Perhaps one of the most frustrating and comical experiences I have ever had is trying to explain how USA sporting structures work to anyone who wasn’t born and raised in the U.S. I have experienced this multiple times, spoken for hours and hours on this topic… and, time and time again, I have totally failed to educate people.
There are a number of reasons for this, but principally it’s because the U.S. system which closely integrates sports with schools and colleges is radically different from how the rest of the world organizes its sports. It’s not just a little different… it’s totally different. And, while many people grasp that there are differences, they don’t fully comprehend what those differences mean when it comes to developing sports like handball in the U.S. And, as people are want to do… they just plow ahead often trying to recreate what they are familiar with in the U.S. The thinking goes… “We’ll just tweak things a little bit to adjust how sports in the U.S. are a little bit different.”
Sorry, that approach hasn’t worked… and, it’s not going to work. It doesn’t mean the U.S. system for organizing sports is better. In fact, having lived in France for 5 years, I will say something you won’t hear an American say very often: I personally think the “Rest of World” sports model is superior to the American sports model. If I was supreme ruler of the United States I would decree that it be adopted immediately, lock, stock and barrel. Alas, I’m not the supreme ruler of the United States and that’s not going to happen. We’re mostly stuck with our system even if there are some cracks starting to appear in our collegiate model.
So, that means if you weren’t born and raised in the U.S. and want to grow a sport like handball in the U.S., it means you better get educated on how sports are organized in the U.S. And, conversely, if you were born and raised in the U.S. and are trying to figure out why expats think the way they do… well, it would be a good idea to better understand where they’re coming from.
I’m not going to try and explain everything here in this one post. But, what I will share is an excellent primer on how the U.S. and the “Rest of the World” organize their sports and the major economic consequences those difference have for athletes, clubs and fans.
Freakonomics Tackles Promotion/Relegation and other Topics
This education comes courtesy of the Freakonomics Podcast. In a two parter seriers, “The Merger you Never Knew you Wanted” they propose a merger of NCAA collegiate football and the NFL. This merger is not practical for a number of reasons, but the exercise of assessing how feasible it would be they really to a great job of breaking down just how the U.S. and “rest of world” sports models are different.
Part 1: The Merger you Never Knew you Wanted WebsiteYoutube
Part 2: Should Ohio State (and Michigan, and Clemson) Join the N.F.L.? WebsiteYouTube
Here are some of the ramifications of the different models that they address:
How ridiculously unfair to athletes the U.S. Collegiate model was and to a certain extent still is
How Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) might hurt non revenue NCAA sports
How promotion and relegation provides more meaning to competition across the board
How the U.S. closed system with a limited number of franchines for pro sports impacts the number of professional athletes in the U.S. and the salaries for those athletes
How the U.S. closed system for pro sports makes minor leagues irrelevant
Why top European clubs look on with envy at the U.S. model and would like to copy aspects of it.
(In my re-imagined “Chase your Dreams” project, Lewis Howes uses his platform to find new crossover women athletes and then chronicles their efforts to make the 2028 Olympic Team)
I’ve mostly been amused by this quixotic quest. Unrealistic, but mostly harmless and great publicity for our sport. I’m also pleased to see that his personal quest has now been expanded to include support to other athletes seeking to make the 28 Olympic Team.
An Unrealistic Quixotic Quest
So why do I assess this quest to be quixotic? Unrealistic with a very low likelihood of success?
First, let’s take a closer look at his athletic resume. A resume that is solid, but one that has been amplified considerably by very effective marketing. Lewis Howes is an NCAA Football record holder, was an NCAA All American in both football and track & field and played professional football. Those are all true statements, and I think some people immediately paint a picture of a D1 career at some prominent college followed by a promising NFL career cut short by injury. Not quite… Lewis Howes did play football in college, but he mostly played at the Division 3 level, the 4th and lowest level of college football. Athletes receive no scholarships and everyone plays simply for the love of the game. And, while he did play professionally after college it was with the Tennessee Valley Vipers of the AF2, which was actually a minor league under the now defunct Arena Football League.
While this context makes the resume less impressive it would also be very wrong to dismiss these achievements. In particular, it would seem that Howes was at least a D2 level athlete competing against D3 competition. In fact, one little noted aspect of his athletic resume was his 2001 Freshman season at D2 Southwest Minnesota St where he saw very limited playing time. I’m guessing he received a partial scholarship to attend college there and, for one reason or another, it didn’t work out. And, with the transfer rules at the time athletes either had to sit out a year or drop to a lower division which he did with a transfer to D3 Principia College in Ohio. His football record of 17 receptions for 418 yards in a game still stands and is a monster game at any level. Incidentally, this game wasn’t a blowout. In fact, his team lost 42-35. He played two years at Principia and then two years at Capital College, a more established and competitive D3 program. It’s hard to really know, but I suspect he was the type of player that in today’s simpler transfer framework could have received offers to transfer to a D2 or even a lower level D1 program. 418 receiving yards in a game?… There are coaches that would definitely take a look see at an athlete that did that.
And while Arena Football is a long, long way from the NFL, if you’ve ever attended a game in person you’ll quickly realize that it’s for real, competitive football. There were quite a few good college football players who didn’t make the NFL so it was still pretty tough to make an Arena Football roster. And, for a D3 athlete to make it against athletes from bigger schools is a significant achievement.
USA Team Handball: A Long History of Decent Athletes Giving Handball a Try
So, what I’m saying here? All, I’m saying is like many others before him, Lewis Howes is a decent American athlete who decided to give handball a try after running out of options in his primary sport. This reality has been true for EVERY SINGLE STATESIDE AMERICAN ATHLETE since the sport was introduced in this country. Yes, 100%… every athlete born and raised in the U.S. has only started to seriously play handball after their other sporting careers have played out. This happens at different points. Post college, post high school, heck, even in high school, now. But it’s what’s happened… EVERY SINGLE TIME.
There is no shame in that and, as far as I’m concerned, the more the merrier. But, we want to get those ahtletes at age 22… not age 42. And, while Howes has played handball before for the U.S. National Team he did so during one of the weaker eras in our history. An era where there was no residency program and only limited utilization of our dual citizen athlete pool. The teams of that era were so weak… there was plenty of room for a good athlete like Howes with very limited handball experience to make a U.S. roster. I’m pretty sure that if Howes, in his 20s had participated in a residency program like the one I participated in the 1990s that he would have had a very good chance of making the 1996 Olympic team. He wouldn’t have been a “lock” to make it, but he would competed well for one of the coveted roster spots.
Making the 2028 Olympic Team?
I don’t know for sure, but I think Howes’ previous experience with the National team is clouding his perception of what he’s capable of achieving. He was one of the better athletes and overall the technical handball skills of those U.S. teams he played were fairly low. I suspect that he assessed (correctly, in my opinion) that if he truly focused on his development as a handball player in a quality training atmosphere that he would eventually be one of the best players, maybe even the best player on the team.
Alas, this is not a weaker era for the U.S. Men’s National Team and Lewis Howes is now 42 years old. Our current Men’s National Team would clobber the teams he played for by around 20 goals. In terms of raw athletic talent the athletes on the current roster are similar to the raw talent he had in his 20s. Maybe, his 20 something athletic prowess is slightly better in some areas, but, for sure, no one on the team would be totally outclassed athletically. In terms of technical handball skills… every single athlete on the team has him beat by a considerable margin. And, this goes pretty far down on the depth chart.
And, he’s 42 years old. I saw him play for the California Eagles at the NACHC Club Championships in Las Vegas this summer. He’s a decent 42 year old player, but nothing special. And, against quicker, younger, elite competition that knows how to play handball he’s going to struggle. Multiple times I saw him get beat 1v1. Side to side movement declines significantly as one ages… I know this from personal experience. There’s no shame in that… It happens to everyone.
A “Mostly” Harmlesss Quest, but…Some Cause for Concern
The commonly quoted axiom that almost always applies to handball in the U.S. is that “Any publicity is good publicity.” Whether it’s Jake Cutler or Pat McAffee talking nonsense about how their boys who’ve never played the sport can win an Olympic gold medal it gets people talking about the sport of handball and by default introducing the sport to more people in this country.
Howes’ positive messages regarding his love of handball are great and he’s gotten people, most of whom know next to nothing about the the sport to donate money. That’s awesome! Kind of amazing, when you think about it.
But, at the same time he has said a few things in interviews that I strongly disagree with and give me some concern. In this clip from his interview on “The Spin” he talks about how his leadership could help bring a team of stateside and overseas Americans together. Having observed the U.S. team and chatted with players and coaches for the past 6 years I would assess this as a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Even more troubling were some comments he made on a podcast with NYC’s Bini Moustafa during the pandemic where he highlighted how he first made the U.S. National Team via his networking skills. Does he think he can do it again with a modified, but similar campaign? That USA Team Handball can be persuaded to leave one roster spot for an aging, but still decent athlete that can provide leadership, marketing and exposure for the sport.
I’d like to think that the current USA Team Handball Coaching/Management team would stand firmly in the way of such a possibility. That roster decisions will simply be a matter that will be decided by athlete merit, but with everything that has taken place in the past year… I’ve got my doubts.
Yes, I was shaking my head and sighing as I typed the last sentence. Let’s move on to some real positive aspects of this effort and a proposed reboot that could really make a difference.
Suppporting the Dreams of Other Athletes and a Suggested Pivot to Focus on Women’s Athlete Development
While folks might be skeptical of a 42 year old athlete chasing their dreams everyone should get behind an effort that seeks to do the same for other athletes. As oulined in the GoFundMe page the club’s mission is to “provide athletes of all ages—youth, juniors, men, and women—a place to learn, play, and improve their handball skills.” And, the money being raised will be use to provide facilities, coaching, equipment and travel. I’m not very excited about paying for athlete travel costs, but I’m certainly down with the aim to restore Los Angeles as a premier hub for handball excellence. The Olympics are coming to town in 3 years. It just makes sense and we should already be doing something like this.
And, I’ll tell you something… If Lewis Howes was Linda Howes, a 42 year old female athlete with a similar pedigree… I’d still be skeptical about her Chase Your Dreams project, but I wouldn’t write it off. The current talent level on the U.S. Women’s National Team is such that a great athlete, even at age 42, with proper training could very quickly find a roster spot.
But, LA THC and Lewis Howes don’t have to go after women in their 40s and 30s. They could scour the LA basin for top athletes in their early 20s. Howes could use his social media platforms (10M across IG, X and Facebook) to get the word out. And, the message, “of train to be an Handball Olympian with me in LA” would not be a car salesmanlike “what am I not being told here?” situation. No, it would be 100% legit. He could even shift his docuseries to focus on these new women athletes. From their first practice in LA, to their training in Europe, to their first national team appearance and on to the Olympic Games. Maybe even use his marketing acumen to turn a youtube show into a reality show on a major platform for a broader audience.
I don’t think LA has even fielded a Women’s team for several years, but with the right focus and resources, I think they could win a National Title as early as next spring. Heck, the core of the 2028 Olympic Team could eventually come from an LA based program. This may not be the personal dream Lewis Howes envisioned, but it’s still a rewarding one.
From personal experience, I saw my own Olympic dreams fall short, but I took some solace in being a part of another athlete’s (Dave DeGraaf, 96 Olympian) journey to reach their dreams. And, that was just a supporting role for one athlete. Lewis Howes is not going to be an Olympian, but he could be the catalyst directly responsible for fielding a large chunk of our Women’s Olympic Team… He really could and, if he did so, it would truly be “Greatness.”
“As many of you know, membership rates have changed over the years historically at $70, later reduced to $35. While that reduction helped lower barriers to participation, it is no longer sustainable. At $35, we do not cover even the essential costs associated with each member, including pro rata expenses for facility and accident insurance, SafeSport compliance, and administrative support.
After careful review, the Board has approved a new membership rate of $55, which better reflects the real costs of maintaining a safe, compliant, and effective environment for our athletes and programs, and does so without passing along costs of USATH’s broader operations & overhead to our members.
While this adjustment is within the Board’s authority and responsibility, it is important to note that it was informed by broader analysis of costs and operations, and made with my full recommendation as well. We understand there has been much discussion and concern in the community about this change.”
The missing context? Well, let’s break down the first two sentences of the letter
“As many of you know, membership rates have changed over the years“: As someone who has paid dues off and on since 1987 I can assure you that is very much a true statement. My recollection is that for many years it was gradual and almost always upward… $5 here, 10 there. The primary reason for the increases? Well, the economic term is inflation.
“historically at $70,”: Using the Internet Wayback machine I was able to track how dues have changed since 2012. Adult dues, have indeed been $70 since at least 2012, but there was 3 year period (2016-18) whereby clubs received a $15 rebate for each affiliated athlete, so, that sort of lowered dues to $55. With collegiate dues the picture is more convoluted as dues went from $35 to $50 (with a $10 rebate), then the rebate went away and then in 2021, the college rate went away entirely.
“later reduced to $35.”: The appropriate reaction here is… “Holy missing context, Batman! What on earth happened that caused USA Team Handball to suddenly decide that a dramatic 50% reduction in dues from $70 to $35 was warranted?
“While that reduction helped lower barriers to participation“: This next sentence implies this reduction was simply a strategy to increase participation. To entice people who weren’t playing handball because of the $70 yearly fee, but would play if the fee was just $35/year. And, arguably it also implies that this lowering of barriers actually led to significantly more participation. I’ll argue in greater detail below that both of these implications are wrong. Dues were not cut in half to lower barriers to participation and even if that was the intent… it didn’t result in significantly greater participation.
“it is no longer sustainable.“: Sustainable is defined as “able to continue over a period of time”: If one truly wants to set a dues price that is “sustainable” the logical course of action is to set a price that is above costs such that it can absorb price increases (principally due to inflation) for several years. One would have to see the financials, but I’m thinking that $35 was never realistically sustainable.
The Bad and Comical Optics: The Same Person is Responsible for the Largest Drop and Highest Increase in USA Team Handball Dues History:
So why did then USA Team Handball suddenly decide two years ago that a 50% cost reduction was the thing to do? Well, that would be entirely attributable to the short lived US Handball Union’s strategy in August 2023 to undercut USA Team Handball with a $35 membership fee. Handball athletes, like most people, are hesitant to change and uncertainty, but if you’re going to charge 50% less for something… that, just might be worth the risk. And, coupled with USA Team Handball’s painfully slow reaction (they matched the lower price in Nov 2023) to a new competitor it resulted in a disrupted season, with some competitions under the Union, some being run independently and just 2 events being sanctioned by USA Team Handball.
This portion of the “Sequence of Events” is discussed here. And, really if you haven’t watched the whole sequence and are looking for more context as to why we are in the state we are in now… you probably should find the time.
I guess one could view the Handball Union dues reduction strategy as simply a sound disruptive, business strategy. For sure, it wouldn’t be the first time a new business came online with a substantially lower price to siphon away customers from the legacy business. Competition is a good thing and helps keep prices low and service better.
The argument at the time was that USA Team Handball was not doing a very good job at organizing competition. In particular, many people were not pleased with the National Championships being held in Spokane two years in a row. And, that it was costing everyone way more than it should… hence the dramatically cheaper US Handball Union memberships dues price. I don’t think the Handball Union season (2023-24) was any better than the USA Team Handball season before it… but it sure was cheaper for the athletes. And, so was last season (2024-25).
And, now we get to the bad optics. Everyone is now being told that the two year experiment with $35 dues is suddenly no longer sustainable. And, the person (USA Team Handball, CEO Mike King) providing this new message of “no longer sustainable” is the very same person (US Handball Union, Exec Director Mike King) who convinced people two years ago to join the bargain, better and cheaper, only $35/year, US Handball Union. If you don’t understand how this is bad, even comical optics… I give up.
FYI folks… it was never sustainable from day 1. But, it sure was effective in getting some folks to buy into a scheme a couple of years ago. And, to be clear, I don’t really hold anything against a rank and file athlete deciding whether he wants to pay $35 or $70 to play handball. That’s a no-brainer. But, the higher up the food chain you go… Yeah, there’s some blame there. And, if you were a USA Team Handball board member and not asking some financial related questions prior to the “merger” of the US Handball Union and USA Team Handball… Well, if one reviews the Board Meeting Notes from the summer of 2024… you’ll note that some board members were more curious than others and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to guess how they voted in the infamous 3-2 vote that installed our current CEO.
The Already Committed do not Need Lower Barriers
Furthermore, the dues reduction did not result in a run on new memberships. Certainly, not for already committed handball playing athletes. No, all that did was put a little smile on the faces of a bunch of people who wouldn’t have thought twice about paying $70. Seriously, virtually every adult member who plays handball in the U.S. pays several hunded dollars a year to play handball. And, those travelling by plane 2-3 times a year are likely somewhere in the $1-2K range for their handball hobby. $35 is practically nothing in that context. Where it might possibly make sense is with new handball athletes, the bulk of whom are collegiate athletes.
At the end of the day… we are almost right back where we started from. Teams are still playing in the same weekend tournaments they were playing before the disruption. I actually like some of the recent reforms done for beach handball and NACHC Club Championship qualification… but, that could have been done without all the disruption.
Back to a College/Adult Price Split?
And, while dues are still less than what they were before ($55 instead of $70) don’t be surprised if this is just a temporary stop on the way to higher, more sustainable price. In fact, I would argue that USA Team Handball should actually go back to the $35/$70 split between the college and adult charge. Yes, I know that college students are adults, but having spent the last couple of weeks recruiting college students to try a new sport I would advocate charging them less… because they are more price conscious. So, I’m not sure whether the financials support it, but theoretically the money for an one rate ($55) vs two rates ($35-college and $70-adult) might not be too much different. Yes, let’s go back to 2015
Kudos to new Independent Board Member, Olga Chaikouskaya
Also worthy of mention: I suspect that the issue of bargain basement dues rate might never have even been addressed if not for new Board Member, Olga Chaikouskaya who also is on the audit committee. In the July 2 Board Meeting Minutes she brought the topic up.
I say this because the financial costs of a wide ranging operation like USA Team Handball don’t necessarily have to be fully alligned with revenue. Or, in other words the budget deficit associated with membership benefits could, and probably was being paid by revenues accrued elsewhere. Maybe our CEO was already aware of this disconnect and had brought it to the Audit Committee’s attention. Maybe…
Such pay Peter to pay Paul budgeting, if done to excess, can be problematic and such a maneuver by USA Rugby led to a lawsuit and played a role in that organization going bankrupt. Except in USA Rugby’s case it was the membership getting screwed over by the accounting switcheroo… not benefitting from it. Again, I’d have to see the financial data to make that assessment, but it’s good to know that at least one board member seems to already be asking the right questions.
Bad Optics. Does it even Matter anymore?
It’s all a bit bewildering to me. Whether it’s the yo-yo dues issue I’ve detailed here or the loss of Forum Club Handball (FCH) support to USA Player development or a lost World Championships Wild Card due to a convoluted hiring process for an interim Women’s coach or the best Men’s coach we’ve had in years departing on acrimonious terms or a Men’s coaching hiring with quid pro quo optics so bad it leads to a former European Handball Federation (EHF) President resigning from the IHF USA New Market Project it seemingly doesn’t matter… at least to some people anyway. Bewildering, but begrudgingly, though I have to admire the salesmanship. Folks that were up in arms over the previous CEO’s “incompetence” seemingly can look the other way at all the bad news that’s come afterwards as if it’s all no big deal. And, that’s not even factoring in what was essentially a lost season (23-24) where rival organizations led to very little being accomplished in what should have been a lot of promotion tied to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yes, it was all totally worth it… <sigh>
It even sort of reminds me a bit of Donald Trump’s claim that he could shoot someone on New York’s 5th Avenue and not lose his voters. I’m not a fan of our current President, but I’ve got to respect his ability to continuously sell his presidency to his unwavering base of support. And, yes I’m not a fan of our current CEO, but one has to respect the salesmanship. People that really should know better are apparently happy with everything that has taken place. That, my friends, is some uber salesmanship.
I just wish those skills were also bringing in more significant sponsorship. And, honestly, I’m pretty surprised it hasn’t yet. After all, if you can sell some folks who really care about handball that everything is A-OK, then selling our great sport to companies that want to be part of the LA 2028 Olympics should be a walk in the park.
In 2018, the IHF Council awarded the USA Men and Women wild card spots for 2025 and 2027 World Championships. This award was made to help the USA teams prepare for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The award, however, was not 100% guaranteed and included a vague caveat “provided that the USA National Teams have reached a certain performance level” that could be invoked to pull back the award. The first warning that this caveat would be used came on 27 March 2025 when an IHF annoucement awarding a wild card for China quietly omitted any mention of a wild card for the U.S. and was later confirmed on 12 May 2025 when the IHF awarded Croatia the 2nd available wild card for the 2025 World Championships.
While the U.S. Women’s National Team performance has been pretty low for several years it’s my opinion that the IHF decision to not award a wild card to the U.S. was ultimately triggered by a very questionable process to fire and hire a new Women’s Head Coach quickly before the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Champions this past April. This podcast (the 1st of 2 parts) breaks down how the hiring process unfolded and what I find questionable.
Here are some links to what was discussed:
Strategic Planning History
May 2013: Federation Planning: Right Idea, Flawed Execution: Time to Right the Ship: Link
August 2018: USA Team Handball Unveils it’s Strategic Plan: That a Really Good Step towards Bigger and Better Developments Link
October 2022: Strategic Planning Presentation to USA Team Handball Board of Directors: Link
17 February 2025: USA Team Handball announcement seeking Sr and Jr Women’s Head Coach: Link
17 February 2025: Coach Selection Process Procedures: Link
(Iowa. A place to grow up… absolutely; A place to visit… not so much)
Handball Coming to Iowa?
When I first heard that USA Team Handball was headed to Bettendorf, Iowa for its annual National Championships I burst out laughing. I spent the first 18 years of my life living on a farm in Iowa and while it was a great place to grow up, it’s nearly last on my list of places to visit, because there’s virtually no reason to ever visit Iowa unless you have family there. Don’t believe me? Check out this list of places to vist; it even includes my hometown, Brooklyn #7. Your closest option to Bettendorf will be the World’s Largest Truckstop #21)
It’s also generally not one of the easier places to get to. There are worse places, but I suspect there will be quite a few handball people flying to Chicago and then driving 2+ hours to get to Bettendorf.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of the catcalls and complaints that would have materialized if former CEO Martin Branick was still in charge and had announced that handball was coming to Iowa. Holy crap! There would have been a revolt and calls for his removal. You thought Spokane was bad…
Well, anyway, just something for everyone to contemplate while waiting in line for your rental car, driving the 2+ hours to Iowa, paying your tolls and staring out at the endless corn and soybean fields. Yes, plenty of time to contemplate life, how our handball world has improved and whether all the disruption of the past year has been worth it.
How Should we Decide the Location for our Handball National Championships?
But setting aside the merits of Spokane or Bettendorf the larger question is whether it even matters very much where we hold our National Championships. I think the answer to that question depends on what we or USA Team Handball is trying to accomplish with the National Championshps. Here are some goals/objectives I’ve heard postulated:
Provide particiants the best possible on court experience: Generally everyone likes to play their matches on a good full sized court. Good lighting, actual stands for viewing, working scoreboards, courts in one location are some of the features desired. Teraflex floors are a nice addition too.
Ease of travel for as many participants as possible: It’s impossible to make everyone happy, but typically having the national championships within easy driving distance to several clubs and next to a major airline hub makes travel easier
Minimize costs for participants: This is closely related to ease of travel, but not always. Sometimes having the championships at a location with cheap food/lodging can offset travel inconvenience. In particular, I think the cheapest nationals I ever attended was in 1988 in Marquette, Michigan. Very inconvenient to get to, but free room and board at Northern Michigan University which at the time was trying to broaden its training center bonafides.
Minimize costs for USA Team Handball: Renting a facility can be expensive, but this can sometimes be offset by deals to guarantee visitors. The downside is the deals tend to be in less desired locations.
Introduce handball to a new city/region: While generally not the highest priority bringing a championship to a new locale can spur development. The 2010 National Championships in Las Vegas were a major factor in getting a new club started there.
A “reward” for development efforts in a city/region: Again, this can be an add-on goal, but national championships in Minneapolis (2012) and Detroit (2020) (cancelled by COVID) are examples of this and can be a good opportunity to showcase the sport
Introduce the broader handball community to a new handball residency program location or hub of focused activity: In 1992 and 1993 the National Championshps were held in Philadelpia as kind of a warm up to the short lived residency program there. Several championships were also held in Atlanta in the 1990s as it became a major hub of handball eforts in conjunction with the 1996 Olympics. Originally there was talk of the 2025 National Championships being played in Charlote at the U.S. Performance Center which would be right out of the Philly playbook of the 90s.
Cost Trade Offs and Who Ends up Paying
One doesn’t have to think too long or hard to realize that some of these goals can be met at the same time. And, that some are in direct conflict with each other. In particular, there will almost always be a direct conflict with minimizing costs and providing the best possible experience. i.e., good experiences tend to cost more money. Not always the case, but generally the case.
Probably the biggest trade off relates to whatever deal USA Team Handball ends up making with a host city. I haven’t seen the numbers, but one can surely guess that less desirable locations charge less money and/or offer incentives. Most notably, the two year deal former CEO Ryan Johnson surely cut with Spokane was likely a good one and for a cash strapped NGB it looks better on the bottom line. But, then everyone had to travel to Spokane and that adds up. One would have to have greater insight to all the numbers, but I suspect that the cost savings was essentially paid by greater member travel costs.
Bettendorf by the Numbers
Here’s a rough assessment of how Bettendorf fits with the goals identified
Quality Venue. Sight unseen, the TBK Bank Sports Complex looks like a fine venue. One of the interesting developments of the past 10 years or so has been the addition of facilities like this all over the country.
Ease of Travel. Bettendorf is harder to get to, but not impossible. I was even surprised to see that there’s a direct flight option out of Denver. Others will like find it cheaper to fly to Chicago and drive. A few clubs that normally have to fly like Minnesota, Chicago, and Milwauke can even drive to Bettendorf
Minimize participant costs. Bettendorf is likely pretty reasonable in terms of lodging. As discussed flight and drive will add up for some folks
Minimize USA Team Handball cost. As discussed I suspect the Quad Cities cut a decent deal and with more and more facilities like the TBK Bank Sports Complex being built there’s more competition.
Introduce handball to a new region. See below
A reward for development efforts. See below
Introduce the handball community to a new handball hub. See below
The 50 year Iowa Handball Cicada
As far as I know my home state has been pretty much devoid of handball. In fact, the only handball played there that I know of was a U.S. Women’s National Team tryout held at Iowa State University in the 1970s. And, now in 2025 handball has returned like a 50 year periodical cicada. While it would be nice if a 3 day tournament ignited a new handball passion in the Quad Cities, I’ve been around long enough to know that is very unlikely. There might be a local TV news report and a few random passers-by at the TBK Bank facility, but that’s about it.
As most U.S. clubs are currently reliant on expats, the Quad Cities (population, 385K) is simply too small to realisitically support a handball club. And, the same is true for any city in Iowa. The largest metro area ( Des Moines, pop ~750K) is still too small. I also don’t think Iowa attracts very many immigrants from handball loving countries. Of course, a club not reliant on expats could conceivably get started from scratch, but that would be extremeley challenging. Realistically, the only two possiblities would be starting club teams at the two largest universities, Iowa and Iowa State, but as they are a bit geographically separated from other clubs that would also be challenging.
So… in all likelihood a little handball cicada swarm will hit Bettendorf for 3 days only to return x number of years later… hopefully, shorter than 50 years.
A Missing, Aspirational Goal?
One possible goal that might seem strange in its omittance would be to create the best possible fan experience. After all, it is a National Championship. Shouldn’t we be more concerned with putting on an entertaining show? Of course, that would assume there are actually any fans beyond the participants. Even friends and family members are typically lacking at a U.S. Handball National Championship.
Here are some reasons as to why fans are lacking:
Not a priority: Conducting a National Championships is a major operation with multiple moving parts. The focus is the participants and making sure the tournament runs smoothly
The Format (Too Many Teams): Our National Championships is an all comers event for anyone who wants to come. There are some good teams playing at a decent level, but there are also development teams and weekend warriors reliving their glory days. Everyone that wants to play handball should have the opportunity to do so, but maybe a National Championship should just be for the top teams.
The Format (Too Many Games in Too Little Time): Playing 5 matches over 3 days? Pro handball players in top physical condition complain loudly about playing 2 matches in 2 back to back days. All too often the Sunday championship matches feature two tired teams playing out a battle of attrition. It’s typically not good handball.
While it would be nice to solve this problem by just making the fan experience a priority and changing the format to a Final Four or some other fan friendly format, doing so won’t neccessarily solve this problem. Or, since we’re in Iowa, let’s quote Field of Dreams: “If you build it… They will come.”
And, here’s James Earl Jones end of movie monologue telling Kevin Costner that “People will come”
Sorry, that only works in the movies. It’s not so easy to artificially create demand. I’m not saying we shouldn’t put more priority on packaging our National Championships. Just saying that we should have tempered expectations.
That said.. if you’re intrested and have a little free time you could go and visit the actual Field of Dreams and one of Iowa’s biggest tourist sites. Just an hour and half drive from Bettendorf
(The analog scoreboard on Court 3 at College Nationals: Not electronic and missing some numbers)
As Usual: Spirited Competition
This past weekend, as I usually do, I attended the Collegiate Handball National Championships. The competition was spirited and didn’t disappoint. From my perspective here are a few notable highlights:
My alma mater, Air Force, defeated West Point in pool play for the first time in several years only to see West Point re-assert themselves in the knockout stages for yet another title. (17 in a row, now)
Meanwhile in women’s play, North Carolina knocked off West Point in the Gold Medal match to end the West Point women’s streak at 4 titles
In Men’s Division 2 play, a new side, Kentucky, ran through the tournament undefeated to take the title over Case-Western. It’s nice to see a new program do so well. And, a shout out to Josh Palmer of Colorado State who did a solid job as a newcomer GK playing for Case-Western. Maybe we’ll see the CSU Rams there next year.
Beyond the play on the court, though, there were some organizational challenges. Here’s a list of what I observed:
Court 3, which was only used on Friday night, didn’t have an electronic scoreboard so the match time was kept by phone and the score had to be kept with the rotating strips. (see photo)
Adding insult to injury the analog score strips were missing a one and a zero… hence the post-it note.
Referees weren’t always on time for match start… but, they were always found without too much delay
Volunteers for scorekeeping weren’t always available… hence my stepping in to the void on Friday night
The cameras for video streaming weren’t always set up for operation
And, when the cameras were set up, they weren’t always manned… hence my stepping in on several occasions
And, the matches were streamed online at some non-traditional website locations, but the price (free) was right
I saw a set of handball goals fall apart on a couple of occasions. Nothing major and nothing a wrench couldn’t fix
Same as it ever was
It’s been quite a few years since I organized a handball tournament, but I still remember what it’s like. And, if you’ve ever organized or even just attended a few handball tournaments, none of what I described should surprise you. Those sorts of things happen. Sometimes the event goes off without a hitch, but usually there are a few hiccups. And, then on occasion (like this past weekend) things add up and it can make the event look at times like a bit of a train wreck. However, in almost 40 years of observing handball tournaments, our handball community pretty much always finds a way to cross the finish line. There’s always complaining, but folks generally step in to help and right the ship. This has been true whether it was a tournament under the old US Team Handball Federation, USA Team Handball, the short lived US Handball Union or at independent events sanctioned by no one.
I’ll now take my 40 year timeline and zoom in on the last 3 seasons. The 2022-23 season organized under USA Team Handball CEO, Martin Branick, the 2023-24 season organized by US Handball Union Director, Michael King and the 2024-25 season organized by USA Team Handball CEO Michael King.
During those 3 seasons I attended a SoCal Beach Handball Championships, 3 Samala Cups in Colorado and 3 Collegiate National Handball Championships. And, I also watched quite a few matches online over the past 3 years. I don’t want to pretend like I was some IG inspector walking around with a clipboard meticulously grading organizational performance using carefully established criteria, but in my opinion there’s not a whole lot to separate the organizational standards of the past 3 years. If anything, last weekend’s college nationals puts this season below the other two seasons, but the sample size is still pretty small, and, as I highlighted previously sometimes things happen.
In very simple terms: Nothing has really changed and I don’t think there was much of a problem in the first place. Collectively, we know how to run a U.S. style weekend tournament. (Maybe, we should rethink whether we should be conducting so many weekend tournaments… but, that’s a commentary for another day.)
Was it all worth it?
So, if I’m a bit generous, and assess that nothing has changed organizationally, the rhetorical question is “Was it all worth it?” And, by “it” I’m referring to the whole crazy sequence of events from the creation of the US Handball Union to the unorthodox firing of Martin Branick and his immediate replacement with Michael King. And, of course, all the Board resignations and reputational damage that USA Team Handball garnered in the process. Well, the answer is so obvious it doesn’t even really need to be answered. I mean we’re talking some serious rationalization here, if you’re firmly in the “Yes, it absolutely was worth it” camp. Because 7 months into the new era… there’s not a whole lot to show for.
And, if you’re in the “Yes, eventually it will all make sense, but it will take some time” camp that blames the current situation on the challenges that were inherited let me clear up something for you. It’s true that any newcomer inherits the problems (and successes) of his predecessor. And, under normal hiring circumstances it’s reasonable to have to some sort of grace period before progress is expected. But, when one comes into a role under very abnormal circumstances… There really shouldn’t be any grace period. This is because the justification for blowing everything up is that things have gone totally to hell in a handbasket… and the newcomer is clearly going to be so much better that we can’t wait or be bothered with a normal hiring process. That any additional, self inflicted new challenges caused by the disruption will be small potatoes in the big scheme of things. Otherwise, you just wouldn’t risk taking such action. It just couldn’t possibly be worth it.
And, while we’re just talking about tournament organization here, if one believes the Board of Director Meeting Minutes from last year the whole US Handball Union situation was the catalyst that eventually led to 3.5 board members deciding to blow everything up. Or… maybe it was just ostensibly the reason given so that other changes could be made? Regardless… it all just has me shaking my head.
A Dismal (but not Surprising) Record; Does that Alone Justify Firing?
In terms of wins and losses the firing is certainly justifiable. In major competitions the U.S. Women compiled an 0-0-8 record. Yes, the Borsos era ended with the U.S. Women failing to win a single match in major competitions. I also don’t think a single match was won in friendly international matches, but perhaps there’s a win out there against some lower level club team. (Results of friendly matches were often never reported… a whole other issue I won’t delve into here.)
How can one possibly argue against sacking a coach with such a dismal record? Well, here goes: The USA women haven’t played a single match in the past four years where they were the better team on paper. In most cases they didn’t even have a decent chance for an upset. If you know anything about the sport of handball it’s very self-evident: The talent to effectively compete has simply not been available. It’s not even worthy of debate.
Go ahead, put Thorir Hergeirsson in charge of the U.S. Women if you want. Maybe he could have X’d and O’d a victory over Canada or Mexico at some point in the last four years, but I doubt it. Given the talent available the results are not surprising. And, unless there are some new dual citizen upgrades to the U.S. roster I suspect that we will very likely continue our losing streak in April.
If one defines “coaching” as taking the athletes you have available, forming them into a team and getting said team to perform to the best of its capabilities… then, in my opinion, Coach Borsos actually did a pretty decent job.
If, however, one expands the coaching role to include efforts to identify, evaluate, recruit and develop talent… then one might argue that it is indeed time for a coaching change.
Identifying, Evaluating, Recruiting and Developing Handball Athletes: How the U.S. is Different
Before I address the question as to how coaching applies to identifying, evaluating, recruiting and developing handball athletes it’s important to highlight how what might apply for a typical handball nation doesn’t quite fit for the U.S. and vice versa.
For a nation where handball is popular, the job in this regard, for the national team staff is much simpler. For the most part they don’t have to identify or find talent. That talent is readily available and their job is primarily one of evaluation or figuring out who has national team potential. Recruiting is also very limited. Occasionally, there may be some athlete who doesn’t want to play for the national team or perhaps some foreign national that needs to be persuaded to play for his adopted country, but it’s not commonplace. And, with a strong club system in place individual skill development is less neccessary so development focuses more on teaching athletes how to progress in a national team environment.
For a nation like the U.S. where handball is virtually unknown, however, recruiting is a more intensive effort. Primarily, this is because there are no real pipelines in place. And, because of this the U.S. has to identify, evaluate, recruit and develop athletes for alternative sources. For the U.S. the three primary cohorts are:
Dual Citizens: This cohort consists of American citizens that have lived most of their lives in nations where handball is popular. These athletes have to be found and then persuaded to play for the U.S. After they’ve been found and committed to play for the U.S., the U.S. then evaluates and develops these athletes much the way a European nation would.
Americans already playing handball in the U.S.: There aren’t a lot of Americans playing handball in the U.S., but there are some. These athletes can be evaluated much the way a European nation does, except that the talent pool is so small, it’s actually possible to evaluate every single handball athlete. Additionally, as the handball development is typically rudimentary it’s important to assess potential talent and to take into account that the age/skill level could be dramatically different from what one would expect in a handball nation.
Americans who have never played handball: This is perhaps the strangest cohort to someone from a handball nation. Needless to say… they are not doing this in Denmark and Germany. But, for many years this was the primary source for American handball athletes. And, to state the obvious… identifying, recruiting, evaluating and developing athletes like this requires a unique skillset. One that a typical handball coach, may or may not have.
Who’s in Charge of Finding and Developing Talent? And, do we have the Resources to Make it Happen?
So, I’ll now go back to my earlier statement: “If, however, one expands the coaching role to include efforts to identify, evaluate, recruit and develop talent… then one might argue that it is indeed time for a coaching change.” And, I’ll try to answer that statement as best as I can. And, it truly is, “best as I can” because I don’t think it’s ever been clearly defined who’s in charge of what. Or, as I wrote back in Oct, 2023, I think the lack of new talent is more of a “management” issue than it is a “coaching” issue.
Going back to the ancient history of when I played for the national team in the 1990s U.S. National Team coaches, especially the European ones, played little to no role in the finding and recruitment of athletes. They conducted tryouts and evaluated athletes for further development, but other members of the USA Team Handball staff did the legwork to bring those athletes in. Over time, particularly as resources dwindled, coaches became more engaged in recruiting efforts. They pretty much had to because if they didn’t do the recruiting they might not even have any athletes to coach.
More recently, USA Team Handball actually had a High Performance Manager, Krista Austin, on staff from 2021-23. Logically, recruiting was part of her job jar, but it’s not entirely clear what expectations were and how recruiting responsibilities were split with the coaching staff. And, when funding diminished in 2023 she left the organization and was never replaced.
Back to the Question at Hand: Does the Firing Make Sense?
I digress, so back to the question at hand. Assuming that coaching wasn’t the primary issue and that Coach Borsos is essentially being fired for failing to successfully identify, recruit, evaluate and develop new talent… One could make a very solid case that she has clearly failed in these areas. USA rosters have included teenagers that weren’t quite ready and aging veterans that should have been pushed out by new talents several years ago. Instead there have been very few new talents. And, none of them have been head turning, gifted athletes. With that lack of success, both in terms of results and recruitment, why not give someone else a try?
Well, here are a few reasons why one might say the firing wasn’t justified on recruiting grounds:
Did her job description clearly articulate recruiting responsibilities?
Is there some sort of documentation with recruiting performance expectations?
Was she given the resources to be a successful recruiter?
I don’t know for a fact… but, I’m guessing the answer to each of those questions is “no.” Perhaps during her tenure under three different CEOs there were some discussions pertaining to identifying, recruiting, evaluating and developing new talent. I sure hope there was. It seems there might have been.
Fledging efforts to expand the talent pool were conducted. U.S. based training camps were conducted. We even had a D2 basketball player with very little handball training play significant minutes at a NORCA Championship. But, this sort of thing was surely pretty new to Coach Borsos and being based in Europe made those sort of efforts challenging.
Ideally, discussions related to talent pool expansion should have taken place prior to hiring. And, requirements related to this skill set should have been articulated in the job announcement. Looking back, I suspect that those in charge observed the success Coach Hedin was having with the U.S. Men and decided it could be replicated… without understanding that the U.S. Women were not gifted the same dual citizen talent pool. And, that the ability to recruit new athletes might be the most important skill required for a U.S. Women’s Nationa Team coach.
Sometimes a Change is Needed
So to review:
Coach Borsos didn’t win a single match in major competitions… but, the U.S. was clearly the weaker team in every single match they played.
Coach Borsos had very little success in terms of recruiting new athletes… but, it’s unlikely she was hired to perform that challenging job and wasn’t given much in terms of resources to be a successful recruiter.
Or, to put in other terms:
Coach Borsos was very unsuccessful… but, it was mostly due to circumstances beyond her control.
In many ways it’s not really fair and not her fault. In my opinion, she was simply hired for a coaching situation that did not match her skillset. This was true the day she was hired and it’s still true four years later.
And, what is that coaching situation? Well, as I’ve alluded to, it’s the stark reality that our current talent pool of national team athletes is very thin and not very talented. If we want to field a competitive team at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles new talents are needed. The current talent pool will not get us there.
It’s still very unclear how the U.S. will tackle this challenge, but it will likely require some significant changes in how we manage and coach our U.S. Women’s National Team. And, if that’s the case we should indeed look to hire a coach to match that new coaching situtation.
But… do we know what that coaching situation will be? Do we have a plan for our Women’s National Team? Assuming the answers to those questions are “no” shouldn’t the U.S. first figure out what we want to do/can do?… And, then hire a coach to meet that need? I sure think so and will argue that case in a follow on commentary
The USA Men participated in their second straight World Championships this past January and finished in 26th place with 3 wins and 4 losses. At first glance this doesn’t look like a great tournament result. After all, at the 2023 World Championships the U.S. made the main round and finished in 20th place. But, while the end result was a lower overall ranking, the body of work this time was, in my opinion, clearly better. Here’s a look at how the U.S. did in all 7 matches.
Match by Match Review
Preliminary Round
Portugal – USA 30-21 (15-10): The outcome of this match was never in doubt, but the U.S. made the eventual 4th place Portuguese work the whole way.
Norway – USA 33-17 (13-7): This was clearly the worst U.S. performance of the tournament… But, after Norway lost their first match vs Brazil, was there any doubt that the hosts would do everyting in their power to right the ship and take out their frustration?
Brazil – USA 31-24 (10-12): The U.S. led at the half and the match was tied at 18-18 with twenty minutes left. A remarkable performance against a Brazil side that edged out both Norway and Sweden for a QF slot. While Brazil dominated the final twenty minutes playing a world top 8 team to a standstill for forty minutes was a great confidence booster. One that hopefully serves as a stepping stone to an eventual 60 minute result against a top side.
President’s Cup
USA – Japan 27-25 (15-13): While Japan was missing some key players many players on their roster had just played in the Olympics this past summer and had been part of Japan’s successful Asian qualification. Not a top European side, but an experienced side that had played some big matches. The U.S. trailed early, but came back and led most of the way. Most importantly, they took control of the match in crunch time.
USA – Cuba 27-26 (14-15): Against their continental rivals the U.S. played a subpar match and even fell behind 4 goals (15-19 early in the 2nd half. But, the U.S. didn’t panic and eventually took a 24-23 lead with 9 minutes. Again… the U.S. was the better team in crunch time. Poised, they found a way to win when they weren’t having their best day. And, that’s what confident sides do.
USA – Bahrain 30-28 (15-14): At the 2023 World Championships Bahrain defeated the U.S 32-27. The match was not a blowout, but Bahrain was clearly the better side. This time around the U.S. was the better team and (we have a theme here) the better team in crunch time.
25th Place (President’s Cup Title Match)
Poland – USA 24-22 (11-13) (10-8) (3-1) : Heading into this match the U.S. was a 7.5 goal underdog and the odds of an outright victory were 13-1 against. Poland is no longer a top European side, but their handball history is decidedly superior to the U.S. But, none of that mattered and the U.S. held a lead in the 54th minute only to see the match end in a regular time draw (21-21). The U.S. then came up short in the penalty shootout. Sure, I would have preferred a title, but all things considered, that’s a solid performance.
Overall Team Assessment
Over the course of two weeks the USA Men played 7 teams of varied experience and talent levels. We didn’t know it going into the tournament, but based on the final rankings of the teams participating, Group E (Portugal (4th), Brazil (7th), Norway (10th) and the USA (26th)) was the strongest Preliminary Group in the Tournament. And, then against peer nations in the President’s Cup, the U.S. won all three of their 3 group play matches and played to a draw in the President’s Cup final, only to lose on penalties.
Betting lines are by no means official, but it’s telling that the U.S. covered the goal handicap spread in 5 of their 7 matches, only failing to cover versus Norway and Cuba. And, in two cases, against Japan and Bahrain they won matches relatively comfortably agains teams they were expected to lose to by 3 or 4 goals. By these numbers, there is no debate… The U.S. repeatedly exceed expectations.
How did the U.S. do it? Well, here are some of the reasons that I think are behind the team’s success.
Solid defense: The U.S. gave up an average of 27.7 goals/match. The IHF doesn’t provide a handy ranking for this metric, but a quick review of match scores for the teams the U.S. played shows that the U.S. held their opponents to fewer goals than their average. While some of this might be attributable to the somewhat methodical U.S. offense, keep in mind that same offense also had it’s fair share of turnovers. In fact, if one takes out the resultant fast break goals, the U.S. set defense (dare, I say it?) approaches the defense played by some of the top teams. It approaches… it’s not quite there yet. But, if one is trying to understand how the U.S. was tied with Brazil with 20 minutes left… it’s good defense combined with fewer turnovers on offense.
And, the defense starts with a center block of Domagoj Srsen and Patrick Hueter with Drew Donlin and Paul Skorupa filling in with no real drop in performance. Yes, 4 big, physical guys that are largely interchangeable and familiar with each other’s play. Throw in Ian Hueter and Abou Fofana playing pretty good “2” defense as well and it’s very capable defense
Reliable wing scoring: I’ll be doing a more indepth position by position review, but right wing, Sean Corning and left wing, Sam Hoddersen provided consistent scoring both on the wing and fast breaks
Crunch time leadership: Center back 1a, Ian Hueter and center back 1b, Alex Chan kept the team poised in crunch time. Games the U.S. might have lost in the past due to mistakes, are now games we are winning.
A core group with several years of shared experiences: Back in 2018 at a PANAM Games qualifier, I saw a backcourt of Abou Fofana, Ian Hueter and Gary Hines make short work of a Canadian side that had beaten the U.S. a few months earlier. More players have been added and roles have changed, but a talented core group has now been together for several years… and, it shows. We aren’t the team that has to figure out how to play and work together a week before the tournament. We are the the team that already knows what to do.
When determining an overall grade for this U.S. team I guess one could simply say 26th out of 32 teams and think C-, at best. And, for sure, I would love for the U.S. to be a side that makes the Main Round, the Quarterfinals and play for medals. But, I think it’s more appropriate to take the talent level of the team into account and match it to expectations.
Overall, this is a team with some talented athletes. Competitive, pretty good athletes, but no individual athletes with the talent that makes them can’t miss, top club professionals. However, when you combine these individuals into a team, the sum is greater than the individual parts. And, it is why their performance repeatedly exceeded expectations and is a performance that I think deserves an A+ grade overall.
Coming up: I’ll provide a more indepth position by position review and I’ll also start looking ahead towards 2028.
Has the lack of information provided regarding a wild sequence of events been a brazen disregard of transparency or has it simply been the justifiable limits of information sharing?
The 85-10-5 Rule of Thumb
When you write about handball in the United States for nearly 20 years you learn a few things about where the sport is situated relative to all the other sports in this country. In terms of pecking order, team handball is very near the very bottom. Aside from our quadrennial increase in awareness due to the Olympics very few Americans care or even give a second thought about handball.
And, then, even within our very small community of handball devotees, the people who really care about the governance and handball politics of our sport is an even smaller number of people. Based on experience/observation, I would assess that of the 1,000 or so people who care about handball in this country around 85% could care less about who’s running the sport. They just want to play, coach, ref or watch. Their only question is typically, “Just tell me where to send my money.” Another 10%, if pushed, will engage some. Typically, this is a coach or team leader, that recognizes that the top level organization of the sport impacts what they are doing. They don’t like getting involved, but they understand that somebody on their team has to, to some extent. Essentially, they dip a toe in the water and then get out of that water as quickly as they can.
And, then there is the 5% that genuinely care about the politics and governance of the sport. They care about who is in charge of what and they care about what is planned in terms of grass roots development, national team performance, marketing efforts and other organizational matters. As to why they care, that answer varies. Sometimes it’s simply personal… they want to be in charge of something. Sometimes it’s out of frustration… they don’t like how things have been done and want to see changes. And, almost always… it’s because they are truly very passionate about the sport of handball.
So the 85-10-5 Rule of Thumb is:
85% don’t care about governance and politics at all and are very unlikely to to get involved.
10% care somewhat about governance and politics and they will get involved if they need to,
5% genuinely care about governance and politics and they get involved as much as they can.
So we could quibble about the percentages. Maybe it’s 80-10-10 or 90-8-2 or some other variation, but if you’ve been around awhile… you’re probably thinking that it’s a pretty accurate binning of our small community.
Can the 5% be Ignored?
If there are around 1,000 people who care about handball in the U.S. this means that only around 50 people are fully engaged in political/governance matters. Or to put it another way only around 50 people would really be interested in finding out more about something like the “sequence of events” sooner and in greater detail. Heck, I’ve even been told before that this number is even smaller and that I (John Ryan) am literally the only person that cares. I don’t think that’s quite true, but the number is small enough that a brazen total disregard for basic transparency has at times been a very effective strategy for USA Team Handball. Yes, if USA Team Handball wants to do something shady/unorthodox/questionable and not tell anyone about it… there’s a solid chance that no one will be the wiser. But… just because that’s an effective strategy… doesn’t make it right!
Outside Entities: Also Left in the Dark?
Beyond the small USA Handball Community there are also other players that probably have been left in the dark. The USOPC has been informed via grievances, but one wonders if the IHF and USA Team Handball’s largest sponsor, Verizon would also liked to have been fully informed as to what had been taking place. Certainly, one can speculate as to whether any lower level concern that those entities might have had regarding disputes between the Handball Union and USA Team Handball would have been easily trumped by higher concerns regarding an unorthodox “sequence of events” that was unfolding.
The Lack of Transparency
Here’s a chronicling… of some significant events that either have never been mentioned or were reported only long after they happened as a news items on the USA Team Handball website:
No mention whatsover regarding the multiple actions related to Board Member, Ebiye Udo-Udoma
His removal by the Athlete’s Advisory Council (AAC) and, in turn, his removal from the Board of Directors
The determination by the Judicial Committee that his removal was improper and his reinstatement to the Board
The determination by the Judicial Committe that decisions made in his absence were still valid
No mention whatsoever regarding the “sort of” merger between USA Team Handball and the US Handball Union? Or dissolution of the Union? (I’m still not sure what that was all about)
No mention whatsoever of Martin Branick’s removal from the CEO position and subsequent departure from the organization.
No mention whatsoever of Camille Nichol’s and Lawrence Taylor’s resignations from the Board of Directors
No mention whatsover of David Buckman’s resignation from the chair of the Nominating & Governance Committee
A Personal Breaking Point
As a pseudo-journalist and the de facto, unofficial lead for the “5 Percent” I’ll have to admit to some complacency in regards to all this. I had heard some rumors and had been told that it was a little messy, but I was somewhat resigned to the Board’s decisions.
And, then someone sent me Camille Nichol’s and David Buckman’s resignation letters. I don’t know either very well, but we’re all retired military and service academy graduates. Do not try and tell me that a retired 2 Star General and Colonel don’t know how to play in the sand box. That’s just silly and isn’t going to fly with me.
So, I reluctantly put on my investigative journalist hat and the more I found out, the more I was troubled by all that had happened and pretty upset with the secretive nature of it’s implementation.
Board Meeting Minutes (A Window of Transparency)
Board Meeting Minutes are often frustrating in that they usually tell only part of the story, but nevertheless they are typically the only source of official information as to what is taking place in terms of USA Team Handball matters. They’ve always been tucked away in a corner on the website and are typically quietly posted with no mention on the website or social media. Because of this I’ve gotten in the habit of periodically checking the USA website to see if any new minutes have been posted.
You might be “shocked” to learn that after former Board President Michael Wall’s resignation that Board Minutes were not posted for several months. And, that the availaiblity of video for the open portion of board meetings also quietly disappeared. As rumors that things were starting to get a “little messy” began popping up, I started to check the USA website more regularly and on 23 October I discovered that some Board Meeting Minutes had finally been posted. And, when they were later taken down I decided that it was time for a little sunshine so I posted them on the Team Handball News website. This then resulted in a request from the new CEO, Michael King to take some of them down due to their publishing via illegal behavior.
The Missing Minutes (What Changed?)
Here’s a table summarizing the Meeting Minutes in question:
There was no issue with 4 of the meeting minutes and these were left up on the Team Handball News website and posted on the USA Team Handball website (I’m not sure of the date, but I think it was in early November).
The minutes from the 10 July 2024 meeting have not been posted again by USA Team Handball. The stated purpose of the meeting was to afford US Handball Union leadership an opportunity to present its current situation and vision to members of the USATH board. They look like Meeting Minutes, but include this disclaimer on the bottom of each page: “Meeting minutes taken for the purpose of follow-up conversation – not intended for publication” I’m not sure why this is the case, but here’s one little interesting tidbit. The new, recently appointed USA Team Handball Independent Director, Andre Carter is listed in these minutes as part of the US Handball Union Leadership. That would seem to really stretch the definition of “independent” but, at this point why would anyone be surprised anymore.
The remaining 3 Meeting Minutes were eventually posted on the USA Team Handball website on 15 November, but not after undergoing some editing. This is concerning as it relates to the 8 August meeting minutes since they were formally approved by a Board motion at the 27 August meeting.
The nature of the changes fit broadly in to two categories:
Contractual dispute: Both the old and the new minutes discuss an ongoing contractual dispute. The old minutes mention the name of the company and provide more details. The new minutes omit the name of the company and are less specific in nature.
Naming of Board Members: The old minutes often used the first names of board members and indicated how board members voted on certain motions. The new minutes use last names and the record of how each board member voted has been replaced with a simple tally of the vote result.
In general, I’m fine with the changes that were made. In regards to the contractual dispute, the old minutes provided more detail than was necessary. Meeting minutes should also refer to people by their last names. For key votes of consequence it would certainly be preferable to know how Board Members voted, but I guess if there are privacy requirements that need to be followed it should be anonymous. I’m not sure what the requirments are exactly, but maybe a change to the bylaws is warranted to consider the possibility of making key votes public. I could be wrong, but it wouldn’t surprise me if most Board Members are totally comfortable with that. Finally, it goes without saying… don’t formally approve minutes and then change your mind. It’s bad form even if the reasons for changing said minutes are valid.
Red Herrings to Keep Info on the Down Low
I think most people are familiar with the concept of red herrings, which are intended to distract from what’s actually relevant. Contractual disputes and how people vote are of some interest, but they are pale in comparison to the wild “sequence of events” that had been taking place. A sequence of events that in it’s entirety could at best be described as unorthodox. And, at it’s worst described as Mickey Mouse dysfunctionality.
Maybe it’s possible to rationalize this “means” as absolutely necessary to getting to the desired “ends.” It seems like a real stretch, though, and it’s certainly a tough proposition to sell. So, if one can hide behind red herrings to keep the real story on the down low… well, that is very, very convenient. And, of course, that’s just for the Meeting Minutes. There was nothing preventing USA Team Handball from reporting more (actually anything) as to what had been going on. To deal with the uncomfortable explaining that comes with transparency.
But, doing so could very well have resulted in an early crash out of the sequence of events. Certainly, it would have made things very uncomfortable. Yes, for all intents and purposes secrecy seems to have become the chosen course of action. Because if all you care about is the end state, here’s the standard Machiavellian playbook to follow:
Keep all the bad information secret as long as possible. The fewer people that find out anything the better… because those people start asking questions and taking action
Minimize the amount of bad information that seeps out. If you can’t keep everything secret dribs and drabs of information are better than a total release. (Such a strategy didn’t work for Nixon, but it can work if the 80-15-5 rule applies.) If some people just know some of the story the notion of things being just a “little messy” is still sellable
Delay information release as long as possible. The more time that passes the better. This is especially true if everything can be normalized as quickly as possibly. Ideally it becomes a fait acompli where people might say, “WTF! That was really crazy, but everything seems OK now. I guess there’s no sense in rocking the boat.”
Is this what happened? Is what is still happening? Well, outward signs in terms of how information was mostly not shared the past few months mimics this playbook very closely. And, as the old saying goes if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… It’s probably a duck.
(The USA Team Handball By-Laws introductory paragraph on Independent Directors and the four Independent Directors that resigned from the Board)
A Little History Lesson
When I wrapped up the “Sequence of Events Video” I remarked how for oldtimers the current situation might feel a lot like the events of 2005-2006 that led to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s decision to decertify the U.S. Team Handball Federation (USTHF). So, I decided to do a little review of what happened way back when by digging into the Team Handball News archives. In doing so I re-remembered that the very first post on this website on January 2, 2006 and many of the posts in that timeframe covered the Board of Director divisions, the USOC investigation and ultimate decertification.
First of all, can I just highlight that that was almost 19 years ago. 19 years! There have been over 2,300 posts on this website since then. I’ve been writing and commenting about handball in this country a long time. And, it’s funny, but while some of the names have changed or moved on we’re still talking about many of the same issues and challenges. As, I said to Bjoern Brembs as we discussed the decertification in a very early podcast, “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.” And, again, that was 19 years ago…
However, there are a few things that have indeed changed for the better and one of those changes was an Olympic Committee requirement for National Governing Bodies (NGB) to have “Independent Directors” on their Boards of Directors. Because back in 2006 there was no such requirement. In fact, everyone on our Board was a handball person duly elected by the membership. Not just two members like today’s 9 member board… but all 24 members. (And, of course, that total number of board members was also silly and cumbersome, even if there also was a smaller Executive Committee that functioned more like the Board does today.)
As part of that first ever post I also had the two very first handball podcasts as I had interviewed representatives of the two board factions, Board President Mike Hurdle and Athlete’s Advisory Council Representative, Matt Van Houten. In both of the interviews the topic of independent directors was brought up, but we mostly focused on how these new independent directors would help in the all important (and still important) topic of fundraising.
But, another important role of these independent directors as the name, of course, implies is simply their independence. In theory, they can participate in board matters without the bias that comes simply from having been directly involved with the often fractured politics that is handball in the U.S.
Looking back at the situation in the 2005-2006 I’m pretty sure that if the Board had been composed of 44% Independent Directors (44% is 4/9 of our current board structure) that things would have not turned out the way they did with eventual decertification. That an impasse would have been resolved. I’m not sure exactly how it would have played out, but it would have been different.
Independent Directors (Sometimes in Name Only)
With the selection of the Dieter Esch group to become the new NGB for handball in 2008 the U.S. a new board structure with nine board members was adopted. From my notes at the 2008 summit there were to be nine board members with seven board members with business backgrounds contributing $50,000 each. Thanks, surely in part to the Great Recession, I don’t think this ever materialized and eventually the board structure adopted our current stucture with just four independent members.
I’d like to say that over time the Independent Directors have raised tons of money, but this clearly hasn’t been the case. Additionally, in some cases our Independent Directors weren’t very independent. They might have fit the definition outlined in Section 6.6 (B) of our By-Laws, but in practice some Independent Directors were actually very partisan in their views. In the 2018-19 timeframe board infighting eventually led to some direct engagement from the USOPC with the end result being the hiring of CEO Barry Siff and the selection of a new, very clearly Independent Director, Michael Wall to become the Board President.
2019 – 2024 The Most Independent Board Ever?
Arguably, the Michael Wall era Board of Directors may well have been the most independent Board USA Team Handball has ever seen. Independent in that “handball people,” for better or worse faded largely into the background. The Board had some handball people, but was signficantly less partisan than it had been. By and large it seems that decisions were being made with less bias from deeply held handball convictions. Notably, the Board also hired two CEOs (Barry Siff and Ryan Johnson) with no handball background whatsoever to make the day to day decisions.
From my persepective (and many others) this composition of Board and Administrative staff had some pros and cons. On the one hand it was a pleasant change from the historically, fractious nature of board politics. We were actually functioning like a normal organization! I realize that’s a ridiculously low bar… but historically it’s one that we’ve often struggled to clear.
But, on to other hand, I think there was a lack of direction and a tendency to avoid major decisions. For organizations with abundant resources and a clear mission it’s possible to float along comfortably at a slow pace. For organizations with very limited resources and many challenges/choices to make floating along can be very frustrating to the people that really care and are heavily invested in the sport. And, eventually it becomes more than a source of frustration as problems mount and opportunities are lost.
The Revenge of the Handball People (Actually Just Some of the Handball People)
I think the concept of Independent Directors was envisioned, in part, for those Independent Directors to serve as arbitrators between competing factions. To provide a big picture, good governance perspective on a topic rather than a partisan, passionately held viewpoint. When a board has two opinions being hotly debated by the handball people the independent members can help steer the discussion towards conclusion with their independence and often their experience with other boards of directors being taken into consideration.
But, what happens if there aren’t competing handball factions on a Board of Directors? Either because, all the handball people are in agreement… or one faction has a new, temporary majority? (i.e., A 4-3 majority due to a vacant independent board seat and the temporary removal (improperly as it turns out) of one pesky board member.)
Well… you have what just unfolded the past few months with USA Team Handball. Yes, a small group decided to seize the moment and take action with a very unorthodox sequence of events. To essentially tell the Independent Directors, we know best and we don’t really have to listen to you anymore. Or, to put it in a more positive light. It was time to quit just being frustrated and to take action to remove the uninvested roadblocks standing in the way of progress.
If you are part of this handball faction you probably see this whole sequence as a little messy, but something that just had to be done. Regrettable, but justifiable.
Or… Canaries in the Coal Mine?
However, if you are not part of this handball faction, you likely have a different perspective. And, for sure, if you not a part of any handball faction. If you are “independent” with no handball bias, you will undoubtedly see this whole sequence as very dysfunctional. Or as one Olympic Movement person said recently, “Handball just doing what they always do.”
The four Independent Directors who have resigned all saw this sequence of events as very messy and dysfunctional. Something that most definitely didn’t have to be done… but something that a small group wanted to be done. Their resignation letters all address the lack of process and poor governance.
I guess it’s possible that over time these uninvested, non-handball people gradually turned into highly invested partisan roadblocks. But, it seems rather unlikely that 4 independent directors would consciously form a new faction focused on getting their way for their new handball passion. Indeed, when push came to shove they all effectively said we just don’t want to be a party to this anymore. In that vein, the Independent Directors are canaries in the coal mine warning us that there are major problems with this current Board.
Which is it?
Well, to some extent, I’m still formulating my opinion. Gathering information, which continues to seep out. I’m actually to a certain extent sympathetic to both viewpoints. I follow handball pretty closely in this country and I’ve been been frustrated with the lack of action and leadership. That said, I’m also very much a process oriented person. That boards should strive for compromise and and consensus. Even if it takes longer and is frustrating.
It’s the age old question, “Does the end, justify the means?” I’ll have more to say on this later, but right now the more I’ve learned about the means… the more inclined I’m to say: No, not in this case.
*TV and “streaming” are now pretty much the same thing. And, that reality could and should be a game changer for the development of handball in the U.S.
TV and Streaming: The Silver Bullet Game Changer
Long time readers to this website will know that I’ve long espoused the importance of getting more handball on TV in the U.S. Anecdotally, the number of people choosing to get involved with handball after seeing the sport on TV during the Olympics is off the charts. And, I’m pretty sure if an analytical study was ever conducted to quantify the impact of TV it would simply confirm all those anecdotes.
Nothing exposes more Americans to the sport. Nothing generates more interest nationwide. While short video clips on social play an ever increasing role in the zeitgist… those video clips are typically content pulled from TV/streaming broadcasts. Or, they are video clips that complement that TV/streaming broadcasts.
The Rugby 7s example
This isn’t just true for handball. Look at the U.S. Women’s Rugby 7s team where Olympic TV broadcasts and social media posts from one athlete, Ilona Maher, generated interest. They both fed off each other, and when a full length of the field try resulted in an upset win over New Zealand and a bronze medal it garnered unprecedented exposure culminating in a $4M donation to the team.
I’m not saying Handball will generate the same level of good fortune. But, good things will eventually happen when you put more handball in front of more eyeballs in the U.S. Our sport kicks ass. People see it… they like it. And, that leads to more players, fans and yes, eventually sponsors and donors.
Streaming: The Future has Finally Arrived… Maybe?
I’ve been such a big proponent of getting more handball on TV because I think regular broadcasts would be the inflection points of all inflection points. The point where every discussion about handball would begin with “After handball was regularly broadcast on TV….” And, when ESPN agree to broadcast the Handball World Championships in 2021 on its streaming service, ESPN+ I thought it would be that inflection point. But, that never materialized. In fact, the ESPN+ broadcasts barely moved the needle.
There were two main reasons for this. Streaming was making a lot of progress, but while it had become commonplace for TV shows and movies it still hadn’t “arrived” yet for sports. And, inexplicably, ESPN provided almost no promotion whatsoever for the sport. Seriously, it was as if they were trying to hide handball.
But, that was then. This is now. With Peacock averaging 4-6M viewers for any given minute, some are calling the 2024 Olympics, streaming’s Magnum Opus. In other words, the point in time where streaming was no longer the reluctant 2nd option for sports fans, but instead the go to 1st option. And, we’re not talking about niche loving handball fans, accustomed to streaming because it was their only option. We’re talking about the generalist sports fan, who more often than not was happy with tradtional TV view options.
Handball on TV (or Streaming): Still the Silver Bullet
I’ve been writing about the importance of Handball TV broadcasts for a long time. This commentary has a good summary and makes the argument that regular handball broadcasts are the closest thing we have to a silver bullet solution to all our problems. This is because our sport has “a lack of awareness” problem that hamstrings anything and everything we need to do. And, nothing. I REPEAT NOTHING addresses that problem more than getting Rodger and others hyped up on handball and screaming (IN ALL CAPs) for more.
NBC Peacock: The Future Home of Handball?
I’ve been following the different potential options for broadcasting handball for over a decade. And, while I was really strong advocate for getting handball on ESPN and played a behind the scenes role in it actually coming to fruition I now think it’s time to turn our eyes towards Peacock. Here’s why:
NBC Peacock is now a great streaming platform. What was once a somewhat clunky user interface is now simple to use. Every match in one place and easy to navigate and find.
NBC Peacock has been a great steward and promoter for handball at the 2024 Olympics. Handball is the only sport with no U.S. participation at the Olympics, but NBC hasn’t been keeping it a secret. Whether it’s Mike Tirico gushing about handball at the opening ceremonies, or Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson adopting the Egyptian National Team or the the Gold Zone hyping handball the affection and support are genuine.
NBC Peacock needs content to help minimize subscription churn. The Olympics have been a real boon to NBC Peacock. They currently have 33M subscribers, some portion of which just signed up for the Olympics. And, some portion of which will think about leaving after the Olympics are over. Do I really think that there are a lot of Americans out there who will only stay with Peacock if handball is added to the library. No, I don’t. But, you know what… I think there are some now who will be more inclined to stay if handball is one of several things they can watch on Peacock.
NBC Peacock provides a logical lead in to the 2028 Olympics. The U.S. will be participating in handball at the 2028 Olympics for the first time since 1996. And, both the U.S. Men and Women will get wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships. It makes a lot of sense for those four events to also be broadcast on Peacock. And, while we’re add it, how about the North American & Caribbean Championships and the 2027 PANAM Games?
Why it Could Actually Happen: It’s a Very Rare Win-Win-Win-Win-Win
Yes, if you’re counting that’s 5 wins. I think that’s about the right number. Here are the 5 entities that would win:
International Handball Federation (IHF): The IHF owns the rights for the World Championships and sold them to ESPN for a very discounted price (perhaps free?) for the past 3 years. As discussed, Peacock is better option now
European Handball Federation (EHF): The EHF hasn’t had either their Club Champions League or the European Championships on USA TV for several years. The Champions League has a fully produced, English language Match of the Week. Most of the European Championships also have fully produced matches ready to broadcast. All of this content is available on ehfTV, but it deserve promotion and a boader audience.
Handball Bundesliga (HBL): The best professional club league in the world, now has a fully produced, English language match ever week. These featured matches along with every other match are available via subscription, but the feature match deserves broader exposure.
NBC Peacock. As discussed, NBC Peacock could use more content. And, here’s some good news NBC… I think you could get the above handball content (IHF, EHF, HBL) at a very attractive price. Maybe even free if the Handball entities can be convinced that the accompanying reach and promotion will lead to U.S. market growth. All you have to do is show what NBC has done with the English Premier League (EPL) and that should get everyone’s attention.
USA Team Handball. As discussed, more Americans watching handball is a very good thing. Something that could turn a once every four years phenomenon to a continuous stream of discovery would be an epic game changer. And, Peacock would also be a great location for U.S. handball content like our collegiate championships and a reality show.
Will it Happen?
Will it happen, though? I’d like to think that something with so much upside and so little downside is a no brainer just waiting to happen. However, I’m just some guy with a website and a good idea. That said, the campaign starts now. We’ll see if the dream can indeed, become reality.
This commentary is regarding the U.S. Women’s National team. For information regarding newcomer prospects for the U.S. Men’s National Team (which are dramatically different) check out this commentary.
Olympic Dreams Fueled by Possibilities
I’m sure there are hundreds, if not thousands of athletes watching the Paris Olympics, seeing handball for the first time and thinking, “What an awesome game! I would be great at this sport. Where can I play?”
And, as America’s #1 handball fan, I can tell you that such revelations are music to my ears. There’s nothing I like better than new athletes and fans following in my footsteps. And, no doubt, some of those athletes are probably thinking even grander thoughts, “Hey, the U.S. didn’t even qualify. Hardly anybody probably plays it in the U.S. Maybe I could be an Olympian. How would I go about becoming an Olympic handball player?
For over 25 years the prospects for any American handball player to become an Olympian haven’t been very good. The U.S. last qualified for an Olympics in 1996 as the host nation. And, since then we’ve never really even come close to securing a berth in qualfication events. But, now with Los Angeles hosting the 2028 Olympics that’s about to change. As Charles Barkley would say, it’s Guaranteed that we’re fielding a team. Out there, many are probably thinking… Somebody’s got to make that team. Why not me?
Unique, Uncharted Circurmstances Means it’s Definitely Possible
First things first. Let me be clear. The following is my opinion and certainly not an official USA Team Handball position. That said, I’ve got a pretty good track record of assessing handball in this country. For what it’s worth, here’s my answer to your question…
Due to a very, very small talent pool consisting of around 150 athletes with modest athletic ability there’s a decent chance you could make the 2028 U.S. Olympic Women’s Handball Team. How good are you chances? That will depends on several variables to include how good of an athlete you are, how motivated you are and what, if anything, USA Team Handball eventually does to identify, recruit and train prospective national team athletes.
Let me explain further. When I say around “150 athletes” I am not referring to our national team talent pool. No… I’m talking about 150 female athletes with American citizenship currently playing handball at any level, anywhere in the world.
Our national team athletes for the past few years have mostly been comprised of of athletes trained at our last residency program at Auburn (which closed in 2018) and dual citizen athletes who compete in Europe. With the U.S. Men we’ve been blessed with a golden generation of talent that has essentially gifted us with the most competitive team we’ve had since the 1980s.
With the U.S. Women we have been less fortunate. While hard working and great representatives of our nation collectively the raw athletic talent is similar to what one might see on an NCAA Div 3 basketball team. Not surprisingly the results have been disappointing. We have not won a match since the 2019 PANAM Games. We’re 0-0-12 in official competition and those 12 losses are not to European sides, but to peer competition in our hemisphere. If our current team were to play the teams competing at the 2024 Olympics we would be 30+ goal underdogs in every match.
Demographics assessment from 2019 (It’s actually gotten worse)
And, an important side note: Our #1 GK, Sophie Fasold, is a clear exception. She plays in Germany’s top league and is, arguably, the best GK in U.S. history.
The Variables
So with that as context let’s take a look at some of the variables that will determine an athlete’s prospects for making the 2028 U.S. Women’s National Handball Team:
The raw talent of the athlete
The starting age of the athlete and amount of time the athlete has to train
The training environment the athlete will have
The commitment level of the athlete
The quality of the athletes also seeking to make the team
Here’s a closer look at each variable
The Raw Talent of the Athlete
With the current raw talent on the U.S. National Team roughly equivalent to an NCAA D3 basketball team an athlete that has played D1 or D2 sports in college should have an advantage against current players. This was even demonstrated at the 2023 North American & Caribbean Championships when a D2 basketball player, Katie Timmerman played significant minutes despite only a couple of training camps to learn the sport. Logically, in most cases a D1 athlete would even have better chances to make an impact.
I could also get into a lengthy discussion regarding the merits of different sports in terms of transitioning to handball. Athletes have come from many different sports, but the most common sport historically has been basketball. And, even athletes from other sports often have high school basketball in their resume.
The Starting Age of the Athlete and the Amount of Time that Athlete has to Train
Normally, I would argue that any athlete over 23 years of age is probably outside the desired range to start a training program. And, generally the younger the better. Given, however, the current cirumstances of a very small talent pool and a 4 year window, I could see a great athlete even in their 30s being a candidate. Obviously not ideal, but we’re talking a very unique situation.
The Training Environment the Athlete Would Have
For many years the U.S. had Residency Programs that were dedicated full time to developing new handball athletes. However, the U.S. hasn’t had a Residency Program since 2018 and as far as I know there are no plans to start one anytime soon.
This leaves a newcomer with very limited options. They could join a stateside club, but they typically just practice once a week and play in a few tournaments on the weekend. One could learn the basics and get their feet wet, but not much more. And, then they could also attend the periodic national team camps that are held. I’m sure any European reading this is just shaking their head in bewilderment, “Athletes who’ve never played before attending a National Team camp?.. That’s crazy.” But, that’s where we are currently at.
The other alternative would be to train with a handball club overseas, most likely in Europe. A handful of stateside based athletes have indeed done this. It’s not easy and it can be challenging to find a quality club with a good system willing to train a relative newcomer. But, again, given the state of the current program it would be your best option. Additionally, I suspect that a higher level athlete with potential would get some help from the national team staff in making such a move.
The Commitment Level of the Athlete
Having great raw talent is a significant advantage, but it’s not everything. An average athlete with modest talent, but knows how to play handball also has an advantage. Sometimes raw talent trumps handball skills, but often the reverse is true. With the necessary commitment to learn the sport, however, it’s only a matter of time before the contest changes from who knows how to play… to who’s the better athlete.
The huge unknown here, however, isn’t necessarily the “attitude” of the athlete. Commitment is a 2 way street. The athlete commits to work hard and get better. And, USA Team Handball commits to provide that athlete with the tools and opportunities to get better. Unfortunately, right now as an organization USA can’t provide athletes very much in return for their commitment. In fact, national team athletes are actually paying thousands of dollars out of their own pocket to represent their nation. And, not surprisingly… quite a few athletes don’t want to commit to that.
The Quality of the Athletes also Seeking to Make the Team
For the most part I’ve framed this discussion as what would it take for a decent athlete to develop into a handball player that given the current talent pool could make the U.S. National Team. That’s a fairly straightforward comparison.
But, what’s really hard to assess is the number and quality of new athletes that might take steps to earn a roster spot. Right now there’s not much in place to entice a relative newcomer to make such an effort. That translates to fewer athletes competing for slots and lower quality athletes making the team. If a more structured program is put in place more and better quality athletes will start showing up.
The Great Unknown: What Steps will USA Team Handball Take… and When Will they Take them
You might have noticed that one variable I listed was:
What, if anything, USA Team Handball eventually does to identify, recruit and train prospective national team athletes
Right now USA Team Handball’s recruitment is very limited. Emails are sent out to college coaches and open tryouts are held, but there’s really no training program in place. I have a hard time believing that won’t change at some point, but I don’t know what it will entail or when it will be implemented.
And, this results in the strange cirumstances that while I can say with a high degree of confidence that total newcomers to handball are likely to make our 2028 Olympic Team I don’t know exactly how they’re going to do it.
This commentary is regarding the U.S. Men’s National team. For information regarding newcomer prospects for the U.S. Women’s National Team (which are dramatically different) check out this commentary.
Olympic Dreams Fueled by Possibilities
I’m sure there are hundreds, if not thousands of athletes watching the Paris Olympics, seeing handball for the first time and thinking, “What an awesome game! I would be great at this sport. Where can I play?”
And, as America’s #1 handball fan, I can tell you that such revelations are music to my ears. There’s nothing I like better than new athletes and fans following in my footsteps. And, no doubt, some of those athletes are probably thinking even grander thoughts, “Hey, the U.S. didn’t even qualify. Hardly anybody probably plays it in the U.S. Maybe I could be an Olympian. How would I go about becoming an Olympic handball player?
For over 25 years the prospects for any American handball player to become an Olympian haven’t been very good. The U.S. last qualified for an Olympics in 1996 as the host nation. And, since then we’ve never really even come close to securing a berth in qualfication events. But, now with Los Angeles hosting the 2028 Olympics that’s about to change. As Charles Barkley would say, it’s Guaranteed that we’re fielding a team. Out there, many are probably thinking… Somebody’s got to make that team. Why not me?
The Wrong Question. Because… You’re not Going to Like my Answer
First things first. Let me be clear. The following is my opinion and certainly not an official USA Team Handball position. That said, I’ve got a pretty good track record of assessing handball in this country. For what it’s worth, here’s my very blunt answer to your question…
As a total newcomer to the sport I would assess your chances of making the 2028 U.S. Olympic Men’s Handball Team are somewhere between 0.0% and .1%. Not 1 percent… but .1%. As in 1 in a 1,000 chance and probably worse than that.
Let me explain further. There are multiple variables to consider and multiple unknowns, but the weight of them all combined leads to the very long odds involved.
The Variables
When one is assessing the prospects of an athlete to take on a totally new sport like handball here are the variables that need to be considered to assess the likelihood of national team success
The raw talent of the athlete
The starting age of the athlete and amount of time the athlete has to train
The training environment the athlete will have
The quality of the athletes also seeking to make the team
The commitment level of the athlete
Here’s a closer look at each variable
The Raw Talent of the Athlete
Is it possible to pass judgment on athletes I don’t know and have never seen? Answer: Yes and No. Certainly a talent combine whereby athletes would perform drills that could be measured would be very useful. And, basic scrimmaging even of brand new athletes will likely be a good guage of potential. But, sight unseen the vast sporting infrastructure of the U.S. has already likely binned off your raw talent level fairly accurately.
If you’re a pro athlete chances are you’re not contemplating a new handball career. The same is also true for most NCAA college athletes who are still in college. Mistakes, of course, are made. And, there are athletes who are average in one sport, but can excel in another sport like handball. But, those are the exceptions. Chances are… that you are a good athlete that can develop into a pretty good handball player. It’s less likely, that your a great athlete that can develop into a great player.
The Starting Age of the Athlete and the Amount of Time that Athlete has to Train
Well, this is fairly simple to contemplate. If one were to start their handball dream immediately they would have four years to go from zero to hero. Barring another pandemic induced delay that four years is set in stone. With the right training and competition environment great progress can be made in four years. A lot more than some Europeans might think. But, it’s still not very much time to work with.
In terms of the starting age of the athlete if the goal is to get as good as you can in a four year window I think anywhere from the age of 27 on down would be feasible. But, only if that four year goal is set. Obviously, younger ages would be desired because combined with a longer timeline it becomes more and more feasible to develop into a world class athlete.
The Training Environment the Athlete Would Have
For many years the U.S. had Residency Programs that were dedicated full time to developing new handball athletes. However, the U.S. hasn’t had a Residency Program since 2018 and as far as I know there are no plans to start one anytime soon. This means the only currently feasible training program would be to train with a handball club overseas, most likely in Europe.
A handful of stateside based athletes have indeed done this, but it’s not easy and it can be challenging to find a quality club with a good system willing to train a relative newcomer. There are some programs that can help faciliate such moves, but the athletes making the jump typically have been developed some stateside first. It would take a really special athlete for a newcomer to get such an opportunity.
The Quality of the Athletes also Seeking to Make the Team
This factor more than any other drives the percentage chance below 1%. The current Men’s talent pool, which consists mostly of dual citizens that grew up in Europe is the best that the U.S. has had in years. By U.S. standards it is a golden generation both in handball skills and raw athletic ability. Comparable to a low NCAA D1 or high D2 basketball team. And, for the most part, this team is fairly young. Four years out from the LA Olympics, we essentially already know around 95% of the athletes who will make up our roster. We may even soon add a former Swedish national team athlete playing in Denmark’s top league.
Two months ago we played a friendly vs France and lost 38-29. They are either the best or 2nd best team in the world. And, sure it was a friendly, but several players on that French side were fighting for Olympic Roster slots. Watch the highlights– We can ball.
I can not understate what crazy good fortune this is for our Men’s National Team. We’re not going to medal. We might not even win a match. But, this team will compete and will not embarrass. And, this team didn’t cost USA Team Handball a penny to develop.
We’re a big country with a sizable population and we could find better raw talent athletes, but not a whole lot better and those athletes would have a long way to go to get to a similar level. And, no matter what every single state side newcomer would be several years behind in terms of competition experience.
The Commitment Level of the Athlete
If one takes into account what I’ve listed above… it’s reasonable to be skeptical of any athlete that thinks they have the will to continuously strive to overcome all the obstacles.
The realities are stark. There’s really not enough time, there’s nothing in place to train you and you’ll need to beat out athletes with similar raw talent that have have been playing the sport for years. When someone becomes fully aware of all of these realities and that the dream is very likely out of reach. Well, the commitment level will logically nosedive precipitously.
The Right Question: How Can I Play Handball?
So, I don’t take glee in raining on your Olympic aspirations. In fact, it’s been a few years, but I had similar aspirations once. Such aspirations led me into the sport long ago. But, the times were different… For me they were actually reasonable aspirations. I had time. There was a training program. And, there wasn’t a crazy golden generation of dual citizens standing in the way.
Even given all that I was still asking the wrong question all those years ago. And, you are, too. This is true, even if you have time for a run at Brisbane 2032 and beyond.
The question you should be asking is simply how can I play this cool sport? How can I get better as a player? Play the game for fun and see where it takes you.
And, sure, if you improve as a player and it eventually makes sense, why not move to Europe and further develop your game if you can also smartly continue your education or career? Just don’t start out with the goal of being an Olympian. Let that come in due time. Kind of like you would with any other sport.
