From Matt Van Houten’s Myspace page: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=73440975&blogID=205230478&MyToken=5d72b783-4329-4986-85a7-6e588e18a4d1
The following players have been selected to represent USA Team Handball at the Pan American Qualification Games, Jan. 4-7, 2006, versus Canada in Lake Placid, NY (Jan 4) and in Montreal, Canada Jan. 6-7, 2007.
Bill Bigham
Levi Henderson
Derek Brown
Gary Hines
Bobby Dunn
Micheal Hinson
Danny Caparelli (G)
Alex McGlynn
Ben Ewing (G)
Patrick Oliver
Tom Fitzgerald
Chris Poole
Ryan Hansell
Troy Steffen
Darrick Heath (player/coach)
Matt Van Houten (G)
The following players will be replacement players:
Wilder Freed
David Thompson (G)
Mark Ortega
Brian Walsh
Sean Tenny
The coaches are Chris Cappelmann and Darrick Heath.
Notably the roster includes two veteran players coming out of retirement, Matt Van Houten and Darrick Heath.
First, I want to thank all the players who are taking time out of their normal lives to represent their country. I personally believe that playing for your country should come before a club game. Particularly, at a time when the USMNT should heading towards a full-time squad rather than on an ad-hoc basis. Hopefully, in the near future this will happen in order to further strengthen the visibility of Handball in America.
On the international front, I have mixed feelings about the EHF wanted to make the world championship every four years. But the EHF probably feels that there are too many games in a year between the Olympics, WCs, etc. It never hurts to look at changes that may or may not make a better schedule for players and teams involved.
And lastily responding to some comments made about European Handball. in an earlier post someone said that Handball is a niche sport even in Europe. But I think part of the answer is that it is more of players sport than a spectators sport. Why do I say this? Because some months ago I was looking at clubs from the Munich, Germany area(even though I don't read or speak German) I saw that their are 7 or 8 clubs with 2 to 3 mens teams each. In Boston, this would be like having clubs in Charlestown, Hyde Park, South Boston, West Roxbury, and other sections of the city. Could you make a 'super' club out of all these neighborhood clubs? Sure. But is that what the sport is about in Europe? I think not. For example, South Boston could be the most popular club in Div. 1 but if Hyde Park was also in Div. 1 but consistantly hangs towards the bottom of the table and had a smaller organzation and arena, so if South Boston was playing at Hyde Park there would almost be certain that people would be shut out. But is the solution to shut the doors on all the clubs in Boston to have one big club? Do you get rid of the pyramid system and focus on 14-16 big clubs when the geographical area is only the equivelent of the Northeast US. That might be great for casual fans. But what about the rest of players who get locked out of participating in a sport they love. The same holds true when someone says combine all the clubs in Paris and have one big club. That's not the way they do things there. Europe is Europe and America is America. So before we go changing European Handball, let's popularize Handball in America.
Also, I hope to be at the NETHC Tounament in New Jersey on Sat. Jan. 27. I hope to talk to some of you there(if they will let any 'supporters' in).
Thanks for your time.