Author Archives: John Ryan

USA Top 5 Poll

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Team Handball News is pleased to announce the results of our inaugural poll for the Top 5 Men’s Club teams in the United States.

1. Atlanta Metro Condors (3) 11-0-1 [5-0-1]
2. Atlanta Team Handball 10-1-1 [6-0-0]
3. New York City 9-0-1 [9-0-1]
4. Cal Heat 3-0-0 [3-0-0]
5. Garden City (1) 0-0-0

Others Receiving Votes: NJ-Adelphi, Cleveland, Utah

The esteemed panel of voters consists of Andrew Washington, Christian Latulippe, Bogdan Pasat, and Karl Laundy.

Poll Methodology:
– Voters submit their top 5 teams (in order)
– Points for each vote are awarded as follows:
#1 – 5 points
#2 – 4 points
#3 – 3 points
#4 – 2 points
#5 – 1 point
– Each individual ranking is then pooled for a total ranking
– There are 4 voters (1 from each National Region)
– Votes will be done roughly once a month

Poll Philosophy and Guidelines (Guidance provided to the voters):
– Current performance in this year’s season should carry the maximum weight. If a team is not actively participating in any matches this should carry significant weight in your assessment. We are trying to encourage competition. Sure, there are many teams that can probably play no games during the regular season and still be a contender (heck, even win Nationals). The purpose of the poll is not to predict who will win Nationals. The purpose is to acknowledge and reward the active programs.
– Quality of competition should carry significant weight. If a team is playing good teams that should be rewarded. A team can have some quality losses and still be considered better than a team solely beating up on weak competition.
– Margin of victory should carry some weight. If a team is winning by large margins that does say something. Of course, it could also say something about the competition they are playing against.
– Significant attention should be paid to inter-regional competition like the Carolina Tournaments. This can provide a rough assessment of the quality of one region against another.
– More recent games should generally carry more weight than games from a couple of months ago.
– Previous National Championship performance can be considered. While these results are old, they are also relevant in that teams are generally at full strength and it is the best opportunity for inter-regional comparisons.

Current Record of Results
The poll, of course, can only be accurate if all relevant results are included. For the first poll, all results (since Oct 2005) in the 3 active USA Leagues, as well as the results of the Tar Heel tournament in October were included. A composite record of the clubs that were considered and their W-L-T record is provided here:

If you feel the record for your club is inaccurate or additional tournaments should be included please contact us with the results of those matches and we will update the database for the next poll.

Brazil Men’s Team in Action in Europe

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The Brazil Men’s National Team has been very active in January as part of their preparation for the PANAM Handball Championships in April. They played 3 matches against Cuba (all 3 wins 28-19, 31-30, and 28-24). They then travelled to Spain where they played in a in a tournament against Spain, Ukraine and Russia and followed that up with a couple matches vs some top Spanish Club teams and Japan.

13 January 22 Brazil vs Russia 32
14 January 18 Brazil vs Spain 37
15 January 22 Brazil vs Ukraine 28

18 January 19 Brazil vs BM Aragon 30
20 January 28 Brazil vs Japan 30
22 January 30 Brazil vs Barcelona 39

This trip has probably been a minor disappointment for Brazil, as I’m sure they’d like to move to the top tier of national programs like their Women’s team has. These results show that they still have quite a ways to go yet. It’s probably safe to say, however, that they weren’t fielding a full strength team. In particular, their top player, Bruno Souza, who plays with 1st Division Goppingen, has been injured and did not play. If you add a consistent backcourt scorer, I would guess these games could have been closer.

Update on USA Team Handball Decertification

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Matt Van Houten, the Athlete’s Advisory Council Representative, has informed us that it was his understanding that only Matt, Jim Thome, Jan O'Shea and Theresa Eckstrom had submitted written replies to the complaint filed by the USOC. Additionally, he indicated that there is a telephonic hearing scheduled for 2:00 p.m. MST on Tuesday, 24 January, in connection with the decertification process. As of Friday afternoon, the only individuals who had notified the USOC that they were going to participate in the hearing were Matt, Jim Thome, Jan O'Shea, Theresa Eckstrom and Peter Siskind.

Furthermore, Matt indicated that he had stressed to the appropriate individuals at the USOC that USA Team Handball has several urgent issues that need immediate attention: specifically the Men’s PANAM Championships in Brazil (10-16 April), the Women’s National Team program, Club Nationals and College Nationals. The feedback that he has received it that the USOC’s first priority is making sure that the team handball athletes, both national team members and the general athlete population, do not miss out on the upcoming opportunities to compete.

He is hopeful that we will soon learn what the “plan” for Team Handball in 2006 is and that we he would give us an update following the meeting on Tuesday.

USA South East Team Handball Conference (SETHC) Results (Week 3)

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Last weekend Atlanta Team Handball (ATH) and Atlanta Metro took turns beating a young Georgia State Club by scores of 30-10 and 31-20 respectively. The current standings for the SETHC are below. On 29 January, ATH and Atlanta Metro will meet in a battle for SETHC supremacy.

Team Wins Loses Goal +/-
ATH 6 0 66
A. Metro 5 1 70
Benedict 3 1 50
Ga State 1 5 -95

Detailed stats and scores are available by downloading this [link=https://teamhandballnews.com/docs/SETHC Stats.xls]file[/link]

USA Western Team Handball Conference (WTHC) Results (Week 1)

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The first round of games for this new conference took place this past weekend in Fremont, California. Cal Heat dominated the competition, winning all 3 of their matches. The remaining teams, LA THC, Salt Lake Warriors, and Santa Clarita each posted 1 win and 2 losses. More detail on the matches will be available soon at the Offical WTHC website: http://www.wthc.thsantaclarita.com/

USA TODAY reports on USA Team Handball Decertification

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This short article is unique in that Team Handball is in the title. Previous news reports have only mentioned Team Handball after first discussing the USA Volleyball decertification complaint.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/summer/2006-01-09-handball_x.htm

Also, still no word as to whether any Board Member responded to the USOC Complaint.

Associated Press (AP) Reports on USA Team Handball Decertification

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A short Associated Press (AP) story briefly highlights the ongoing decertification process. As it is an AP wire it probably will be making its way into several newspapers.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OLY_USOC_VOLLEYBALL_COMPLAINT?SITE=WFSB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Additionally, Mike Hurdle has informed us that he did not send a response to the USOC complaint. We have still not heard as to whether any other Board Member responded or not.

LA Times Reports on USA Team Handball Decertification

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[link=http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-oly7jan07,1,4764431.story]The article[/link] is primarily focused on a recent complaint filed by Beach Volleyball players to decertify USA Volleyball. To underscore the issue, the article also highlights that the USOC has several ongoing or recent disputes with other Olympic Sport National Governing Bodies (NGB). Team Handball merits 3 paragraphs. To my knowledge this is the first reporting on the governance issues with Team Handball by the mainstream media.

Team Handball Lawsuit

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No, this lawsuit has nothing to do with the USOC (as far as I know). But, if you ever wondered whether it’s a good idea to have insurance in place prior to playing Team Handball this article might answer that question for you.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060106/METRO02/601060348/1003/METRO

I find it amusing that the lawyer is quoted as saying “the Team Handball game is a non-contact sport.”

USA Team Handball Constitution Crisis

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:22 — 13.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

A lot has happened since I last wrote about this topic:

  • 28 May 2005 Constitutional Crisis (Part 1): Link
  • 19 Jun 2005 Constitutional Crisis (Part 2): Link
  • 06 Nov 2005 Constitutional Crisis (Part 3): Link

The new Bylaws (the Constitution) was passed by the membership by a vote of 211-23 and the Board of Directors voted to remove President Hurdle by a vote of 19-5. Of course, the legality of both of these votes have been called into question. What is not uncertain, however, is that the USOC has stopped providing funding to the USATH and has filed a formal Legal Complaint against USATH.

Also, worth reviewing is a USATH report that was done earlier in July that addresses some of the issues in the complaint.

As part of this new handball website, I’ve conducted interviews with Matt Van Houten, the Athlete’s Advisory Council Board Member and Mike Hurdle, the current or former President. These podcasts are available on the website and I encourage those with a stake in the future of USA Team Handball to take the time to listen to both interviews.

  • Interview with Mike Hurdle, December 2005: Link (Right click to download)
  • Interview with Matt van Houten, December 2005: Link (Right click to download)

After having read the USOC complaint and conducted both interviews, I am personally struck by how what appears to be some small differences of opinion has turned into a grand canyon divide. Maybe, I’m just naïve, but I think this whole crisis could be solved simply by taking the following steps.

  • 1) The Board of Directors should acknowledge and accept the result of the 211-23 vote on the By-Laws. This is a very clear signal from the membership that they approve of the new By-Laws and they want the bickering to end. (Yes, there was a misleading note on the website, but everyone also knows (or should know) that we have a small membership base which is well informed by this and other websites.) The new constitution should be put in place. All claims concerning the legality of the vote should simply be dropped.
  • 2) The President needs to acknowledge that the 19-5 vote by the Board of Directors to remove him from office also sends a very clear message. The Board of Directors were either duly elected or appointed to their position. One of the key roles that a President has is to work with the Board in the governance of the sport. This Board has clearly stated that they have lost confidence in the President.
  • 3) The President also needs to acknowledge the seriousness of the USOC Complaint and the need for USATH to effectively address USOC concerns.
  • 4) As the main point of contention is the leadership of USATH in the interim phase until new elections, the simplest solution is to install an interim leadership that is acceptable to the Board of Directors, President and the USOC. Certainly, Dr Leroy Walker, a former USOC President who has already indicated a willingness to fulfill such a role, would be a strong candidate. I’m sure that there are others which could also be acceptable to everyone.
  • 5) With alternative interim leadership in place, the President should then resign. Everyone can then thank him for his service to the sport. (either sincerely or with sarcasm)

Now without going into detailed analysis of this proposed resolution it should be evident that it would require some give and take from both sides. After having interviewed both Matt and Mike, though, I have the impression that this or something similar is acceptable to both parties. Perhaps, the Hearing Panel, rather than focusing on decertification, can lead us toward a resolution. Regardless, let’s get our USOC funding back and get the lawyers out of the process.