue to grow and eventually become professional entities like the LA Lakers or the New York Knicks. About the best LA THC and other clubs could hope for is some entity like Pro Handball USA actually establishing a semi-pro league and then getting invited to join it. Maybe that will happen some day, but I don’t think it will happen anytime soon.
Other Elevation Options
It goes without saying that there are also other ways to “elevate” a club besides turning pseudo-professional. The GoFundMe that was established for LA THC identifies it’s mission as “to provide athletes of all ages—youth, juniors, men, and women—a place to learn, play, and improve their handball skills.” This sounds pretty good to me and it has raised over a $100,000. However, it would be super interesting to see a breakdown of how that $100K has been spent and what portion of it has gone towards travel and lodging for retired handball professionals (i.e. “men”) and what portion has gone towards youth, juniors and women. Why, I’ve even proposed to Lewis Howes that he shift the focus from his personal Olympic Dreams to a women’s program focus as it could truly be a game changer. Done right LA THC could even field around half of our 2028 Women’s Olympic Team.
The Necessary Hype Vehicle to Enable the Grudge Work of Development?
One last possibility for consideration is that the Men’s club team is simply the hype vehicle to enable real development. One can always post videos of kids running around throwing handballs, but that just doesn’t get anyone excited. Whereas bringing in former pros to win a title is easier to hype up and sell. And, then once the hype has been sold, the real behind the scenes grudge work that develops handball can take place in earnest. I guess I would be down with that.
I, for one, certainly don’t buy the hype, but some people (particularly in Europe) will and maybe some Americans will as well. Even Americans who are unfamiliar with handball. Maybe… No one has been able to really crack that code yet. Many have tried… All have failed. But, as with all such adventures I will continue to watch with interest.
The 2025 IHF World Women’s Handball Championship will start this Wednesday, 26 November in Germany and the Netherlands and will conclude on Sunday, 14 December. Here is some information on streaming, how to follow the tournament, and who the sports betting sites have favored to win the tournament and premliminary groups.
Streaming / TV
Your options for watch the 2025 Handball World Championships will vary depending on where you live. Some nations will be able to watch all the matches on the IHF YouTube Channel while other nations will have all or some of the matches available on a TV Channel and/or streaming to which the rights have been sold. This IHF article outlines how to watch in each nation: Link
Nations without a TV Contract: IHF Competitions YouTube Channel: Link
USA: ESPN will be airing up to 4 matches each day on their ESPN+ platform which is accessible to anyone who subscribes to ESPN via Cable, Satellite or Streaming Service. (Important Note: This requires an ESPN+ subscription. You cannot watch the Handball WC with a traditional ESPN Subscription)
Watch ESPN can be watched on your TV, laptop or phone. Personally, I watch it via my ESPN app on my Roku, but there are multiple options. Typically, the first time you go to watch something, you will be asked to verify your account so have your username and password ready.
Matches are now being populated on the schedule page and can be found under the ESPN3 Channel. If past history is a guide ESPN will also add a handball logo and a 2025 WC logo to help find the matches. Additionally, matches will likely show up on the main page, but only a few minutes before the match starts.
Canada: There is no TV network so all matches should be available on the IHF YouTube page: Link (Note: This makes Canada a good VPN choice)
VPN: Based on previous WCs, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) will likely provide access to matches that are not available on ESPN. For more information on how to use VPN check this article out: Link
Spam Sites: You’ve surely seen the multitude of social media postings inviting you to watch the match on their “free” service. (These folks are relentless with their spamming) Don’t even bother with these sites. They typically will ask you to download a video player on your computer. Trust me… you don’t want that app on your computer and in all likelihood they won’t even have the match. Go with the provider in your country or VPN.
How to Follow the Competition
Competition Wikipedia Page: Link (For simple, easy to find schedule, results and standings Wikipedia is the place to go)
IHF Competition Page: Link (Official Stats and match summaries)
Pablo Torre and his popular sports related podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out have been on a burner for the past several months as he has investigated the NFL Players Union and the LA Clippers possibly circumnavigating the NBA salary cap.
In a nod to his successful podcast format I share some information I found regard what apparently is a new national team residency program quietly being organized in Port St Lucie, Florida. Yes, surprisingly (or not surprisingly) the best source of information in regards to what USA Team Handball is up to is not their website, social media channels, or Town Hall Meetings, but instead is a school board meeting in Florida.
Podcast Audio (mp3) is available at the top of the page; Podcast video (YouTube) is available below
Here are some links to topics and issues discussed in the podcast:
Audio of the USA Team Handball Town Hall held on 28 July, 2025 (queued up to my question regarding residency programs: Link
Video of the St Lucie School Board Meeting held on 28 October, 2025 (queued up to the discussion of the “Olympic Handball Team” coming to Port St Lucie): Link
August, 2013 Commentary expressing concerns with USA Team Handball starting a Residency Program at Auburn University: Link
Multiple commentaries from 2013-2016 highlighting problems and concerns with the Auburn Residency Program: Link (Scroll down the page)
Screenshot of USA Team Handball “news” page on 23 November 2025
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)
The Handball Bundesliga (HBL) has reached an agreement with Next Level Sports Entertainment (NLSE) to stream one match a week on the For The Fans (FTF) platform. This match will typically be the English commentary match shown on the subscription service HBL-TV.
Tomorrow’s match features last year’s HBL Champion, Fuchse Berlin hosting record Champion, THW Kiel. Kiel is currently in 3rd place and Berlin is 4th place, having slipped earlier in season with 3 losses following a controversial coaching change, so this is a very important match for both teams. Throw off is at 12 Noon, ET and Paul Bray will be providing the commentary.
How To Watch FTF on TV
For The Fans (FTF) is a Free Ad Support TV (FAST) Channel which is available for viewing on several diffierent apps. Here is a list of the apps and here is a list of the channels. This setup might be a bit different from what your used to, but you may well have watched handball previously with a similar setup, either on beIN Sports Direct for last year’s World Championships or Peacock during the Paris Olympics.
To help clarify what you’ll need to do, keep in mind that “devices”, “apps” and “channels” are all different things.
Device: The little piece of equipment connected to your TV. Examples include a Roku, Amazon Fire Stick or ONN. Or, in some cases already built into the TV
App: Just like on a phone this is the software associated with an icon or brand. Examples include the Roku Channel, Distro TV, Xumo and Fanatiz (Important side note: The Roku Channel App can be installed on non-Roku devices like an Amazon Fire Stick)
Channel: There are hundreds of different channels that are availale on the different Apps. And, for handball watching fans wanting to see the HBL that channel is FTF Sports
I did a little experimenting with my TV which uses a Roku device. I was able to watch FTF on the Roku app (naturally, already installed on a Roku device) and on the Distro TV app (which needed to be installed). Once I was in the app it was then fairly easy to find the FTF Sports channel. I also noticed that since I checked out FTF Sports the apps made the channel easy to find in the “recently viewing section.
One final note: Everybody’s setup is a little different. My experiment might inform you, but you’ll still likely need to do your own setup and troubleshooting.
How to Watch FTF on a Laptop
I experimented with a couple of different options and these are the two links that worked for me:
Therokuchannel.com: Link (You’ll need to login or setup an account)
How to Watch FTF on a Phone or Xbox
I very rarely watch handball on a phone and I suspect that anyone that does… doesn’t need or want any tips on how to do it from me. And, that’s doubly true for anyone with an Xbox.
Soft Launch
NLSE is still working some of the distribution kinks out with the transmission of the HBL stream. Keep that in mind if there are any hiccups with tomorrow’s broadcast.
Smara, Morocco might eclipse Nuuk, Greenland as the most Interesting location the U.S. has ever played handball.
The USA Sr Women are currently playing in the Green March Handball Tournament in Smara, Morocco for the next few days. And, since the United State changed it’s postion in 2020, I’ll go ahead and refer to Smara as part of Morocco instead of as the UN designated “non-self-governing territory” of Western Sahara.
The far southern portion of Morocco (Western Sahara) has a complicated and unique history. It was sometimes referred to as Africa’s last colony and I first became more aware of this unique situation when somewhat bizarrely I worked with someone who had been assigned to the UN Peacekeeping mission there in the early 1990s. I’m not sure how things work now, but back in the day the Air Force Personnel Center would put out bulletins seeking volunteers for Temporary Duty and my colleague signed up to spend 180 days in Western Sahara. His job mostly involved patrolling the sand berm area in dune buggies. Essentially the UN force was a buffer in between the Moroccans and the Polisario which doesn’t want to be governed by Morocco.
It’s a complicated history with the region once being a colony of Spain and then claimed by Morocco and Mauritania. The Green March for which the tournament is named refers to Morocco’s initial occupation of Western Sahara in 1975. For many years, the U.S. did not recognize Western Sahara as part of Morocco, but then in 2020 at the end of the first Trump administration the U.S. recognized it as integral part of Morocco in exchange for Morocco normalizing relations with Israel. For other nations, it’s still a sore spot. Algeria refused to play in the 2022 African Championships because one of the host cities was in Southern Morocco/Western Sahara. Because of this boycott the African Handball Federation moved the tournament Egypt and then to Egypt again in 2024 as a punishment to Algeria.
This history is mainly what makes Smara an interesting place, but it’s also far off the beaten path. I could be wrong, but the US Handball Women are probably be the first U.S. team of any sport to play in the Western Sahara portion of Morocco. (It might not even have been allowed prior to 2020.) This region is sparsley populated, although growing, as Morocco has encouraged settlement of the area. Smara is a town of just 57,000 people and is only 8 miles from the Berm, a 1,700 mile sand and stone wall which is the unofficial demarcation line separating Morocco from the Polisario. The town was also the site of a major battle between Morocco and the Polisario in 1979. I think that for the most part both sides stay in their respective area so it’s not like it’s a battle zone, but it sure is in the boonies.
For sure, it’s not a tourist destination. I would guess for every 1,000 tourists visiting Morocco only 10 make it to the Western Sahara and then only 1 of those 10 travels to Smara. Definitely way off the beaten path and that’s why I’m thinking it’s now the most interesting place USA Team Handball has ever travelled to.
