The upcoming USA – Canada “Home and Away” series is a big event for a number of reasons. The first and most obvious reason this two game series is important is that it is the first step towards 2012 Olympic Qualification. The winner advances to the Pan American (PANAM) Games next October in Guadalajara, Mexico and the PANAM Games winner punches an automatic ticket to London 2012. A tough task for either Canada or the U.S., as Brazil and Argentina have totally dominated North American Men’s and Women’s competitions for years. Still, you can’t win if you don’t try.

Secondly, setting aside the Olympic Qualification aspect the PANAM Games are a worthy competition in and of themselves. Even if the North American entrant has little chance of winning the event, competing there will help either program, particularly their up and coming players, as the experience will stand them in good stead for 2015 and potential qualification for the 2016 Olympics.

Finally, for the [b][u]American players[/u] [/b]these matches are easily the most important they have played since the new Federation came into being in 2008. And if you’re wondering why I’ve underlined players it’s because USA Team Handball (the new Federation) has been sending a very mixed message in regards to the importance of this event. On the one hand they are prominently promoting the matches and players on the Federation website. To their credit they’ve acquired new uniform sponsors and even arranged an online video feed for the matches in Lake Placid and hopefully, for the return leg in Montreal. On the other hand, though, the Federation chose not to fund the team’s participation in this event and as “money talks”, this is tantamount to saying that a whole lot of other activities and expenses have been deemed more worthy. Only a substantial grant from the independent USA Team Handball Foundation has allowed U.S. players to avoid reaching into their own pockets to pay for airfare to Lake Placid. This mixed message is essentially a half-hearted endorsement and players probably can view it as an implicit statement of their perceived place in USA Team Handball’s future.

The beauty of athletic competition, however, is that these players now have the opportunity to respond to this implicit statement of their worth with an explicit and undeniable statement on the scoreboard. For the past decade or so Canada has beaten both the American Men’s and Women’s teams on a regular basis and they have shown that they belong in Pan America’s 2nd tier (Not good enough to beat Argentina and Brazil, but good enough to fight for 3rd place in most PATHF events). Meanwhile, the U.S. has slid into Pan America’s 3rd tier, struggling and often failing to even make the elite championships. Beating Canada and qualifying for the PANAM Games will send a strong message to USA Team Handball and the USOC that this is a program making progress. In short, a program that deserves more funding and support so that it can be even more competitive at the 2011 PANAM Games and yes, even if it’s a long shot, the 2012 Olympics. On the other hand, failing to beat Canada probably calls into question even the limited support some of these players are receiving now and makes the case that even more resources (if not all) need to be placed in youth development programs.

Opportunity is knocking. It remains to be seen as to whether the U.S. Men and Women can answer the door.

The USA and Canadian Men’s and Women’s teams will play the first leg of matches in Lake Placid, NY on Tuesday, 21 December (1300 and 1530). The 2nd leg will be played in Montreal, on Thursday 23 December (1430 and 1630). The winner will be decided on aggregate goal difference counting both games.

USATH: Ustream to Broadcast Pan American Games Qualifiers: http://usateamhandball.org/news/2010/12/15/ustream-to-broadcast-pan-american-games-qualifiers/40038?ngb_id=42

Without a doubt, the German Bundesliga (HBL) matches that I most look forward to watching on the “My Sports Germany” channel are the big showdowns like Hamburg – Kiel and Rhein-Neckar Lowen – Hamburg. The world’s best players playing pivotal matches in packed arenas. You can’t beat it and it’s truly a joy that I can now watch matches like that from my couch in Las Vegas.

But, while those matches are a treat, I’ve also enjoyed seeing some of the other clubs in the HBL’s 2nd and 3rd tier play. It’s clear that while these clubs are a rung below the big dogs, they still have passionate supporters and they can play some quality handball. And despite their smaller budgets these clubs still have their share of mercenaries from other countries. Having previously seen a lot of French league play, I’m not surprised to see that the usual suspects from Scandinavia and the Balkans are peppered throughout the league. I’m not certain if it’s true, but I’ve been told that some European leagues even have a mandatory roster requirement for each club to carry at least one left hander with their last name ending with “ic”.

I’ve also noticed, however, that there are more than a few mercenaries from less traditional handball nations. Here are few of the more notable examples:

The Dutch contingent

Fabian van Olphen: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_van_Olphen This 29 year old left Back for Madgeburg has been plying his trade in Germany for 7 years. According to the German Wikipedia article he was principally noted for his defensive prowess, but having seen him play a few times, it seems that he has also developed into a pretty decent backcourt player
Gerrie Eijlers: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrie_Eijlers This 30 year old starts in the goal for Madgeburg and has worked his way up through the ranks with 7 years playing for several clubs
Nicky Verjans: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Verjans This 23 year old right wing has been playing in Germany for 5 years. First with Nordhorn and now for Lubbecke.

Editor’s Note: In the original posting of this article I failed to mention several other Dutch players (see below) currently playing in the HBL. With this many players in the HBL I’m thinking it’s only a matter of time before they qualify for a European or World Championships.
Mark Bult: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Bult This 28 year old Right Back plays for Berlin
Bartosz Konitz: 26 year old Left Back (Luebbecke): http://www.tus-n-luebbecke.de/category/tus-team/spieler-portraits/
Tim Remer: 25 year old Left Wing (Luebbecke) http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Remer
Mark Schmetz: 33 year old Left Wing has been playing in Germany for 12 years. He’s played in the HBL’s 1st Division for Essen, Lemgo and now Ahlen-Hamm. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Schmetz

The Israeli contingent

Avishay Smoler: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avishay_Smoler This 25 year old right winger starts for Lemgo and has already been playing in the HBL for 3 years. Not to mention he made his national team debut at the tender age of 15.
Flensburg website (2007): Avishay Smoler: The first Israeli in the Bundesliga: http://www.sg-flensburg-handewitt.de/hsg46.html?&L=0
Chen Pomeranz: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Pomeranz: Pomeranz, 26, first made a name for himself when he led the Swiss league in scoring during the 2007-08 season. Following that campaign, the Center Back move to the HBL, first with Wetzlar and now with Ahlen-Hamm.

The Georgian backcourt

Sergo Datukaschwili: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergo_Datukaschwili Nope, I’m not referring to Mabelton, Georgia native, Gary Hines. Instead, I speak of Tbilisi native Sergo Datukaschwilli. When the Soviet Union broke up in the 1990’s, handball remained relevant mostly in the republics closer to Northern Europe. Russia, particularly, the women’s team has been a power while the Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic Republics have been to varying degrees respectable. Further south, they must still play handball, though, otherwise Datukaschwilli wouldn’t have found his way to the HBL. Although, it’s been quite a circuitous route for the 32 year old Datukaschwilli, who’s playing his first season in the HBL’s top league. Prior to signing with Lemgo he spent twelve years playing in Germany, Lebanon, Serbia, Italy, Greece, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia and Dubai. Interestingly, enough Datukashvilli and Gary Hines share a former club, as both found their way to the Canary Island’s Tolimar Tres de Mayo.
Sergo Datukashvili, new player Expo Tres de Mayo: http://www.eldia.es/2003-07-04/jornada/jornada29.htm
USATH: Gary Hines: http://usateamhandball.org/athletes/gary-hines
THN (15 Jan 07): Gary Hines Joins Tolimar Tres de Mayo: https://teamhandballnews.com/2007/01/gary-hines-joins-tolimar-tres-de-mayo/
THN (18 May 10): Get this guy a contract!: https://teamhandballnews.com/2010/05/get-this-guy-a-contract/

What’s worth noting about these unlikely mercenaries is that it provides clear evidence that if a player is good enough, some club in Europe’s top league will find him and put him on their roster. The fact that these players have made it, should be heartening to Americans, Brits, Australians and others toiling away in the lower divisions in Europe. While Germans might lament or resent foreign players taking roster spots from Germans it clearly benefits developing handball nations to have their top players playing regularly at levels that can’t be duplicated in their home countries.

That being said these mercenaries still haven’t been able to put the Netherlands, Israel or Georgia into a World Championships and with the exception of Israel in 2002 the final round of the European Championships. A quick review of their recent national team results shows some respectable scores in qualification play, but not enough wins to move them into the next tier. In Europe it would seem that 2 or 3 players in the HBL is insufficient to take that next leap.

Recently, I had the opportunity to watch an outstanding documentary titled “Once Brothers”. Part of ESPN’s awarding winning 30 for 30 series, this documentary chronicles the friendship (and it’s breakup) of Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic. Divac, a Serbian (and now the President of the Serbian Olympic Committee) and Petrovic, a Croatian were teammates and friends on Yugoslavia’s national team. At the 1990 World Championships, despite rising tensions in Yugoslavia, they were able to win the Gold medal. The celebration, however, was marred and a friendship was broken, when Divac pulled a Croatian flag from one of the celebrating fans. I won’t rehash the whole documentary, which is told mostly through Divac’s eyes, but I’m pretty confident that most of you will find it a moving story, regardless of your nationality and connection to the former Yugoslavia.

Watching the documentary also reminded me of the first time I came to the realization that the Yugoslavian Republics had their very own distinct national identities and it was in probably one of the more unlikely places you’d expect: Calabasas High School in the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles.

In the spring of 1991, word got out that the Croatian State team would be visiting Southern California so a match was scheduled against the local West regional team that would be participating in the upcoming Olympic Sports Festival. In typical U.S. fashion not a whole lot of planning took place and when Ivo Petranovic, then one of Cal Heat’s players (now more known as a referee) mentioned that he could probably get 300-400 Croatians to attend, it was met with a grin and a “Yeah, whatever you say, Ivo.” I’ll never forget rolling into the parking lot a little early to help mark handball lines on the floor only to see the parking lot full and all these people waving strange looking flags with the Purina Cat Chow symbol.

The West regional team was hopelessly outclassed, but it was fun to see a match played in from front of a passionate crowd. Now that may not seem like a big crowd to you, but I would bet it’s one of the most highly attended matches (outside of the Olympics) in U.S. history. And now having seen the “Once Brothers” documentary it’s even clearer to me why the outpouring of National pride was so strong on that day nearly 20 years ago.

Once Brothers will be rebroadcast on ESPN this Sunday, 12 December. Set your DVR’s up now.

ESPN: Once Brothers website: http://30for30.espn.com/film/once-brothers.html

There are some short videos from the documentary at this site and I’m sure that there are copies of it available elsewhere on the internet. It also wouldn’t surprise me if a Serbo-Croatian version has been made. As it’s mostly Vlade doing the narrative it wouldn’t have been too hard for him to record another version in that language.

Finally, I would like to know if there were similar stories back in the 1990s with the Yugoslavia National Handball team. Please share your thoughts and insight on our Facebook page or send me an email at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com