VIDEO: USA Team Handball prospect E.J. Udo-Udoma featured on Oregon TV

Posted on November 12, 2013 by John Ryan

Team USA prospect E.J. Udo-Udoma

USA Team Handball National Team prospect E.J. Udo-Udoma was featured this past Sunday on Portland, Oregon’s Fox 12 News. The video takes place at a Portland Sasquatch Team Handball club practice and includes interviews with Udo-Udoma and former national team player, Brad Dow. Udo-Udoma is headed to Auburn where he will be joining the USA National Team Residency Program.

VIDEO: Link

Portland Sasquatch Facebook Page: Link

Commentary: It’s great to see a couple of things:
1) It looks like USA Team Handball is picking up what appears to be a great prospect who’s only 20 years old and still has plenty of time to develop into a world class handball player.
2) It’s great to see a former national team player (Brad Dow) getting involved with a new club. Who’s got next? Or do I need to get on my soapbox again?: Link

IHF President signals shift in development focus to India, China and U.S.

Posted on October 27, 2013 by John Ryan

India, China and USA: The main focus for the IHF?

India, China and USA: The new main focus for the IHF?

The Qatar based Gulf Times reported yesterday on the IHF Congress and noted that newly re-elected IHF President, Hassan Moustafa has indicated his main focus would be on development of handball in India, China and USA. Specifically he’s quoted as saying:

“I want to develop the game in the big countries like India and China. My aim is to promote and spread handball and to groom more talent. It’s a big challenge and need full support of the community,”

If this comes to pass, it would be a significant change in policy when it comes to developing the sport. Although hard data is not available, anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that support has diplomatically been spread roughly equally throughout the world regardless of the size of the country.

Cynically, in an interview with Team Handball News 3 years ago, then USA Team Handball Board Chairman, Dieter Esch, noted that it was his assessment that IHF aid was spread out equally in an effort to gather support from as many countries as possible for future elections. Esch even voiced his frustration in the IHF’s failure to focus on key markets and specifically highlighted 3 countries: India, China and the U.S. Ever the businessman, Esch noted that there was nothing wrong with supporting all countries, but economically it made more sense to build the sport where the potential financial return was greatest. I, for one, concur with this assessment, and in this commentary, I highlighted how European markets were starting to see the light in regards to the American market, even if they weren’t quite successful yet.

For those in other nations, who might see this change in policy as simply a siphon on their support, keep in mind the phrase, a rising tide lifts all boats. For if this focus indeed results in turning India, China and the U.S. into nations that “care” about handball the financial windfall will eventually result in more aid for all.

It remains to be seen if the words at the Congress will be followed by concrete actions, but certainly this is a positive sign. Up until now, the IHF has been far less engaged than the EHF, European National Federations, clubs and leagues. An engaged IHF that seeks to better market the sport in the U.S. and further the develop the sport at the grass roots and National Team can only be a good thing.

USA Soccer’s turnaround; Hope for USA Team Handball

Posted on October 22, 2013 by John Ryan

A low point for USA Soccer: Losing to Costa Rica at home and failing to qualify for the World Cup

Yesterday, during his closing commentary on the Slate “Hang Up and Listen” Podcast, Josh Levin highlighted USA Soccer’s recent World Cup Qualification success and contrasted it with the U.S failure to qualify for the 1986 World Cup. It’s an entertaining listen and a stark reminder of how far USA Soccer has come in the past 28 years.

Slate Podcast: Link (referenced commentary starts at 58:20)

In it’s final qualification match the U.S. lost 1-0 to Costa Rica in front of around 12,000 fans in Torrance, CA. And most of those fans were Costa Rican Expats. Shortly, thereafter the North American Soccer League (NASL) folded and the future didn’t look very bright at all for USA soccer. But, as we all know things soon started to turn around. The U.S. successfully hosted the World Cup in 1994 and restarted a professional league (MLS) which is now pretty stable and drawing decent crowds. The Women’s team has won two world cups and youth soccer is played by millions across the country. On TV just about every soccer match in Europe is available for viewing now on some network. The U.S. is by no means anywhere near as soccer crazy as the rest of the world is, but the sport matters in this country and that is a remarkable success story.

It’s been common practice for many years to hold up soccer’s growth as the model for team handball to follow. As I pointed out in this post several years ago, there are a number of flaws with this soccer analogy. You simply just can’t photo copy soccer’s success or the successful growth in other sports like lacrosse, rugby and ultimate Frisbee. What you can do, however, is take some pieces of their success and adapt them to a handball context.

And perhaps most importantly, you can take comfort in the fact that another sport was able to turn things around so dramatically. I’m guessing if you were to ask the players and the handful of fans in Torrance cheering on Team USA, 28 years ago where they thought USA soccer was heading it would have been a lot of doom and gloom. Yes, take some comfort in that it’s always darkest before the dawn.

America Soccer Now: American Soccer in 1985: The Failure in Torrance: Link

Shuffling the Deck: Rethinking the IHF Olympic Qualification Tournaments

Posted on October 10, 2013 by John Ryan

Shuffling the deck: Rethinking the seeding of Olympic Qualification Tournaments

Christer Ahl’s preview of the upcoming IHF Congress he noted that Japan and South Korea were proposing changes to Olympic qualification to add more slots for non-European nations. As anyone who’s watched Olympic handball knows with the exception of the South Korean women these tournaments have been very heavily weighted towards European nations. And yes, that reflects actual relative strengths of the continents, but the optics of a mini European tournament on the Olympic stage are problematic.

I haven’t seen the exact proposals, but reportedly they would give Africa, Asia and Pan America 2 guaranteed slots each thus limiting Europe to a maximum of 6 of the 12 slots for the Olympics. Christer concluded that this was going a bit too far and suggested that instead one of the 3 Olympic qualification tournaments be set aside for the non European nations.

This got me wondering just what exactly this might mean for the Olympic Qualification tournaments in terms of competition so I took a look at the 2012 tournaments and reshuffled them using Christer’s suggested compromise.

2012 Men’s Olympic Qualification (actual tournaments and results)

IHF Qualification Tournament #1
2nd at 2011 WC (Tournament Host): Spain
7th at 2011 WC: Poland
Europe (2nd place at 2012 EC): Serbia
Africa (2nd place at 2012 African Championships): Algeria

Results
1) Spain (3-0-0) 6 Points
2) Serbia (1-1-1) 3 Points +5 Goal Differential
3) Poland (1-1-1) 3 Points -10 Goal differential
4) Algeria (0-0-3) 0 Points

IHF Qualification Tournament #2
3rd at 2011 WC (Tournament Host): Sweden
6th at 2011 WC: Hungary
Pan America (2nd at 2011 PANAM Games): Brazil
Europe (3rd at 2012 European Championships): Macedonia

Results
1) Sweden (3-0-0) 6 Points
2) Hungary (2-0-1) 4 Points
3) Brazil (1-0-2) 2 Points
4) Macedonia (0-0-3) 0 Points

IHF Qualification Tournament #3
4th at 2011 WC (Tournament Host): Croatia
5th at 2011 WC: Iceland
Asia (2nd at Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament): Japan
Pan America (3rd at 2011 PANAM Games): Chile

Results
1) Croatia (3-0-0) 6 Points
2) Iceland (2-0-1) 4 Points
3) Japan (1-0-2) 2 Points
4) Chile (0-0-3) 0 Points

2012 Men (with proposed alternative)

IHF Qualification Tournament #1
2nd at 2011 WC (Tournament Host): Spain
4th at 2011 WC: Croatia
6th at 2011 WC: Hungary
Europe (2nd place at 2012 EC): Serbia

IHF Qualification Tournament #2
3rd at 2011 WC (Tournament Host): Sweden
5th at 2011 WC: Iceland
7th at 2011 WC: Poland
Europe (3rd at 2012 European Championships): Macedonia

IHF Qualification Tournament #3
Pan America (2nd at 2011 PANAM Games) (Tournament Host): Brazil
Africa (2nd place at 2012 African Championships): Algeria
Asia (2nd at Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament): Japan
Pan America (3rd at 2011 PANAM Games): Chile

2012 Women’s Olympic Qualification (actual tournaments and results)

IHF Qualification Tournament #1
France (2nd at 2011 WC) Host
Montenegro (7th at 2011 WC)
Romania (Europe #2)
Japan (Asia #2)

Results
1) Montenegro (3-0-0) 6 Points
2) France (2-0-1) 4 Points
3) Romania (1-0-2) 2 Points
4) Japan (0-0-3) 0 Points

IHF Qualification Tournament #2
Spain (3rd at 2011 WC) Host
Croatia (6th at 2011 WC)
Argentina (Pan America #2)
Netherlands (Europe #3)

Results
1) Spain (2-0-1) 4 Points (+3 GD in head to head games vs Croatia and Netherlands)
2) Croatia (2-0-1) 4 Points (+0 GD in head to head games vs Spain and Netherlands)
3) Netherlands (2-0-1) 4 Points (-3 GD in head to head games vs Spain and Croatia)
4) Argentina (0-0-3) 0 Points

IHF Qualification Tournament #3
Denmark (4th at 2011 WC) Host
Russia (5th at 2011 WC)
Tunisia (Africa #2)
Dominican Republic (Pan America #3)

Results
1) Russia (3-0-0) 6 Points
2) Denmark (2-0-1) 4 Points
3) Tunisia (1-0-2) 2 Points
4) Dominican Republic (0-0-3) 0 Points

2012 Women (with proposed alternative)

IHF Qualification Tournament #1
2nd at 2011 WC (Tournament Host): France
4th at 2011 WC: Denmark
6th at 2011 WC: Croatia
Europe (2nd place at 2012 EC): Romania

IHF Qualification Tournament #2
3rd at 2011 WC (Tournament Host): Spain
5th at 2011 WC: Russia
7th at 2011 WC: Montenegro
Europe (3rd at 2012 European Championships): Netherlands

IHF Qualification Tournament #3
Pan America (2nd at 2011 PANAM Games) (Tournament Host): Argentina
Africa (2nd place at 2012 African Championships): Tunisia
Asia (2nd at Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament): Japan
Pan America (3rd at 2011 PANAM Games): Dominican Republic

Analysis

If one compares the actual tournaments that took place and the hypothetical tournaments that would have taken place a few trends can be discerned. Here are the major impacts as I see it:

1) Every nation would have a shot at qualifying: In theory, this was already the case, but in reality the prospect of any of the non-European teams knocking off 2 European teams at a tournament staged in Europe was pretty remote. Intead those non-European teams would have legitimate chances with a tournament featuring evenly matched 2nd tier nations. I suspect that Brazil and Algeria would have qualified in the Men’s tournament, but I wouldn’t have counted out Japan or Chile. With the Women’s tournament I’m guessing that Tunisia and Japan would have qualified, but Argentina as the theoretical host would have been in the mix as would have been the athletic Dominicans. And it goes without saying that any of the European sides could have envisioned themselves placing 2nd in the European tournaments.

2) Every nation would have a a very real possibility of not qualifying. Conversely, those European nations would also face a very real prospect of slipping up and not qualifying. Again, this was already the case, but pretty unlikely. Most egregious are the 3rd qualification tournaments with 2 European and 2 non-European teams. Those tournaments have been essentially glorified exhibitions that unfairly reward the 4th and 5th place WC qualifiers with all but free tickets to the Olympics. With 4 European nations participating in the alternative setup even the host nations would have to be very wary of a slip up against 3 opponents each capable of beating them.

3) Tournaments worth watching: A corollary of 1 and 2 above, from a fan perspective is that 3 tournaments with relatively predictable results would be replaced with 3 wide open tournaments. Instead of perhaps 1 or 2 interesting matches among the 3 tournaments almost every match in the alternative setup will be competitive. Heck, I would even bet that some of those tournaments would see a final day with every side still having a chance at qualification. Talk about TV worth watching!

4) New nations qualifying for the Olympics. Aside from the better qualification tournaments, opening up 2 spots provides an Olympic opportunity for nations like Japan, Algeria, Chile and the Dominican Republic. Participating in an Olympics can provide a tremendous boost to the development of the sport in countries where the sport is less popular. While, I’ve seen first hand how this boost wasn’t sustained as much as I would have liked it to have been in the U.S. after the 84 and 96 Olympics it still was significant. (For instance this website surely wouldn’t even exist.) And while the U.S. example might not be a good one, take a look at what has happened in countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Brazil, Argentina and South Korea. Creating more opportunities for more nations means more potential for making the sport truly global.

5) Two European nations would miss out. Of course, this is the corollary to #4. Is it fair to “punish” a better European side, perhaps a side that could beat the non-European side by 10 goals? Should a professional player who’s devoted his/her life to the sport sit at home while an amateur player who’s played for a few years walks into an Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremonies? It’s hard not to be sympathetic to the plight of those would be athletes.

6) The quality of the Olympic Tournament would decline. Obviously, if you take out 2 of the top 9 nations of the world and replace them with 2nd tier nations the overall quality of the tournament will decline. The question then becomes one of how serious of a decline would it be? Realistically, at this point in time I don’t think any of the 2nd tier nations that would be capable of reaching the semifinals. Whereas, the 8th and 9th European representative would have a legitimate outside chance of doing so. So, we would be replacing a really long shot with just a long shot. And there would likely be a couple more lopsided scores, but I think these 2nd tier nations are capable of playing competitively against the top nations maybe even getting an upset along the way. In other words, losses of 5-10 goals instead of 20 goal shellackings.

Overall, I would argue that the benefits of the proposed tweaking of the qualification system to allow more non-European nations outweigh the negative consequences. As Christer suggested, balance is what’s desired. Adding 2 non European nations seems about right at this point in time and it would help the growth of the game.

American Football and Team Handball (Part 1): Proof that an alien game can take root in unlikely places

Posted on October 7, 2013 by John Ryan

Rasmus Lauge-Schmidt is a huge fan of American Football. How about finding and creating some American footballers who are fans of Team Handball?

The ehfTV “Rewind” show is highlight show of Champions League action with a few interviews thrown in for good measure. Last week, as an American I did a double and triple take when I saw the “Inside the Game” profile with Kiel’s Danish center back Rasmus Lauge-Schmidt. The cause of the double take? The video shows Lauge-Schmidt practicing a bit of American Football in full pads.

It turns out that the 22 year old, Lauge-Schmidt is a huge fan of the National Football League (NFL), the professional football league in the USA. So much so that every Sunday night he watches from 7:00 PM until the early hours of the morning. (As a former resident of Europe, I can attest to doing the same thing; That time change certainly alters your NFL viewing clock.) I haven’t confirmed with Lauge-Schmidt, but I’m pretty sure that his fandom has been restricted to viewing and he’s never actually played the game. I suspect that the EHF set up a mock practice with the local club in Kiel to provide some good optics for the interview. After all, it can be a little boring to just watch someone talking. And the interview did get me thinking about the current status of American Football in Europe and some lessons that might be applicable to Team Handball in the U.S.

American Football popularity abroad

A lot of people in the U.S. are probably under the impression that the game isn’t played much outside of the U.S and Canada and while that’s certainly true to an extent, the sport is played in most European nations. I was first made aware of this many years ago when I stumbled upon a full contact scrimmage of the London Ravens in Hyde Park. Long time LA handball player, Mika Maunala, amused me with stories of playing QB in Helsinki and I had a German work colleague in Paris that played, by coincidence for the club in his hometown, Kiel. (Yes, ironically I was the bigger handball fan in my office.) Sure enough Lauge-Schmidt photo op was with the local club there, the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes.

It’s hard to fully gauge how popular a sport is from a few personal anecdotes, but clearly American Football is gaining a foothold in Europe. NFL broadcasts are readily available in most countries even if it’s usually with a cable outlet. In London the NFL now plays two regular season matches to sell out crowds of 80,000 plus at Wembley Stadium. There’s quite a list of nations with leagues even if it’s uncertain as to the level of amateurism/professionalism, but at least some of the teams appear to draw decent crowds. The Hurricanes for instance drew 7,000 fans for a semifinal match recently. While that doesn’t even begin to approach a typical crowd at an NFL game the U.S. right now can only dream of a crowd approaching that for a handball match in this country.

Such a foothold wasn’t obtained through osmosis. Sure, it’s a great game to watch and generally when newcomers are exposed to the sport they become fans. Lauge-Schmidt is but one example. Virtually every expat I’ve met who’s emigrated to the U.S. has become a fan of the sport. (count my colleague, Christer Ahl in that category.) There’s lots of sports that fall into that category and just like American Football generally newcomers to Team Handball like what they see when exposed. And that’s where the NFL is the difference maker as they do an absolutely masterful job of packaging and promoting the sport. Perhaps this can best be summed up by what I heard French basketball player Tony Parker say once in describing American sports production: “They make every weekend of games seem like the World Cup.” The pageantry, aesthetics and TV production involved in packaging the sport are simply unmatched. And the promotion is strategically planned both home and abroad. For years the NFL has cultivated a following. Even going so far to create an NFL developmental league there for several years. While that league eventually folded it surely played a key role in the sports development overseas.

Proof that foreigners can learn to play an alien game at the highest level

If there ever was greater proof staring the handball world in the face that it’s possible for a game totally alien to a country’s sporting culture to take root there is no better example than American Football in Europe. Sure, the sport isn’t as popular as many other sports, but think of all the crazy obstacles it’s overcome to reach the level of popularity it has. First off, there are probably only a handful of games more expensive to play. Unlike the typical school team in the U.S. with equipment handout on the first day of practice every player has to buy his own personal set of pads. Then think of the complexities of the game that have to be learned. The idiosyncrasies of the rules and the penalties might seem second place if you’ve watched it all your life, but coming in cold it’s pretty complex. Finally, think of all the unique skills like blocking and tackling that have to be taught and learned. Not to mention the concept of intricate play calling where every single player has to memorize responsibilities and formations for every single play. With all those obstacles to overcome it’s a wonder that the sport is played anywhere outside the U.S. and Canada.

Yet, amazingly the level of play has risen to the point where there’s now a trickle of foreigners getting recruited by American colleges and then eventually making it into the ranks of the NFL. Notably, there are now two established German players, Bjoern Werner and Sebastian Vollmer. Probably not household names back home, but with salaries of $2M and $4M respectively they make more on a yearly basis than anyone playing handball in the German Bundesliga. If Germans can learn to play American Football to the highest level it’s not so difficult to think that Americans can do the same with Team Handball. And while it has indeed happened in recent times, Americans (who learned the game in the U.S) haven’t ascended to anywhere near the highest levels in Europe. For instance, arguably America’s current best player, Gary Hines, plays for German 3rd Division side, HC Bad Neustadt.

Probably, for Americans to make the leap into the upper pro ranks in Europe, it will take a greater number of athletes picking up the game at younger ages. And then those athletes heading over to Europe at younger ages with enough time to further develop as players so that top clubs are interested in signing them.

Or, alternatively, some absolutely top quality athletes could be enticed to give Team Handball a try after their career with their first sport winds downs. In Part 2, I’ll take a closer look at this possibility with a focus on the American Football to Team Handball pipeline.

The Olympic Program (Is Handball Safe as a Core Sport?)

Posted on September 25, 2013 by John Ryan

World Baseball/Softball Confederation officials react stoically as International Wrestling Federation officials celebrate behind them. Could handball suffer the same fate in a future vote?

Previously, we looked at the IOC votes for the 2024 Olympic host city and IOC Presidency. This time around we look at the IOC’s decision to bring back wrestling and whether there are any implications to handball’s future.

Earlier this month at the IOC congress, the IOC held a vote to see whether wrestling, baseball/softball or squash would join 24 other disciplines to be part of the Core Olympic Program. The sport of wrestling had been in the Olympics since its inception and had been shocked by an earlier decision by the IOC Executive Council to be removed from the Program. Suddenly on the outside looking in, wrestling cleaned up its act, enacted several reforms and easily won remittance by beating back baseball/softball and squash. It was a disappointing defeat for the combined Baseball/Softball Confederation and they vow to fight on for inclusion in future votes. Critics have cited baseball’s lack of popularity in many parts of the world and it had me wondering if handball could be susceptible to falling to the same fate. Here’s my analysis, first taking a look at the popularity of the sport.

Handball’s world-wide popularity?

Measuring popularity is an inexact science. How could it not be? As popularity by definition is pretty much subjective. There are some metrics that can be used to measure popularity. Numbers of registered players, fans in attendance, numbers of TV viewing hours during the Olympics, number of mentions in local media and the number of countries with sports federations to name a few. Some of these metrics, in fact, have been touted to claim that handball is the 2nd most popular sport in the world after soccer. Which while it’s not usually explicitly stated is probably a team sport ranking claim as comparing sports like swimming and gymnastics to team sports is difficult.

While I’d like to think that I’m a pretty big handball fan and promoter of this great sport I’ve annoyed more than a few folks at different times by basically saying, “STOP! Quit pretending that this European sport has a significant world-wide following. It doesn’t, period. In fact, even its European following in several European countries is nothing to write home about.”

Of course, the same sorts of things can be said about a lot of other sports. Baseball for instance; In fact, I would argue that if one compares the popularity of baseball with handball you’ll find some striking similarities.

Both are primarily popular in one part of the world: handball- Europe; baseball; North America. Although baseball can make a case that the significant popularity of the sport Japan, South Korea and Taiwan actually shows a broader worldwide reach.
Both are mostly an afterthought outside of their strongholds. Most Americans don’t even know handball exists. Most Europeans only know baseball from Hollywood movies. The rest of the world is a mixture of recognition. Some regions (South America, North Africa) have shown some handball growth; Other regions are developing a greater interest in baseball (Australia, East Asia).

And continuing the similarity comparison further you’ll likely get the following reactions from the sports conscious fan in their respective popularity strongholds when asked about the merits of the other sport.

North American: “Why is this handball sport in the Olympics? I bet it was invented by Europeans just because they were tired of the U.S. whipping up on them in basketball.”
European: “Pffft. Baseball? This is the most boring sport ever invented and, as if, the world needs to add an American sport to the Olympic program.”

This isn’t conjecture. I’m only paraphrasing actual commentary I’ve read or heard many times. Each continent is largely ignorant to the importance of the other sport. I’m guessing that many Europeans aren’t aware that the average individual salary of a Major League player ($3.2M) is more than the budget for most European club teams. Heck, around 24 players make more all by themselves than the operating budget of Paris S-G (handball’s richest club). Conversely, most Americans don’t know that handball exists. Let alone that there are thousands of clubs at the professional and amateur level.

Is handball safe?

So, could handball fall victim to the same fate as baseball? A regional sport tossed out in favor of some new up and coming sport. A sport (with the exception of South Korea) that is totally dominated by one continent during Olympic competitions? A sport like wrestling with its share of problems in recent years; questionable doping controls and allegations of match fixing?

Answer: Handball’s safe and here’s why:

1) Europe is made up of roughly 50 countries and it dominates the IOC. It’s common practice to compare the U.S. to Europe for a number of reasons. They have a similar population, similar economies and both have a significant role in world affairs. If you were to combine all of the countries into one United States of Europe you would essentially have a counterbalance to the U.S. But, that isn’t happening anytime soon.

Sometimes, it’s good to be the big dog and throw your weight around. In particular, the economy of scale that the U.S. presents is a big reason why everyone in the world watches American movies and listens to American music. And when you present the world’s largest market for goods and services generally everyone is interested in grabbing a portion of that market share.

Sometimes, however, it’s not so good, and in many diplomatic circumstances the big dog can get outmaneuvered by a pack of smaller dogs. And while the IOC is not a one country, one vote organization like the UN, there is a natural tendency to not let any one country have too many IOC voting members. For sure, there is still some skewed representation, but the membership is spread around. If the U.S. had somehow evolved into a patchwork of 50 nations (instead of states) with California and Texas competing under separate flags at the Olympics it’s probably safe to say that the IOC representation for that patchwork of nations would be far greater than the 4 IOC members the U.S. currently haves. But, the U.S. is not about to split up into multiple nations anytime soon and with over half of the IOC members being from Europe it’s far less likely that a European sport will get tossed out.

2) Other sports are more vulnerable. By almost any practical measure sports such as modern pentathlon and field hockey are more ripe for picking off the Olympic Program. In terms of team sports field hockey (particularly men’s field hockey) is clearly more unpopular. If it’s decided that a team sport needs to go because of the larger footprint (e.g. the number of athletes involved) it’s hard not to see that sport going first.

3) Friends in high places. With a German, Thomas Bach, at the head of the IOC, it’s hard to see handball leaving the Olympic Program. Additionally, the reported power broker, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah of Kuwait is a fan of the sport even if that fandom might be viewed unfavorably due to his involvement in the controversial 2008 Olympic qualification match between Kuwait and South Korea. With those individuals holding considerable power and influence it’s hard to see them allowing handball to suffer the fate of wrestling or baseball.

Safe, but be prepared

While handball appears to be in a safe zone it should be kept in mind that few would have thought the sport of wrestling was in any danger not too long ago. Reportedly, a re-evaluation of the Olympic sports program is high on the agenda of new IOC President Bach. And, the process to add a new sport failed to add one, so that will surely be looked at as well. Shiekh Ahmad was even quoted recently stating, that the criteria for a sport’s consideration needs to be clearly defined. Let’s hope that this is indeed the case and that the IHF places as a top priority making sure that handball scores high in that criteria. For rest assured while handball right now may be primarily just a European sport the Olympics is the absolute best vehicle for making the sport truly global. And while it might be a low risk that handball could be booted from the Olympics, the consequences of that low risk happening would be totally devastating to the sport’s chances for growth.

BoD Election Results: Choi and Agoston Edge Rot in Low Turnout

Posted on September 18, 2013 by John Ryan

The official results are in for the recent election to determine the 2 new “General Membership” seats on the 9 member USA Team Handball Board of Directors. Former National Team player Jennie Choi and Denver Team Handball Coach/Player, Attila Agoston edged Minnesota Team Handball organizer Craig Rot.

85 valid ballots from USA Team Handball members were received by the USOC Audit Team and each voter had to rank all 3 candidates in order of preference. For each ballot the candidate that was ranked first received 3 points, the candidate ranked second received 2 points and the third place candidate received 1 point.

The overall point total for the 3 candidates was

Jennie Choi: 176 points (34.51% of overall points awarded)
Attila Agoston: 175 points (34.31% of overall points awarded)
Craig Rot: 159 points (31.18% of overall points awarded)

With the ranking system used for voting it’s possible that as few as 9 additional voters supporting Craig Rot could have tipped the scales in his direction.

Commentary: Low turnout is a reminder of sport’s low profile

Only 85 out of a roughly 1,000 members of USA Team Handball bothered to cast a ballot in this election. A less than onerous process (print, scan and email a ballot) that took me roughly 5 minutes to complete. Perhaps the low turnout can be chalked up to the quality of the candidates and an assessment by members that each of the candidates were qualified and would be capable board directors. Certainly, that was my assessment when I found out who the candidates were and it was also my assessment after I had the opportunity to chat with each of them. That being said I was still able to pick a preference even if I wasn’t overly concerned with the outcome.

Regardless of the reason for apathy there is no getting around the fact that 85 voters is a paltry number and a stark reminder of the low profile this sport has in this country. At different points in time I’ve reflected on just how low a profile. In this piece written last year I assessed that there were maybe only around 300 hard core fans in the U.S. Certainly, there are a number of ways to demographically look at the sport in this country and depending on how you want to define fandom you can edge that number up. For sure, thousands of Americans saw the sport on TV during the Olympics and liked what they saw. Federation membership is also on the upswing with over a 1,000 dues paying members, many of them youth players. A low number, but better than 300 or so it was just a few years ago.

In remains to be seen as to whether this low turnout is just a blip on the road to the sport’s greater awareness in this country. With one of the two board members just serving a two year term, there should be another election in a couple of years. With gains in overall membership the voter turnout should increase. Additionally, two years from now one can anticipate that it will be more clear as to what Federation plans and programs are in place and executing. Instead of dealing with hypotheticals there will be reality and a greater likelihood for candidates with differing viewpoints. Yes, some mild controversy to get voters energized never hurts voter turnout.

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.

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.

NBC promotes English soccer in a big way; When will Team Handball get the same treatment?

Posted on August 12, 2013 by John Ryan

American Football Coach Lasso has some trouble adapting to the English Premier League. Wonder how he’d do coaching the German Bundesliga. “Stop! That’s traveling; you only get two steps… Oh, you get 3 steps. This is better than the NBA.”

If you’re living in the U.S. you’ve probably seen the ubiquitous promotion by the NBC network for the English Premier League (EPL). The commercials featuring comedian Jason Sudeikis as American Football Coach Ted Lasso taking over Tottenham Hotspurs are hilarious. If you’ve just seen the short 30 second spot it’s worth checking out the long version: Link

While it may seem only natural to a European that the world’s most popular sport is readily available for television viewer consumption in the U.S. if you’ve lived here for a while you know just how far soccer has come in the U.S. 30 years ago there was virtually no soccer on TV. 21 years ago it was a big deal when a few World Cup matches were shown live on TV. Around 10 years ago specialty cable channels like the Fox Soccer Channel and Gol TV became available for the die-hard fan willing to pay a little extra. And now today we have a major over the air network (NBC) aggressively promoting the sport in an attempt to bring in new fans.

NBC paid $250 Million for the EPL rights for the next 3 years. That’s right an American network willing to pay very good money for a foreign professional club league with very few American players. This contract surprised a lot of industry observers and clearly signals that the sport has arrived in this country. Team Handball has made some inroads with beIN Sport’s broadcast of the EHF Champions League last season being a good sign hopefully of things to come. Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before we see Coach Lasso taking the reins at SG Flensburg.

Auburn Residency Programs: Some answers from CEO Matt Van Houten

Posted on August 10, 2013 by John Ryan

CEO Matt Van Houten at his relatively spartan office

CEO Matt Van Houten at his office in Colorado Springs

Yesterday, I sat down with USA Team Handball CEO, Matt Van Houten to discuss the agreement with Auburn University to start a National Team Residency Program. We covered several topics, but mostly focused on the process related questions that I had posed in a previous posting. Here’s a summary of what we discussed.

Board of Director involvement with the decision

The two Athletes Advisory Council Board Members, Tomuke Ebuwei and David Thompson have been engaged and are supportive of the decision to proceed with a residency program at Auburn. The other two current Board Members, David Palmer and Tom Zelenovic, have been less engaged and he is uncertain as to where they might stand. Van Houten also indicated that while he would prefer to have a fully constituted Board or Directors in place to review and approve the Residency Program agreement with Auburn that he had no plans to wait for this to happen. As CEO he indicated that he will sign the agreement and made it clear that he is confident that this is the right decision for USA Team Handball.

Consideration of other potential candidates

When asked about whether any other universities or potential Olympic host cities had been contacted he indicated that none had and that there were no plans for an open solicitation to determine whether there might be other interested parties. In short, it was his assessment that the Auburn deal was a good one and unlikely to be matched by another university. He also indicated that while there were benefits to a potential arrangement with a USA candidate host city for the Olympics that this was still at least a year away and that he did not want to wait for this hypothetical possibility.

7 Year Commitment

Van Houten indicated that a 7 year commitment from both Auburn and USATH was necessary to give the Residency Programs a chance to flourish. He noted that it was his assessment that qualifying for the 2016 Olympics would be challenging, but that the program would lay the groundwork for more realistic chances for 2020. He also anticipates that the formal agreement will have “out clauses” for either side to withdraw from their commitment, but doing so would have penalties.

Documentation of Residency Program plans

In terms of documentation supporting the decision to proceed with a Residency Program he cited the High Performance Plan (HPP) which was developed last year although he is not certain as to whether it had been formally approved by the Board. The HPP is not posted on the Federation website, but this is consistent with the practice followed by other National Governing Bodies such as USA Swimming, USA Volleyball, etc. (Note: I requested and have received a copy of the HPP.) In terms of documentation detailing specific requirements for a Residency Program he indicated that some top level internal documentation had been developed, but that there was no formal evaluation criteria that was used to grade a proposal from Auburn. Instead the development of the Auburn Residency Program plan has been developed through bi-lateral communication between USATH and Auburn.

The High Performance Team and perceptions of bias

Van Houten indicated that the possibility of perceptions of bias exists, but noted that I am the only individual who has expressed any concern. From his perspective he is certain that there is no actual bias that would cloud the judgment of the High Performance Team (High Performance Director, Dave Gascon, Technical Director, Mariusz Wartalowicz, Men’s coach, Javier Garcia Cuesta and Women’s Coach Christian Latulippe. He further noted that the National Team coaches had been signed to 3 year contracts and would continue to be paid regardless of whether there was a Residency Program or not. He also has full confidence in this team and does not see any need for additional involvement from the Board or others in the day to day development of the Residency Programs.

My overall impression

As you might expect, I strongly disagree with the decision to start a 7 year Residency Program without conducting a wider search and getting approval from the Board of Directors. I also continue to be dissatisfied with the development of an HPP without review and comment from the committees that were stood up at the 2011 Strategic Planning Conference. I appreciated, however, the opportunity to express my opinions candidly even if my arguments didn’t sway CEO Van Houten’s opinion.

Auburn Residency Programs: A great day for USA Team Handball? Maybe, but I’ve got a few questions

Posted on August 8, 2013 by John Ryan

USA Team Handball and Auburn University agree to a seven year National Team Residency Program. Did USA Team Handball have a structured and transparent process for reaching this decision?

Yesterday, USA Team Handball formally announced an agreement in principle between USA Team Handball and Auburn University to create a long-term residency program for both the Men’s and Women’s National Teams. The posting trumpeted the genesis of how the deal came to fruition and how USA National Teams will improve and become formidable opponents in as little as 18 months. I certainly don’t doubt that U.S. teams will soon show improvement. Results have been pretty dismal lately and a structured training program can’t help but produce better results. It’s debatable as to how long it will take till the U.S. can improve to the point that it can qualify for an Olympics or even a World Championship, but undoubtedly we’re going to get better.

Of course, there are other ways of improving national team performance even if they don’t offer a quick solution. It’s no secret that I have been very skeptical as to the implementation of Residency Programs. In a series of commentaries I identified some problems with the basic concept and questioned whether it was the right time to start such a program. Setting aside skepticism in the last essay I highlighted how USA Team Handball’s strategic planning had become flawed and made a plea to right the ship, by developing a true strategic plan for USA Team Handball with clearly articulated goals/objectives and input from the Board, Committees and the USA Team Handball community

From the looks of the recent Federation announcement that plea has fallen on deaf ears as it appears that the Federation has decided to move out and move quickly. From the outside looking in, it appears that USA Team Handball has selected to cast its lot with Auburn without fully considering other options. Moreover, it appears that there has been little Board involvement and that the team involved in this selection could be perceived as biased toward starting a program as soon as possible. (Note, the emphasis on the word, perceived.) Perhaps, however, I’m jumping the gun a bit. Below are some questions that I’ve sent USA Team Handball CEO, Matt Van Houten. I’ll post the answers when I get them.

– Previous discussion (23:30 in the podcast) and email traffic with you indicated that you would involve the BoD with a strategic decision like establishing a Residency Program. How has each of the 4 current board members been involved with the decision to engage Auburn?

– Was there any though to delaying the start of a search process until a fully constituted 9 member Board of Directors was is place?

– The announcement indicates that there has been an “agreement in principle” with a formal agreement soon to be completed. When do you anticipate the agreement going final?

– Will the formal agreement be made only after a fully constituted board is in place?

– Are you concerned that you may be putting the Board in the position of immediately approving a fait accompli? In other words, shouldn’t the new members who will be responsible for this decision have played a greater role in its conception?

– Where is the Board decision to immediately pursue a Residency Program documented?

– What requirements were identified for the Residency Program?

– What evaluation criteria were identified for the Residency Program?

– There doesn’t appear to have been any public announcement soliciting or requesting input from potential candidates. Why wasn’t this done?

– Were any other colleges or universities contacted regarding the establishment of a Residency Program?

– The USOC is in the process of selecting a USA candidate host city for the 2024 Olympic Games with that city being selected next year. Has there been any discussion with candidate cities regarding the establishment of a Residency Program?

– Establishing a Residency Program in the U.S. city that is selected could have significant benefits. Was there any consideration to delaying a Residency Program search to fully engage the U.S. city that is selected?

– The Director of the High Performance, Dave Gascon, has a daughter who is a veteran member of the U.S. Women’s National Team. Are you concerned that some could perceive him as somewhat biased in favor of quickly establishing a Residency Program?

– The Men’s and Women’s coaches obviously are very interested in establishing a Residency Program to improve near term National Team performance. Are you concerned that they may also be perceived as biased towards quickly establishing a Residency Program?

– Was there any thought to establishing an independent committee consisting of Board Members and other select individuals to oversee engagement with Auburn to remove any perceptions of bias?

– Have there been any other individuals evaluating the Auburn proposal and advising the High Performance Team? If so, has there been any thought to publicly identifying and formalizing their role in the process.

– The announcement indicates a 7 year commitment to Auburn. How was it determined that a 7 year commitment was in the best interest of USATH?

– Establishing a Residency Program will consume significant manpower and resources. Are you concerned that other USATH efforts such as grass roots programs will be significantly impacted?