[color=#0000ff]Part III:[/color]

Day One.

Friday featured a total of 29 games. The AM featured some very interesting matchups in the Elite division. The PLS Firehawks gave Cal Heat a darn good game, losing by only 2 goals. Conversly, the Stars rolled over and played dead against a very motivated and cocky ATH squad. The 13 goals margin of victory by ATH, stood as the most lopsided of the tournament, in either Men's divisions! On the women's side, the lady Condors (Condorettes?) ran and gunned down their Houston aviary counterparts (Firehawks) in convincing fashion. The morning matchups went as expected. No surprises and no fireworks. Lots of sportsmanship and good overall handball.

The most awaited "matchup" of the day however, was scheduled at 1:00 PM in the bleachers adjacent to court 3. The USOC/HCHSA was scheduled to take on the THE WORLD during the much awaited TOWN HALL MEETING. A must see and hear event. So I thought…

The setup was great. A small podium was assambled. It featured a long table and couple of mics hooked up to a clear and powerful PA system. Mike Cavanaugh, Jay Warwick and Cathy Dean presided. In the stands close to 100 people. Low turnout by my expectations but I figured more people were on their way. So I thought…

The meetings starts off with a brief introduction from Mike Cavanaugh. He follows it up with a public note of thanks to Cathy Dean and the HCHSA for her and their continued dedication to the sport of team handball and for stepping in when the going got tough, to host the USA Nationals for the 3 year in a row. Cathy Dean is presented with a Select team handball (men size) signed by all the teams participating at the 2006 Nationals. A very nice gesture, I thought.

With microphone in one hand and recorder on the other, I tripp and stumble to a spot under one of the PA speakers. It's from the front row of the bleachers that I capture the essence of the meeting for your listening pleasure. For convenience I have divided the recording in four "acts":

[link=/podcasts/Cavanaugh.mp3]Act 1[/link] covers Mike Cavanaugh's "state of hanbdall". The who, the when, the where, the why and the hows are covered succinctly. [link=/podcasts/Warwick.mp3]Act 2[/link] features Jay Warwick's introduction and overview of the USOC's involvement in our sport. A series of awards are presented and emceed by Mike Cavanugh in [link=/podcasts/Awards.mp3]Act 3[/link]. Finally, the Q and A is covered in [link=/podcasts/QandA.mp3]Act 4[/link]. Due to technical limitations, the Qs are not audible. The As on the other hand are loud and clear.