VIDEO/AUDIO Wisla Plock vs. Montpellier

Posted on September 2, 2013 by John Ryan

Wisla Plock’s Muhamed Toromanović taking a shot vs Montpellier.

France’s Montpellier and Poland’s Wisla Plock battled it out over two games to see which side would earn the right to play in the Champions League this season. Montpellier won the first match at home, 29-27 this past Thursday. On Sunday they traveled to Poland for the second leg. The video for the match is courtesy of ehfTV and my audio commentary is in the MP3 files below.

The first half segment has a synchronization count at 3:00 on the ehfTV clock in the lower left hand of the screen. Start the video and pause it at 3:00. Then open the MP3 file and when I start my synchronization count unpause the video.

For the 2nd half my synchronization count starts at 48:30

Wisla Plock vs. Montpellier Video: Link

Go, Diego, Go! Argentinian Diego Simonet has a grand debut with new club Montpellier

Posted on August 30, 2013 by John Ryan

Go, Diego, Go! (With the tousled hair, there’s a bit of resemblance to Dora the Explorer’s lesser known cousin)

Yesterday, France’s Montpellier shook off an 11-15 halftime deficit to defeat Poland’s Wisla Plock 29-27 in the first leg of a two leg aggregate qualification match. Playing the major role in that turn around was Montpellier newcomer, Diego Simonet who scored 7 goals and set up several others with his court awareness and quickness.

Diego Simonet is a familiar name for Pan American Handball followers as he is one of the 3 Simonet brothers (Sebastian and Pablo are the other two) that play for Argentina. Yesterday, courtesy of ehfTV, however, was the first time I had the opportunity to see him play a full match with a quality web stream. And based on just this one match observation, I’m actually contemplating as to whether already at age 23 he might just be the best player to ever come out of Argentina.

Probably too soon to tell, but based on his career progression so far it might not be too long before it becomes obvious. In 2007 he was a key member of Argentina’s surprising 4th Place finish at the Youth World Championships and Argentina followed that up 2 years later with a respectable 6th place finish at the Junior World Championships. His performances in those events surely played a role in his signing a contract with the Spain’s Torrevieja from 2009-2011, then with France’s Ivry from 2011-2013. And, then top side Montpellier, apparently liking what they saw the previous two years, signed him to a contract this season. He’s also been a key part of Argentina’s recent success in Senior events, leading the team in goals and assists at both the 2012 Olympics and 2013 World Championships.

It remains to be seen what his future career holds, but certainly, the fans in Montpellier have welcomed his with open arms, already echoing the arena with chants of “Di–e–goooo, Di–e–goooo.” Sunday’s match will be in less friendly confines as Wisla Plock will seek to turn the tables and qualify for the Champions League with a 3 goal victory. This match will also be show on ehfTV with a start time of 1600 CET or 1000, US Eastern Time.

Highlights of his performance yesterday against Wisla Plock: Link

Full match video of Thursday’s 1st leg: Link

Live Video (Sunday’s 2nd leg): Link

Mundo Handball article: Link

USA Team Handball Board of Directors Election: A rare opportunity to cast a vote that could make a real difference in the outcome

Posted on August 29, 2013 by John Ryan

Board of Director Candidates Jennie Choi, Atilla Agoston and Craig Rot

I’m a huge fan of podcasts for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that since I started loading them onto my MP3 player is that I now can totally avoid listening to the seemingly never ending radio commercials while I’m driving. Another is the wide variety of content. I listen to a lot of sports related podcasts, but I also like the news and some offbeat shows that think outside of the box. One of my favorites in the latter category is the Freakonomics podcast. Last year during election season they looked at voting and the bitter reality that the odds of your one vote mattering in a major election as incredibly remote. Here’s the podcast and an earlier article in the NY Times covering the topic.

The basic gist is that with so many people voting in most elections the odds that any election will be freakishly close are extremely slim. And reflecting back on all the times I’ve voted on something in my lifetime, the only time my one individual vote ever came really close to mattering was the 2004 USA Team Handball Board of Directors elections vote where Mike Hurdle edged Bob Djokovich by a small margin of votes. (I think around 400 members voted with Hurdle winning by like 3 or 5 votes, but my memory is sketchy.)

This time around the Board of Directors election is much less contentious, but the possibility of a close vote remains. If you care about Team Handball in the United States and who will be making the key decisions like how much funding should be allocated towards National Team and how much should go toward youth programs and other grass roots efforts this is your chance to make your voice heard.

And, if you’re having trouble making up your mind check out my 30 minute interviews with each of the candidates. There are no smoking guns in the interviews, but they’ll certainly give you some insight as to what their priorities are and perhaps most importantly give you an idea as to how they would serve and function as a member of the Board of Directors.

Jennie Choi: Link
Atilla Agoston: Link
Craig Rot: Link

As a final note, keep in mind that these 3 candidates are vying for 2 seats on the Board and that voters are required to rank the candidates in order of preference. The candidate you select as your #1 choice will get 3 points; the candidate you select as your #2 choice will get 2 points; and your #3 choice will get 1 vote. And the 2 candidates with the most points will be selected to serve. So while you personally may have a clear #1 choice it could be that your decision between #2 and #3 could be the real difference maker.

For more information on how to cast your ballot check the Federation website: Link

The Dramatic Decline of the Liga Asobal

Posted on August 28, 2013 by John Ryan

Player Exodus: Where 11 of 16 players from Spain’s 2013 World Championship Team will play their club handball this season
José Manuel Sierra, Paris (France)
Antonio García, Paris (France)
Alberto Entrerríos, Nantes (France)
Jorge Maqueda, Nantes (France)
Valero Rivera, Nantes (France)
Ángel Montoro, Toulouse (France)
Joan Cañellas, Hamburg (Germany)
Gedeón Guardiola. Rhein-Neckar (Germany
Julen Aguinagalde, Kielce (Poland)
Carlos Ruesga, Veszprem (Hungary)
Albert Rocas, Kolding (Denmark)
5 players (Arpad Sterbik, víctor Tomás, Dani Sarmiento, Viran Morros and Aitor Ariño) will remain in Spain and play for Barcelona.

The Spanish National Team player exodus and Barca’s domination definitively show how this once mighty league has fallen on hard times.

The Great Recession has pretty much impacted in the entire world, but in Spain the crisis has been felt particularly hard. Property value that once soared to record heights tumbled precipitously leading in turn to banking problems and soaring unemployment. While a major sport like soccer has been able to weather the storm, handball clubs have had more trouble. The first warning signs were reports of some of the bottom tier teams in the Liga Asobal not being able to make payroll. This led to many 2nd tier professional players from other European countries deciding that they were better off playing elsewhere. Only the two top clubs, Ciudad Real and Barcelona, were able to keep their top players, but then Ciudad Real started to show cracks in its finances with a sudden relocation/merger with Atletico Madrid in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy. A move that merely postponed that reality to 2013.

Long Odds

With Madrid Atletico’s demise the Liga Asobal has gone from a marginally interesting two horse race between Madrid and Barcelonal to a ridiculously one sided coronation for Barca. How ridiculous? Well, the current odds of Barca not winning the Liga Asobal are 200-1. Online sports books have even posted odds for second place since the mere thought of another side winning seems too remote of a possibility. Yes, Barcelona is a great side and they are even the top favorite to win the Champions League, but barring a betting scandal (certainly a possibility with one recent roster addition) the only item of possible interest in the Liga Asobal is whether they will run the table with an undefeated season. And, I haven’t seen the odds on that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they aren’t something like 1-10.

For several years the Liga Asobal had been regarded along with Germany’s HBL as one of the two top professional leagues in the world. One just had to look at the club rosters and point to the who’s who list of top players from other countries to see that the league was loaded with talent. Jackson Richardson, Jerome Fernandez and Didier Dinart from France; Ivano Balic, Mirza Dzomba and Igor Vori from Croatia; Tomas Svensson and Jonas Kallman from Sweden; Olafur Stefansson from Iceland; Mikkel Hansen from Denmark; Kiril Lazarov from Macedonia, Lazlo Nagy from Hungary and many more. And surely Talant Dushebajev and his son Alex would not be Spanish citizens if not for the opportunities Spain provided for a talented handball player. Yes, for many years, with few exceptions, the top players of the world had two options if the wanted to maximize their salary potential: play in either Spain or Germany.

The Spanish Exodus

Now outside of Barca there’s only a smattering of foreign players in the Liga Asobal. And many of these foreign players are actually lesser known talents from Latin America. Even more telling is the exodus of Spanish National Team players to other leagues in Europe. Previously, it was somewhat of a novelty to see a Spaniard playing anywhere else but Spain. Now with Madrid’s demise it’s commonplace. The map above highlights where 11 members of Spain’s January World Championship team are now playing professionally. And this doesn’t include other notable players like Berlin’s Iker Romero and several 2nd tier players who’ve also left Spain in search of greener pastures.

Tax breaks and subsidies

When I first started following professional club handball 10 years ago I was puzzled as to why Spain rivaled Germany as the world’s top league. The primary confusion for this American was simply a glance into the stands at the occasional Champions League match I saw played there and at a 30 minute weekly Liga Asobal highlight show. With a few notable exceptions there were always more empty seats than fans in the stands. A sharp contrast to the typical HBL match where the attendance was much stronger. And even the typical match in France seemed to have more fans. How do these Spanish Clubs pay higher salaries if they’re bringing in less revenue this Capitalist American wondered?

Insight into this answer came from another sport, basketball, where my club in France, Levallois had a professional team in the 2nd division. As often is the case in Europe, there were usually a couple of Americans playing for the club and their salary was often a significant part of the club payroll. One season an American playing for the club decided that he wanted more money, in the middle of the season, no less. Being an uninformed American I assumed my club had two basic choices: 1) They could bow to the demand and pay him more; or 2) They could refuse the demand (after all, he signed the contract) and have a somewhat disgruntled player for the rest of the season. But, this was France and the tax structure offered a 3rd choice: They could pay his salary for the rest of the season and send him away; recoup the tax money on his remaining salary; and then use that money to hire another American for the remainder of the season. And this is what my club did; Successfully, I might add as they moved up into the 1st division that season.

Further research and discussion with my teammates brought up a sore spot in regards to Spain. The amount that Spanish sports clubs have to pay in taxes is a pittance compared to other countries. And in some instances cities even provided substantial funds to clubs in the form of subsidies. These tax breaks and subsidies were the primary reasons why Spanish clubs are were able to pay better salaries despite less revenue being brought in. The chickens, however, have come home to roost as the financial crisis has resulted in a general collapse in municipal revenues and subsidies have dried up. Further causing pain has been a decrease in fan discretionary spending causing significant revenue declines. A double whammy if you will.

Barca Survives (or should I say thrive?)

So while the rest of the Liga Asobal crumbles around it Barca is still a shining beacon for Spanish Club Handball. Arguably, they are the best team in the world. How do they do it? It’s certainly not due to an adoring fan base. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a Champions League match with the stands of the Palau Blaugrana half full (or worse) for an attractive match against a top club. No, Barcelona Handball survives, or more accurately thrives, on the shoulders of Barcelona Football. With a net worth of $1 Billion dollars the club can afford to throw a few millions at its handball club. Why, it chooses to do so is less clear. Perhaps it simply relishes the “mother club” aspect and the prestige of being the best in Europe in multiple sports. The fact that it is an association with 170,000 members also surely has something to do with it. It’s one thing for an individual owner to say, “I’m not going to keep spending money on this minor sport if it runs a net deficit year after year” and another thing for a collective to make such a decision.

The recession, however has even hit Barca football and the team has been running a debt in recent years. Perhaps belt tightening will even hit Barca handball soon. With the further weakening of its competition in the Liga Asobal, Barca could drop 3 or 4 name players and still run away with the title. And they would still be competitive in the Champions League, just not a dominant player.

Who knows what the future will bring? All I can say is that if anybody told me 5 years ago there would be more Spanish National Team players in France (then the reverse) in 2013 I wouldn’t have believed them.

Team USA Places 4th in Tournament

Posted on August 26, 2013 by John Ryan

Team USA at the Le Pouzin Town Hall earlier this month

Team USA closed out the Bernard Ritter Challenge Tourney in Chomerac, France, yesterday with a narrow defeat to French club, Port de Bouc (N3) 28-27.

Tournament Result Summary: Link (Note: the score of the USA-Etoile is transposed; the USA won that match)

Below is a summary of the team’s recent results in France

Aug 14, vs. Le Pouzin (N1) Loss (34-14)
Aux 16, vs. Le Pouzin (N1) Loss (44-13)
Aug 17, vs. Le Teil (N2) Win (28-25)
Aug 21, vs. Livron (N3) Draw (27-27)

Bernard Ritter Challenge Tournament
Aug 23, vs. Etoile sur Rhone (N3) Win (25-24)
Aug 24, vs. St Julien Denice (N3) Loss (30-12)
Aug 25, vs. Port de Bouc (PN) Loss (28-27)

An explanation on club levels in France: As is the case in most European countries handball is organized in a pyramid structure with a small number of elite clubs at the top and more clubs playing at lower levels. In France the structure is currently

1) LFH: 1 pool with 10 clubs (10 total clubs)
2) D2: 1 pool with 12 clubs (12 total clubs)
3) N1: 3 pools with 12 clubs each (36 total clubs)
4) N2: 4 pools with 12 clubs each (48 total clubs)
5) N3: 8 pools with 12 clubs each (96 total clubs)
6) PN or Pre-National: Locally organized competitions (~200-300 clubs)

Caveats on the USA’s results: The USA team is composed of a limited number of players with widely varying experience levels from ages 16-32. Additionally, the team has had to “borrow” goalies from other teams and has had at least one of their players (veteran Kathy Darling) unavailable due to club commitments with Le Pouzin for some of the matches.

Team USA with opening match victory in Tourney

Posted on August 23, 2013 by John Ryan

Team USA and Etoile shake hands post match.

Earlier today in the opening match of the Bernard Ritter Challenge Tourney in Charmes-sur-Rhone, France, Team USA beat French club, Etoile sur Rhone (N3), 25-24. Tomorrow (Saturday, 24 August) Team USA will play the winner of the Sorgues (PN)-St Julien Denice (N3) at 1700 Local.

Tournament Schedule: Link

VIDEO: Hamburg vs. Berlin in pivotal early season match

Posted on August 22, 2013 by John Ryan

Hamburg’s Hans Lindberg with a penalty goal against Berlin’s Silvio Heinevetter. The first match ended in a 30-30 draw. Watch the 2nd match live on ehfTV this Friday at 1900 hrs CET (1500 hrs, U.S. East Coast)

Live Video: Match already played
On Demand Video: Link

Hamburg vs. Berlin Friday, 23 Aug 2013, 1900 CET (1300 U.S. East Coast)

The first leg ended in a 30-30 draw. On line betting sides have Hamburg as a 2 goal favorite for the 2nd leg.

(Note: As always, I will replace the live video link with the “on demand” video link when it becomes available. Additionally, we will not post the score on the Team Handball News website for those interested in watching the match without knowing the result.)

————————————————————————————————————-

All too often in European club handball the early season is rife with matches of limited importance. The upcoming IHF Super Globe which is a somewhat manufactured event is but one example. But, this season the Champions League has a Wild Card playoff showdown between Berlin and Hamburg that is truly pivotal. Both clubs are in the top 10 of Europe, both clubs have legitimate Champions League title aspirations and….

one of those clubs will be eliminated from the competition before the month of August is even over.

Instead of top shelf Champions League matches throughout the season, pivotal knockout matches next spring and a good shot at the Final Four, the loser will instead settle for the less prestigious EHF Cup.

Why are two great sides meeting so early you might ask? Call it the Liverpool Rule. Back in 2005 the Liverpool Football club won the UEFA Champions League, but finished to low in the English Premiership to qualify for the 2006 Champions League. That’s right. UEFA was in the situation of having the defending champions not even in the tournament. Not wanting this to happen the rules were bent a little and Liverpool was allowed to play its way into the tournament through qualification matches. Similarly, Hamburg won the EHF Champions League last year, but finished 5th in the German Bundesliga (HBL). Normally, the top 3 German sides automatically qualify and the 4th German side plays its way in through a qualification tournament. Hamburg, in fact, did that last year and even had to beat France’s Saint Raphael in overtime to make it into the main tournament.

I’m not sure if the EHF bent the rules or not, but it was determined that the fair way to resolve the situation this time around was to let last year’s fourth place team in the HBL, Berlin take on the 5th place team, Hamburg in a two game aggregate series.

Last night Berlin hosted the first match which ended in a 30-30 draw. The match apparently was not without drama as Hamburg stormed to an early 12-6 lead, only to see Berlin go on a 6-0 run to tie it back at 12 all. Towards the end of the match Berlin had a two goal lead, but let it slip to a 30-30 draw. Berlin, may well miss those last two goals as this makes tomorrow’s 2nd match in Hamburg essential a one match, winner take all affair. (In the event of another draw, away goals is the tiebreaker).

Here are some links from the EHF website with more information to get you up to speed

After match Report on Leg 1: Link
Preview of playoff series : Link
Hans Lindberg Interview: Link

USA draws French Club Livron 27-27

Posted on August 22, 2013 by John Ryan

Team USA played to a 27-27 draw last night against the French club, Livron. Livron plays at the N3 level which is a level below their last opponent, Le Teil (a 28-25 victory for Team USA).

Starting Friday, Team USA is taking part in a preseason tournament composed of clubs at the N3 or Pre-National (PN) levels. Friday they play Etoile sur Rhone (N3) at 1830 local time. On Saturday they will play either the winner or loser of the Sorgues (PN)-St Julien Denice (N3) match. On Sunday, they will then play a placement match for 1st, 3rd or 5th place.

Photos from Livron – USA Match: Link

Schedule for upcoming Preseason Tournament: Link

Auburn Residency Programs: A big decision that can and should wait for a Board of Directors

Posted on August 21, 2013 by John Ryan

Why USA Team Handball should slow down on its plan for residency program

Why USA Team Handball should slow down on its plans for residency programs

USA Team Handball is in the midst of ironing out a final agreement with Auburn University to establish Residency Programs for both its Men’s and Women’s National Teams. Going ahead and signing on the dotted line for this agreement which would last through the 2020 Olympics is one of the biggest decisions USA Team Handball has made in years. Arguably, it’s the biggest decision the Federation has made… ever.

I could certainly argue the merits of Residency Programs, but I’ve already done that extensively. I’m somewhat of a skeptic based on my own experiences and the changing times. I also have some doubts as to the timing and most certainly disagree with the total lack of strategic planning to underpin why this is the way forward for USA Team Handball.

No, this time around I will simply make the case that if USA Team Handball is going to start a Residency Program it would be better to take it’s time, do it right and get the full approval of a Board of Directors.

Here are 3 reasons why:

Reason #1) All options should be explored: USA Team Handball has not put out a solicitation notice of any kind and has not discussed the possibility of a Residency Program with any other University or city. That USA Team Handball is willing to go sole source without even a precursory exploration of other options is pretty much unfathomable to me. This is not to say that sole source isn’t justified in certain circumstances. Sometimes it’s clear that there’s only one viable option, but in this case USA Team Handball hasn’t even floated the possibility to others. Heck, even Auburn only became a possibility as a result of unrelated phone call. And sometimes time is of the essence. A formal competition and a weighing of proposals takes time. Which leads to reason #2.

Reason #2) There’s no rush: While there were bold pronouncements that the Residency Programs would make the U.S. difficult to handle in as little as 18 months there’s little illusion that it’s a long shot prospect at best for the U.S. to qualify for Rio. Both CEO Van Houten (in my office visit) and Coach Garcia Cuesta (on the Argentine podcast) made that abundantly clear: The real and realistic focus is 2020. If 2016 was a realistic goal you could make a good case that a Residency Program was an immediate need. Heck, you could have made that case 2 years ago- Which is the point; it’s too late for Rio. And, if we’re talking about 2020, the difference between starting a full up program in the fall of 2013 or the fall of 2014 is pretty marginal. Yes, it would help some but not enough to warrant rushing forward. Why, it could even be argued that waiting to the fall of 2014 would give more time to fully define all aspects of the program and have it clicking on all cylinders on day 1.

Reason #3) Common Sense: The Federation By-Laws detail the roles and responsibilities of the Board or Directors and Section 6.2 E) identifies “review and approve significant corporate actions” as a specific responsibility of the Board. If signing on for a 7 year National Team Residency Program doesn’t fall under the definition of a significant corporate action then nothing does. Why even bother to have a Board of Directors?

Board of Directors Status

Which points to the problem that USA Team Handball doesn’t currently have a fully constituted Board of Directors. On January 1st of this year, the Board had only 5 members. With President Jeff Utz’s departure in April that further dropped to 4. The Board has not met in months and wouldn’t have a quorum even if it did meet. Yes, for all practical purposes there is no Board of Directors currently providing policy, guidance and strategic direction. Steps are being taken, however, to rectify this glaring problem. An election for 2 “General Membership” Board Directors will conclude on 6 September and a Nominating & Governance Committee is hopefully in the final stages of identifying 3 “Independent” Board Directors. Seemingly, a nine member accountable Board is just weeks away.

And at that time the Board should review plans for Residency Programs and provide guidance and strategic direction. Perhaps that would be approval of the Auburn Residency Program. Perhaps it would be a decision to slow down a bit and explore other Residency Program options. Maybe it could even be a decision to develop a Strategic Plan that identifies organization goals and objectives first, before jumping into solutions. Regardless, there’s no significant harm in waiting for a Board to make decisions that a Board should make.

AUDIO: Interview with USA Team Handball Board of Director Candidate, Craig Rot

Posted on August 20, 2013 by John Ryan

Board of Director Candidate Craig Rot with some players from a youth program he started in Minnesota

Craig Rot is one of three candidates (Jennie Choi and Atilla Agoston are the other two) currently vying for election to the two General Membership seats on the Board of Directors. Ballots must be sent in electronically by 6 September.

A short while ago I discussed why he wanted to be on the Board, what skills he would bring and some areas that he would like to emphasize if elected. Discussed topics include youth development, the planned residency program at Auburn and USA-Canada relations-. (Audio length: 31 minutes)

USATH Election Announcement: Link

Craig Rot’s Candidacy Letter: Link

Earlier interviews:

– Jennie Choi: Link
– Atilla Agoston: Link

Follow Team USA in France via player blogs

Posted on August 19, 2013 by John Ryan

USA Women’s Team sight seeing in Lyon

The USA Women’s team is training in France and playing friendly matches against French club teams. For a peek behind the scenes on their training regimen, match results, accommodations and cultural experiencea check out these player blogs:

Julia Taylor
– Blog: Link
– Twitter: Link

Ashley Van Ryn
– Blog: Link
– Twitter: Link

Team USA with win over French Club, Le Teil

Posted on August 18, 2013 by John Ryan

Elise Morrison, Ashley Van Ryn and Julia Taylor on defense

Team USA, garnered it’s first victory in France last night with a victory over the French club, Le Teil, 28-25. Previously, the club had suffered two lopsided defeats to coach Christian Latulippe’s former club team, Le Pouzin. Wednesday, Team USA takes on another club team, Livron.
More photos from Le Teil website: Link

USA Women lose in friendly to coach’s former French club team

Posted on August 17, 2013 by John Ryan

Action from last night’s match between USA and French club Le Pouzin

Team USA lost last night to French Club, Le Pouzin, 44-13. Le Pouzin is the club team that USA National Team coach Christian Latulippe coached last season. Before the match the team was received by the mayor at the Le Pouzin town hall. A story and photos from the reception are on the Le Pouzin club home page: Link

Team USA will take on the French Club team, Le Teil this evening and then has a few days off before facing Livron on Wednesday. Le Teil plays at the the N2 level (A level below Le Pouzin, which has been promoted to N1 this season) and Livron plays at the N3 level so better results are likely for Team USA in these upcoming matches. Next weekend Team USA is also scheduled to play in a preseason tourney hosted by Le Pouzin.