Category Archives: John Ryan Commentary

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Air Force Basketball (Two Lessons for USA Team Handball): Lesson 1) Any Program Can Rise from the Ashes

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After 24 straight years of no winning seasons the 2003-04 Air Force Basketball team came out of nowhere to post a 22-7 record, a conference championship and an NCAA tourney bid. Could something similar happen for USA Team Handball?

Anyone who has followed the sport of Team Handball in the United States knows that the national teams have had their ups and downs.  Without a doubt it’s been more “downs” then “ups” and it’s safe to say we’re currently in a down phase.  We struggled to even win one match at the PANAM Games and have fallen behind nations like Mexico and Uruguay.  Maybe the bitter reality is that it’s just too hard for the USA to field respectable teams, let alone winning
teams that can compete for medals at an Olympics.  Maybe, but maybe not…

Perhaps just as moribund or disappointing for many years had been the Air Force Academy Men’s Basketball Program.  There are a lot of challenges to fielding a top college basketball team at a military service academy.  These challenges include height restrictions, academic requirements, and a military regimen which severely limits the players that can be recruited.  With the exception of the David Robinson years at Annapolis, no service academy team had ever had great success and Air Force’s high water mark for a long time was the mid 1970’s when several teams posted modest winning records.  Two major reasons for those successful seasons were Tom Schneeberger and Bob Djokovich, who later went on to be Olympians in Team Handball at the 1984 Olympics.

Following Schneeberger and Djokovich’s graduation in 1978, Air Force had 24 straight losing seasons and about the only positive thing that that could be said about the program was that the players tried hard and never gave up, no matter how far they were behind.  Many games played at the Academy resembled church halls in which you could literally count the fans in the stands.  Experts and longtime followers of college basketball all agreed: It was just too hard to win at Air Force.

Then in the year 2000, Air Force hired Joe Scott, a former Princeton player and coach who outrageously thought differently about the whole, you just can’t win at Air Force mentality.  Things at first didn’t seem to be much different.  The team’s record the first 3 years were 8-21, 9-19, and 12-16.  They showed steady progress and I noticed that they weren’t getting blown out quite as often against better teams.   Still, I had my doubts that they could ever get over the hump for a winning season.  Sure they might have been able to win some games against weak non-conference foes, but they still couldn’t beat the top schools (BYU, New Mexico, UNLV) in the Mountain West Conference (MWC).

Then in 2003-2004 a funny thing happened.  Somehow Air Force started winning those games against the teams that had always beaten them.  Somehow, someway, the laughingstock of the MWC won the Conference with a 12-2 record.  My goodness, they even made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over 40 years!  The tomb that had been Clune Fieldhouse had overnight become one of the toughest and loudest places to play in the country.  There was some nice commentary at the time about what a great turnaround this was, but to those few who actually followed Air Force basketball closely through the years those kind words never even came close to conveying the miracle that had just occurred, seemingly out of nowhere.

How on earth had this happened?  My analysis (from my own observation and others) is that there were four major factors in this incredible reversal of fortune:

1) Better recruiting. Whether it was luck or persistent effort by the coaching staff, Air Force was able to find 5-7 talented players who could play at a high level.  These players were by no means NBA quality players, but they were good players that could compete athletically against their competition.  Through the years, Air Force had always had 1 or 2 players with that talent level.  Heck, I’d argue that a couple of those players were individually even better than the talent that Joe Scott assembled.  But, those players had no supporting cast and opponents keyed on them.  Being able to put 5 good players on the court all at one time made all the difference.

2) A system that stymied opponents.  And that system was the so called Princeton offense which slowed down the game and relied on passing and 3 point shooting.  Air Force executed this offense to perfection and teams weren’t used to playing it.  That season Air Force was able to sneak up on opponents who weren’t sure how to defend it.

3) Opponents that were in “down” years.  The MWC would never be mistaken for the ACC, but on the whole it’s usually a pretty good basketball conference.  It was fortunate timing that the golden era of AF basketball coincided with just about every other side in the conference going through a down phase.

4) Players that simply believed in themselves and the system.  Sometimes teams lose just because of the names on their jerseys.  Losing begets losing and sometimes everybody (coaches, fans, officials, opposing teams) starts expecting a particular team will lose.  Changing such a culture or vibe is often easier said than done.  When such a change occurs, though, it’s usually because a committed group truly starts to believe in themselves and what they can do.

So, what are the lessons here that can be applied to USA Team Handball.  Let’s go with the 4 reasons behind Air Force’s turnaround and see if they can be applied to Team Handball.

1) Better Recruiting:  Nothing against the hard working men and women who are currently playing on our National Teams, but most of our current athletes are a step down in raw athletic talent when compared to their current competition.  This is particularly true for the women and partially true for the men.  And to be fair, it’s probably always been true with our National Teams to a certain extent.  The U.S. has often been a player or two short of being good enough to beat the good teams.  The need for better recruiting is a no brainer, but how do you go about it?  This will be a topic for part 2 of this series.

2) A system that stymies opponents:  Is there a Team Handball equivalent of the Princeton Offense?  For the most part national teams from the developing Handball nations have tried to emulate the successful teams in Europe.  They hire European coaches and the European coaches naturally seek to build a European style team.  There is, of course, some variance among the teams in Europe as some nations play a little more of a fluid game with fast breaks while others are more focused on defense and a half-court game.  So getting back to the question, I can think of only one example where a nation has developed a style of play or system that stymies opponents:  South Korea.  The South Koreans, particularly the women, play a helter skelter style of play which takes maximum advantage of their quickness and limits their size disadvantage.  This pretty much always gives the Koreans a slight edge when they play European teams because while they are accustomed to the European teams have to totally adjust their game.  Is it just a coincidence that the Koreans have also been the most successful non-European nation, even though the sport is
still a minor one in their country?  Maybe the U.S. should look across the Pacific instead of the Atlantic as it tries to develop its own style?

3) Opponents that were in “down” years.  Well, you can’t very well control what your competition is doing.  You can, however, take advantage of it.  Looking at the Pan American region it’s fairly apparent that the men’s teams are surging in quality while the women’s teams, with the exception of Brazil, are clearly in a down phase.  Starting from scratch, it’s entirely possible that the U.S. could put together a brand new Women’s team that could get 2nd place (qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games) at the 2015 PANAM Games.  The Men could still qualify, as well, but their competition as it stands now is clearly tougher.

4) Players that simply believe in themselves and the system.  I can’t get into the psyche of our National Team players, but I suspect that both the Men’s and Women’s team have not fully formed the type of bond that only comes about through time and shared sacrifice.  They will need more matches and some stability in the program in order for this to happen.  And then they will need some matches where they play some teams close and see for themselves that they aren’t that far behind and where they need to get better.

So, if Air Force basketball can suddenly be successful after years of failure, I would argue that even USA Team Handball can turn it around.  It won’t be easy, though, and most importantly it’s not clear whether USA Team Handball will have the minimum resources needed to execute such a turnaround.  As the current budget stands now there is nowhere near enough funding to recruit, train and provide players a national team structure to allow them the
opportunity to succeed.  With adequate resources, though it could definitely happen.

In part 2 of this series, I’ll assess the feasibility of recruiting athletes with successful collegiate careers in other sports and transitioning them to Team Handball.  As the title implies, there’s an Air Force Basketball connection.

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Tim Tebow: Future American Team Handball Star?

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Tim Tebow: Current Right Back for Team Fatsis and future Right Back for Team USA

Drink a few beers in the evening after a Team Handball event and the subject inevitably comes up.  If you could field a Team Handball squad with athletes from other sports, who would you choose?  For a Handball fan this is the equivalent of “Superman vs. Batman” or “Ginger vs. Mary Ann.”  A debate that’s been held many times for which there’s no way to establish the right answer.  On Slate Magazine’s “Hang Up and Listen” Podcast, Dan Blake from Ithaca, NY posed that very question to co-hosts Stefan Fatsis, Mike Pesca, and Josh Levin.  (Take a listen from 6:38 to 11:15.)

Here are the teams that were compiled, some analysis of the players selected and an assessment as to who would win between Team Fatsis and Team Pesca.

Team Fatsis

– Matt Kemp (Baseball):  I’ll have to take a pass on this assessment, as I haven’t followed baseball much for at least a decade.  On paper, his basketball background would make a good combination.
– Chris Young (Baseball):  The baseball pitcher with a basketball background is a good combination for Team Handball.  The ability to throw a ball hard is not a readily discernible skill.  (i.e., you can’t assume that a great basketball athlete naturally has a great arm).  Young is 32, though, and I can’t tell if the relatively sedentary baseball life of a pitcher has settled in.  Side note, I saw a Russia-USA baseball game several years ago and the commentator was a broken record, “Vladimir Yobonski is another former Team Handball player…”
– Kevin Durant (Basketball):  An OK choice.  Basketball, more than any other sport, is very similar to Handball in the flow of the game and the skill sets needed.  That being said, not every great basketball player makes a great handball player or vice versa.  Basketball players with more finesse tend to struggle a little when they cross over to Team Handball.  Durant is no wimp, but I think he might have some issues with the greater physicality.
– Dwight Howard (Basketball):  A great choice. Physicality would, of course, not be a problem for Dwight Howard.  He’s a natural circle runner and would be a brick wall on defense.
– Tim Tebow (Football):  An inspired choice.  Tebow has the raw skill set to be an exceptional Team Handball player.  His ability as a crafty runner who can break tackles would translate well to Team Handball where the defense can be more physical (compared to basketball).  Oh, and he’s left handed.
– Michael Vick (Football):  Vick is an OK choice.  Clearly, has the Tebow like skills, but would this 31 year old have the motivation.  And Fatsis stumbled upon another left hander.  I guess he could be on the wing next Tebow on the right hand side.
– Tim Howard (Soccer): Soccer goalies don’t necessarily transition well to Team Handball.  They have the basic concept of being a goalie, and, in particular understand the importance of positioning the body at the right angle.  But, there are some dramatic differences. Most notably, soccer goalies rarely stop a shot with their feet, an absolutely critical skill that they have to be taught.  Not to mention the size of the goal is much smaller and they will face more shots in 5 minutes then they’ll see in an entire soccer match.

Subs
Baseball (Carl Crawford, Jacoby Elsberry, Joe Mauer, Austin Jackson, Grady Sizemore)
Basketball (Lebron James, Chris Paul, Jimmer Fredette)
American Football (Cam Newton, Jake Plummer
Analysis:  I won’t go into detail on these subs, but suffice to say Lebron James and Cam Newton would be phenomenal players.  Chris Paul and Jimmer Fredette might be good players at Center Back or on the wing.

Team Pesca

– Julius Peppers (Football):  Peppers’ size and basketball skills demonstrated at North Carolina would, make him a great selection 5 years ago, but at age 31 he would be less likely to excel.
– Jason Pierre-Paul (Football):  Pesca’s best choice.  Pierre-Paul is a phenomenal athlete that only started playing football seriously 5 years ago.  He would pick up the sport very quickly.  Heck, you could probably start him as a defensive specialist at a top club in Europe with a year of dedicated training
– Tony Gonzalez (Football): Another football player with college basketball experience.  But at 35 years of age he would not adapt well to the new sport.
– Rob Gronkowski (Football): Yet another tight end for the Pesca squad.  At age 22 he should be able to handle the up and down nature of the sport fairly well.
– Derrick Rose (Basketball):  An exceptional athlete, Rose would definitely be a top notch Handball player.  He doesn’t appear to have played many other sports, though, and may not adapt quickly to a new sport.
– Kevin Garnett (Basketball): While Garnett is a great basketball player he is the type of athlete that would not excel in Team Handball at the same high level.  There are a few 7 foot handball players, but the nature of the game limits the benefit of such lofty height.  Generally, these players are very effective over the top shooters, but are less effective one on one and struggle on defense.  Garnett’s also 35 years old.

Josh Levin’s Picks (Levin didn’t pick a full squad)

Rajon Rondo (Basketball):  A good choice.  I could see him as an effective Center Back.
Robert Griffin III (Football):  An outstanding selection.  This 21 year 0ld with smarts, world class speed and great arm strength would be a tremendous 1 on 1 player.  Think Daniel Narcisse (only an even better athlete).
Tayshaun Prince (Basketball): An OK choice.  I’m not sold that he would be a great player and at 31 years old he’s showing a little age.

Team Fatsis vs. Team Pesca

Just looking at the starting lineups, the advantage is clearly Fatsis.  First off, Pesca didn’t even choose a goalie, but setting that aside Team Pesca is too old and is sorely lacking in quickness.  In particular, you can’t have converted tight ends playing the wing.  Matt Kemp and Michael Vick would have a field day on the fast break.   Midway  through the first half, the bulky football players would really be huffing and puffing and Derrick Rose would probably be angrily urging them to show a little hustle.  Meanwhile Team Fatsis, led undoubtedly by a cheerful Tebow would still be motoring along.  It would only get uglier in the 2nd half.   Another aspect that Fatsis probably stumbled upon is having a few left handers on his squad.  This would make a dramatic difference on the right side of the court.  I’m guessing we’re  looking at an ugly score line, perhaps 35-22.

Tim Tebow: Future American Team Handball Star?

The Tebow story has been fascinating to follow this year.   For those who don’t follow American Football, Tim Tebow is a quarterback for the Denver Broncos, who’s open religious displays have made him a polarizing figure.  Additionally, there had been great debate as to whether this great college player could become a great professional player.  This season he started out on the bench, but midway through the season he became the starter and led Denver to several  improbable, crazy comeback victories. In short, there are  Tebow lovers and Tebow haters.  And as someone who has rooted religiously against the Denver Broncos for almost 30 years, you can probably guess which side of the debate I fall under.  Still, even a Tebow hater like me has to begrudgingly accept that he is a tremendous athlete with undoubtedly strong skills as a leader/motivator.  That being said he’s got no long term future as an NFL quarterback.  I think that will become apparent to all (even Tebow himself) after a couple of seasons.  Is it conceivable that this unconventional QB will then seek other opportunities off the mainstream, even ones without a big pay day?  After all, the Broncos, have already had one quarterback, Jake Plummer, retire early to play handball (albeit, the wrong one). Tim Tebow, Olympic Athlete, leading American Team Handball to the promised land.  Even I can get on board with that.

Slate:  Hang up and Listen Year End Podcast: http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/hang_up_and_listen/2011/12/hang_up_and_listen_s_special_.year_end_call_in_show_.html

THN (11 Nov 2010): America’s most famous handball player talks about his legacy https://teamhandballnews.com/2010/11/america%e2%80%99s-most-famous-handball-player-talks-about-his-legacy/

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USA Team Handball’s Esch – Pastorino era comes to a quiet end

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Dieter Esch and Steve Pastorino have resigned from their positions with USA Team Handball

In the past couple of weeks both the USA Team Handball Chairman of the Board of Directors (Dieter Esch) and General Manager (Steve Pastorino) have submitted their resignations.  Jeff Utz, will reportedly take Esch’s Board role, while Dave Gascon has taken Pastorino’s GM position on an interim basis.  It was a quiet, unceremonious departure for two key players who led the federation from its rebirth in 2008.  Here’s a brief look back at those 3 years and what may have led to their departure.

Initial Promise and Optimism

Nearly 3 and a half years ago I first had the opportunity to meet Dieter and Steve at the USA Team Handball Summit in St Louis.  This summit was essentially a kick off meeting for the new federation and a chance for a few long time followers of the sport to share thoughts and ideas with the newcomers who were looking to move the organization forward.  Looking back on my notes I’m struck by the mixture of skepticism and optimism from that meeting.  I had my doubts, but based on decades of mediocrity (at best) and failure, it was clear in my mind that a fresh look from new players just might have a chance at taking the sport to another level in this country.

The Great Recession and Grand Plans go Awry

About 3 months after the summit, however, the collapse of Lehmann Brothers and the U.S. Financial Markets signaled that the boom was over and that the USA was in the midst of an economic downturn it hadn’t seen since the 1930’s.  This Great Recession can’t be blamed for all of USA Team Handball’s problems, but it was a huge contributing factor.  Certainly the grand scheme for Board Members to use their contacts and powers of persuasion to get individuals and businesses to donate and become sponsors went out the window overnight. In hindsight it’s fairly clear that the new federation was slow to realize that plans for increased revenue weren’t going to materialize.  A large staff with regional directors was gradually let go and funding for development efforts were scaled back.

USOC Support Doesn’t Meet Expectations

In the interim period between the decertification of the old federation and the establishment of a new federation, the USOC managed Team Handball.  Not desiring to actually run an Olympic sport, the USOC wanted out and sought the establishment of a new federation.  Seemingly out of nowhere, Dieter Esch came into the picture with promises to finance the establishment of the new federation.  This was not an inexpensive endeavor and reportedly it was mostly paid for with his personal funds to the tune of around $750K.  Rightly or wrongly, I’m guessing that Mr. Esch had expectations that his own personal commitment and the federation’s efforts to develop the sport would be recognized by the USOC and that USA Team Handball would receive grant funding similar to other Olympic sports.  Reportedly there are other factors that led to his decision to step down, but I suspect that the lack of USOC support is a pretty significant one.

As the GM, Pastorino had become increasingly vocal in regards to the lack of USOC support.  Most notably in a press conference prior to the PANAM Games he called out the USOC for not giving more credit and support to sports that are building a long term development program.  And not too long after the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph (the hometown paper of the USOC) posted an article highlighting those comments, USA Team Handball posted an announcement indicating that they were accepting new applicants for the GM and Technical Director post.  With the timing of that announcement along with the GM position being advertised as an unpaid volunteer, Pastorino’s resignation can hardly be seen as a surprise.

A Note of Thanks

I’m planning a follow up post that will be a more thorough post-mortem on the past three years.  For now, though, I’d like to say thanks and at the same time address some peanut gallery comments that I have received/heard over the past 3 years regarding Steve and Dieter.

Some folks have at times questioned Steve Pastorino’s motives and commitment to the sport.  To them, he was the outsider with no clue about handball only interested in collecting his six figure salary.  While I sometimes disagreed with the decisions the federation has made in the past 3 years, at no time whatsoever did I have any inclination that Steve wasn’t committed to moving the sport forward in this country.  In all my dealings with Steve he was the consummate professional, always willing to listening to critiques and new ideas to further develop the sport.

If one Googles Dieter Esch a whole host of negative information will show up concerning past business dealings.  Accordingly, some have intimated that it’s only a matter of time before he takes our sport for a ride.  Well, I can’t speak to pre Handball dealings, but I will speak to the past 3 years.  At no time have I seen any credible shred of evidence regarding nefarious financial plundering of the Federation.  To the contrary, it’s quite clear that Mr. Esch has personally donated a substantial amount of money with no plausible path to personal financial gain.  Sure, we could argue that those funds could have been spent differently, but no one has ever donated more money to the sport in this country.  No one even comes close.  Additionally, you can throw out the he’s just a millionaire argument as I would speculate that there are also very people who have contributed a comparable percentage of their net worth to the sport.  On top of the funding and maybe of more importance are the numerous doors in Europe he has opened for future opportunities in the U.S.  It remains to be seen if the new Federation can follow through, but thanks to his efforts there’s now a fighting chance.

So, both Steve and Dieter are moving on and I wish both of them well.  Thanks for re-establishing the federation and starting the USA on a path towards greater development and National Team success.  Hopefully, you will both be able to look back one day with pride that you played an important role in starting something special.

THN (19 Jun 2008): USA Team Handball Summit (My Personal Notes): https://teamhandballnews.com/2008/06/usa-team-handball-summit-my-personal-notes/

THN (4 Sep 2011): Gazette Telegraph reports on USA Team Handball financial struggles: https://teamhandballnews.com/2011/09/gazette-telegraph-reports-on-usa-team-handball-financial-struggles/

USATH (11 Nov 2011): Esch resigns as USA Team Handball Chairman: http://usateamhandball.org/news/2011/11/11/esch-resigns-as-usa-team-handball-chairman/45425?ngb_id=42

USATH (8 Nov 2011): Steve Pastorino Blog: Hasta luego…: http://usateamhandball.org/blogs/steve-pastorino-on-handball/posts/3352-hasta-luego

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Reunion Island: The French Handball Iceland due East of Madagascar

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Just in case you were wondering, here's where you can find Reunion Island.

 

An ehfTV video has got me thinking that it’s a great time for a post on two of my favorite areas of study: Geography and Handball.  The subject video highlights top German side Kiel’s summer trip to Reunion Island in Travelogue fashion.  Apparently this team building trip to Daniel Narcisse’s home has put them in good stead so far this season.

As one who likes to think of himself as a “maphead” I’ll have to admit that before I lived in France I knew very little about France’s overseas Departments and Territories.   I knew of Reunion Island, however, because many years earlier my curiosity had been piqued by the talented Jackson Richardson.  Who is that Rasta looking Frenchmen with the American sounding name?

That investigation eventually led me to an atlas to find out just where the heck this Ile Reunion was.  Located in the Indian Ocean due East of Madagascar this French outpost is about as far away as you can get from the U.S.  That’s not an exaggeration as Reunion Island is almost an “antipode” of the Western U.S.  In other words if you start digging a hole straight through the center of the Earth, you’ll eventually come out in the Indian Ocean not far from this unlikely French Iceland.

French Iceland?  Well, while I doubt that Handball is a part of the culture on Reunion Island to the same extent it is in Iceland, there’s no denying this island of 800,000 souls has produced two of the world’s best players ever- Jackson Richardson and Daniel Narcisse.  We can debate where those two gentlemen rank among the all-time greats; top 10? Top 20? Top 50? But, it’s undeniably remarkable that this remote outpost can lay such a claim.

Why Reunion Island? How did this happen? Well, if anything this result is indicative of France’s effort to integrate all of its outlying Departments and Territories into France proper.  In an American context, Reunion Island and the departments of the Caribbean/South America Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana are France’s versions of Hawaii.  Those “Departments” have full representation in France’s State Assembly, in much the same way Hawaii is our full fledged 50th state.  And while those Departments have their own culture quite a bit of effort is expended to make sure those citizens also realize they are French just as much as someone growing up in Paris.  And one of those efforts is financial aid in the sporting department.

I’m not certain as to exactly what is provided, but it’s clear that sports are well organized as athletes from these departments are well represented on French National teams in several sporting disciplines.  In addition to Richardson and Narcisse, Joel Abati, Didier Dinart and Cedric Sorhaindo are recent products of the overseas departments.  And those are some of the most notable players.  There are also plenty of talented player playing for French Club teams.

If one’s perspective is to look at these French outposts as part of France, this representation is only somewhat remarkable.  Sure, these parts of France are over represented in terms of their relative population, but this is true in other countries and in other sports.  For instance, there’s a preponderance of ice hockey players in the U.S. from Minnesota and very few from Texas.  There are more beach volleyballers from California then there are from Illinois, etc., etc.

But, if one’s perspective is to compare these French outposts to their non-French neighbors the difference is night and day.  I’m guessing that a Reunion Island Department level all-star team could beat every national side in sub-Saharan Africa with the possible exception of Angola.  They certainly could easily handle any nation with a coastline on the Indian Ocean.  In the America’s, Guadeloupe and Martinique would probably give Cuba a run for the money in a Caribbean championship.  They would be a notch below Argentina and Brazil, but I bet you those sides a battle would be in the hunt for the top 3 spots at any of the recent Pan American Championships.

So, are these handball success stories a model to follow or are they just interesting anomalies to the Handball geography of the world which is overwhelmingly centered on Europe?  Well, in one sense they do in fact demonstrate that the sport can become popular in some unlikely locales.  Unlikely in that these Handball hotbeds are surrounded for the most part by other countries where the sport barely even exists.  But such popularization doesn’t come cheap or easy.  More than anything it’s a minor testament to the soft power and financial investment that Mainland France has projected onto these far flung dominions.  There’s almost no movement for independence in these islands for a number of reasons.  France has treated these citizens well, made them feel French to a great extent and developed their internal infrastructure much more so than could be expected on their own. And one small aspect of that infrastructure is ready access to gyms, coaching and equipment for the sport of handball.

But, there’s no denying the significant impact of this investment to the Handball world, particularly to France.  Imagine their national side for the past decade without players like Richardson, Abati, Dinart, Narcisse and Sorhaindo.  They’d still be good, but I don’t think we’d be talking about the same number of World and European titles.

ehfTV Inside the Game Video: http://www.ehftv.com/video/001806

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Gazette Telegraph reports on USA Team Handball financial struggles

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The Gazette Telegraph highlights a funding fight between USA Team Handball and the USOC. Is USA Team Handball the guy in the water?

This past Tuesday, the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph posted an article highlighting USA Team Handball budget woes and the decline in funding grants the Federation has received from the USOC.  For those that follow the sport closely, the controversy regarding what funding the USA Federation receives or doesn’t receive from the USOC is a long standing issue.  What was striking to me (and others), however were some of the quotes in the article which called out the USOC.

Here’s a sampling of the article:

The USOC is primarily “going to fund sports that are going to win medals in London,” Pastorino said, maintaining that “there ought to be some credit given for building a long-term development program, a grassroots program, to get us to our ultimate goal. … The message we got this past winter completely counteracted that.” He claims the USOC told NGBs, “Forget about what we said in 2008. Medals talk. Make do with less.”

My reaction was, “Wow, looks like General Manager, Steve Pastorino was even more forthcoming then he was at the Press Conference a couple of weeks ago.  He must have had a follow up interview with Brian Gomez, the Gazette Telegraph reporter.”  Email follow-up with Steve Pastorino, however, indicated that this had not been the case, and the article quotes were based on the press conference from a couple of weeks ago.  And sure enough, a review of the press conference audio shows that those quotes are transcribed pretty accurately.  (You can hear for yourself (see below).  At around 44:20.  Christer Ahl asks the financial related questions.)  In the context of an hour long press conference covering a lot of topics the comments were significant; in the context of a short newspaper article that focused on financial issue, though, they were even more so.

As I highlighted before, these financial troubles weren’t new “news” for most American Team Handball followers.  Christer Ahl’s follow up article on the press conference had already touched on many of the key points from the press conference and Christer and I were both a little surprised with the candidness of some of Steve Pastorino’s comments regarding USOC support.

But, while Team Handball News might be a significant player in the Team Handball world we are, but a bit player in the sporting world (although, it should be noted there are a significant number of Colorado Springs visitors to our site).  What we report reaches a smaller audience.   The Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph isn’t the New York Times either, but Colorado Springs is still a decent sized city, and most importantly it’s the home of USOC HQ.  You can bet that every single USOC executive read the article with interest and a little frown as it doesn’t paint the USOC in the best light.  Additionally, the story has also been picked up by other outlets like MSNBC and Sports Business Journal Daily.

It remains to be seen if there’s any fallout from the article.  If there is, it can’t be because there’s anything incorrect in terms of content.  I’ve had my disagreements with how USA Team Handball has spent the money it’s received from the USOC and other sources, but you’ll find no disagreement from me regarding the inadequacy of the paltry sum Team Handball receives in comparison to other sports.   For some time I’ve been working on a series of articles which breaks down just how inconsistent, non-transparent and arbitrary the USOC process is.  Looks like it’s time to dust off the draft, clean it up and post it.

Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph (30 Aug 2011): USA Team Handball in financial fight with USOC: http://www.gazette.com/sports/fight-124178-financial-handball.html

THN (18 Aug 2011): USA Men’s Team getting ready for PANAM Games: https://teamhandballnews.com/2011/08/usa-mens-team-getting-ready-for-panam-games/

THN (19 Aug 2011): AUDIO: USATH Press Conference: https://teamhandballnews.com/2011/08/audio-usath-press-conference/

THN (3 Jan 2011):  The Budget Shell Game: https://teamhandballnews.com/2011/01/the-budget-shell-game/

 

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Canada at the Jr. World Championships

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Canada's Daniel Audette in action vs. Hungary at the Jr World Championships

The Canadian Men’s Jr. Team participated at the International Handball Federation (IHF) Junior World Championships in Greece.  They placed 22nd out of 24 teams with an overall record of 1-0-6.  In Group Play they were not competitive, losing by an average score of 20-47.  In consolation play they fared better beating African representative Benin and losing to Chile in an overtime penalty shootout.  Casper Bilton, who plays club handball in Denmark, led the team in scoring for the tournament with 36 goals.  Alexandre Touzel was the 2nd leading scorer with 21 goals.

The IHF website and French handball website, Handzone, have a couple of feature articles on the team and it’s noted that each player had to pay around $10,000 (Canadian dollars) to participate in qualification competition in Venezuela and the final tournament in Greece.

Handzone Article:”Tough learning for Canada” http://www.handzone.net/asp.net/main.news/news.aspx?id=55715

IHF:  “Canada: Our boys are fantastic”: http://www.ihf.info//MediaCenter/News/NewsDetails/tabid/130/Default.aspx?ID=722

There’s also some pretty good footage from the match against Chile available on Youtube.

Video Highlights (Canada vs. Chile): http://www.youtube.com/user/GreeceHandball2011#p/u/18/cWWxNNj8FV8

Commentary:  While the results for the Canadian team weren’t the best, from an American perspective it’s worth noting that are neighbors to the North were still able to put together a team of 19 and 20 year olds to participate in it.  Judging by the footage of the Chile match this was a credible team that knows how to play handball.  Not to mention the fact that a few of these players are already contributing members of their senior national team.

At this point in time I think the U.S. would be hard pressed to put together a similar team.  Other than our collegiate programs at West Point, Air Force and North Carolina we only have a few other players scattered around the country and a few based in Europe.  I doubt also, whether we have very many players willing to shell out around $10,000 to play.  In short, our talent pool is thinner and without some European transplants we may have well lost to Benin and Chile by 10 goals.  But, I could be wrong about this.  Perhaps we should start a yearly competitive series for Junior and Youth teams against Canada at Lake Placid/Montreal in the Summer months to find out.

Canada Results (Group Play)
Portugal 17:49 (5:25)
Sweden 20:40 (10:20)
Hungary 21:42 (9:19)
Iran 24:45 (16:25)
Spain 17:54 (11:27)

Consolation Play
Benin 23:22 (12:12) (Crossover 21-24th place)
Chile 26:27 (10:11) (Match for 22nd place)

Canadian Roster: http://www.ihf.info/files/CompetitionData/119/pdf/CAN.pdf
Canadian Cumulative Stats: http://www.ihf.info/files/CompetitionData/119/pdf/CANTOTAL.pdf

 

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Handball and Basketball at the Beach

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Venice Beach Handball (foreground) and pickup basketball (background)

The Ryan family was vacationing in Santa Monica for a few days and one day we decided to take a stroll south towards Venice Beach.  Venice Beach is an iconic location featured in numerous movies and TV shows for its skateboarders, weightlifters and Southern California ambiance.  Also part of that scene are the Handball and Basketball courts near the pier.  While watching those two sports being played simultaneously a couple of whimsical thoughts crossed my mind….

1) What’s funnier, a) the fact that many Europeans are puzzled and somewhat insulted that most Americans have no clue as to what their “handball” is or b) the fact that most Americans have no clue about the Handball the rest of the world plays?

It never fails to amuse me the confusion that almost always ensues when an American and European meet and the topic of conversation turns to Handball.  As one who has witnessed and participated in this comedic dance I’ve seen it play out in a number of different ways.  I’ve seen Europeans absolutely bewildered; even angered that their beloved sport can’t even be comprehended by an American who can’t figure out how 7 people get in such a tiny space.  I guess if they traveled to Venice Beach and seen the hundred or so people watching and playing this version of Handball they’d get the picture.  Not to mention the several thousand casual observers who stroll by and witness this sort of spectacle here and in other regional locales around the U.S.  Team Handball has an increasing awareness quotient in the U.S., but it should be readily apparent to all, that there’s a reason why to most Americans our “Handball” is at best “the other handball” and more likely, the “unknown handball.”  It shouldn’t be this way, but make no mistake that’s the way it is.  There are a lot of folks to pin the blame on in regards to this reality, but it stands to reason that no one would benefit more from a campaign to change this reality than the Europeans trying to make a living playing, managing and promoting the sport.  So yes, the answer to my question is that it’s funnier that Europeans are puzzled.

2) It’s not practical to play pick-up Handball and the fact that you can play pick-up basketball has inevitably led to its ever increasing popularity.

As a middle aged athlete with diminished skills I watched the basketball games being played and immediately assessed that I could step right in and play.  One of the games I’d probably have dominated and in the other I’d been a role player.  I wasn’t about ready to step in and play, but if I wanted to I could.  Which, of course, is the beauty of pick-up basketball?.  Just about anywhere in the U.S and increasingly the rest of the world, it’s possible to find a game at your level in which you can just walk right up and start playing.  Whereas, as far as I know, there’s nowhere in the world that you can do that for Handball.  There are a number of reasons why that’s true.  Here’s a few:

– Handball’s a rough game.  Accordingly, you generally don’t want to play with just anybody.
– Handball’s a young man’s game.  Once you get north of 40 years old Handball gets to be pretty hard in terms of recovery.  This is true in basketball, as well, but based on personal experience it’s manageable.
– You got to have 14 people to play the game the way it’s meant to be played.  You can sort of make do with 12 and you can scrimmage on a half side of the court, but it’s a poor, unsatisfactory compromise. And 2 of those 14 better be legitimate goalies.  Whereas in basketball, even 2 on 2 can be fun.
– “Call your own” officiating in basketball is problematic; in Handball it’s even worse.

This whimsical thought is not meant to validate the concept that basketball is a superior sport.  No, just to merely point out the obvious:  The great sport of Handball has got some limitations when it comes to casual, spur of the moment participation.

 

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Partille Cup: How can USA Team Handball best maximize this opportunity?

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USA Girls in action at the Partille Cup

The USA sent two youth teams recently to participate in International Handball Federation (IHF) Olympic Solidarity Program and the Partille Cup in Sweden.  The Olympic Solidarity Program is an IHF funded program held to support developing handball nations and the Partille Cup is a massive youth tournament with club teams from all over Europe and the world participating.  While I think it’s great that a handful of young American players are getting this exposure to Handball, some of the ugly score lines from the tournament got me contemplating whether the USA is maximizing this opportunity.

Boys Team Results from Partille Cup

Olympic Solidarity Camp Friendly Games
USA National Team 26-22 China
USA National Team 44-29 Singapore

Pool Play (16 and Under)
USA National Team 7-32 OV Helsingborg
USA National Team 9-22 Kärra HF
USA National Team 16-14 BK Ydun
USA National Team 17-22 TV Birsfelden
USA National Team 9-19 HC Eynatten-Raeren

Knock Out Tournament
USA National Team 8-21 Elverum IL

Girls Team Results from Partille Cup

Olympic Solidarity Camp Friendly Games
USA National Team 10-18 Scotland
USA National Team 12-23 Scotland

Pool Play (15 and Under)
USA National Team 3-22 Vorup FB
USA National Team 4-28 Kungsängens SK
USA National Team 4-27 Skövde HF
USA National Team 1-27 Klaebu IL
USA National Team 4-30 Skedsmo HK 1

Knock Out Tournament
USA National Team 5-14 Röyken og Hurum Graabein

Results Overview

A quick assessment of the score lines show that the boy’s team had some measure of respectability.  They won their two friendly games against China and Singapore at the Olympic Solidarity Camp and compiled a 1-5 record in their Partille Cup games, with an average score line of 10-19.  The girl’s team results were more lopsided.  They lost both of their solidarity camp games to Scotland and were totally overwhelmed in every Partille Cup match losing their 6 games with an average score line of 4-25.  (Note:  These matches were 2X15 minutes, so to get a true picture you might want to multiply the scores by 2)

Top Prospect or Any Prospect?

While these score lines were ugly we shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking this was a wasted trip.  I’ve written before about lopsided scores and the benefits the learning experience provides to the losing team.  And in that commentary I was talking about much older teams.  The two teams sent to Sweden were far younger and coupled with the training at the Olympic Solidarity Program this event was surely worthwhile for every athlete that attended.  All that being said, however, I think USATH needs to be  more low key as to the composition of this “national team”.  This was clearly a developmental team and I would classify the participants as more any prospect then top prospect.

The play on words refers to the current youth focused effort established by the USA Federation: the Top Prospects program.  There are a lot of positive things about this program as it’s providing funding, curriculum and structure to different regions of the country.  There’s a clear application process and it may be presumptuous on my part, but I think if someone is motivated and takes the time to fill out an application they probably stand a good chance of getting some support to develop a local program.  In short, the Federation is providing much needed support and incentive to start new pockets of development throughout the U.S.

But, while what I’ve just described is all well and good it appears that the program is probably falling well short of its stated mission of identifying “talented” future Olympic Players.  I say this based partly on the ugly looking score lines from the recent Partille Cup.  While those poor results can be partially chalked up to the vastly more experienced European clubs I think a team of future Olympic athletes could use that superior athletic ability to keep the game a little more respectable.   This is especially true when you factor in that most of the clubs participating at the Partille cup are only drawing athletes from one small dot on the map, not an entire county or 300 million people.

But, then again the current reality is that the U.S. is probably working with a youth talent pool smaller than what many of those clubs are working with.  In fact, based on Federation articles written promoting the trip and tryouts a cynic might even assess that just about anyone willing to pay for airfare probably could have put on a USA jersey.

The challenges of identifying top young talent

But, even if USA Team Handball had thousands and thousands in the talent pool vying for Partille Cup spots, identifying the future Olympian at ages 15 and 16 is probably a futile mission.  Out of curiosity I checked out the USA Basketball website to see what kind of Under 19 and Under 18 rosters they’ve sent to assorted FIBA tournaments in the past 15 years.  I didn’t do an in-depth review, but the typical roster only had 1 or 2 players whose names I recognized and with a few notable exceptions (Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh) I didn’t see a whole lot of Olympians.  And this is for a U19 roster for a major sport where colleges spend hundreds of thousands of dollars recruiting and assessing potential high school prospects.  So, with all those resources being applied they are either missing some talented players or more likely those talented players are still developing as athletes.  And this is at ages 18 and 19!  If you look at ages 15 and 16 players like Michael Jordan (he got cut from his HS Varsity team as a sophomore) would never ever get selected.

Recommendations:  Focus on maximizing exposure

So, if you take into account that a sport like basketball can’t do a great job of identifying Olympic talent at young ages, it’s very unlikely that we’re going to do the same for Team Handball.  And if you couple that fact with the other challenges our sport faces competing against other more established sports, we need to make sure were maximizing the potential benefits of Partille Cup participation. And in my opinion, maximum benefit equals maximum participation.  With that in mind I have the following recommendations.

1) Maximize nationwide participation: The rosters for the Partille Cup had fairly heavy representation from only a few Top Prospect programs.  Notably, the girl’s team was mostly from New Jersey while the boy’s team was spread out a little better with 3 players each from Salt Lake City and Chicago.  I would argue that it would be better to further spread out that representation, so that only 1 or 2 players be allowed to participate from a local youth program.  Such a quota would give more players from clubs and Top Prospect programs exposure to the Partille Cup experience.

2) Limit participation to “one and done”:  Attending an event like the Partille Cup can be life changing for a young athlete.  It is a totally unique opportunity and has the distinct possible outcome of creating new Handball fans for life.  Attending the same event in subsequent years, however, will not have a significant multiplying effect.  Therefore, it would be far better to maximize the numbers of kids who get that opportunity.  Hence, my one and done proposal to ensure that as many kids as possible get that experience.  Undoubtedly, this will mean the official USA teams that are sent won’t be as strong, but results are really secondary at these ages. (A short side note here:  There’s nothing to prevent anyone participating or creating their own team to play in this event.  I’m simply talking about the teams that are getting resources from USA Team Handball.)

3) Come up with a new name for the team:  Since the criteria above will keep us from sending our best team forward the USA team should be given a name like “USA Select” or “USA Development Team”.  This is semantic, but in terms of promotion to the rest of the world it will help to at least partially explain ugly score lines.

4) Continue to promote the event:  My compliments to Kyle Hanson and the USATH staff for their regular reporting on this event.  This isn’t the first time a team from the USA has attended, but it’s the first time it’s gotten the exposure it deserves.  Future prospects will read those reports and target this as an event they want to play in.  Promotion is key to getting the word out and expanding the talent pool.

 

USATH:  Top Prospects Program Overview:  http://assets.teamusa.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/37770/Top_Prospects.pdf

USATH (18 Feb 11): 20 Athletes Converge on Colorado Springs for Youth National Team Selection Camp: http://usateamhandball.org/news/article/41031

USATH  (10 Jun 11): USA Team Handball youth taking on the 2011 Olympic Solidarity Program and Partille Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden: http://usateamhandball.org/news/article/42763

USATH (15 Jun 11): U16 Boys and Girls Rosters Named for Partille Cup: http://usateamhandball.org/news/article/42855

USATH (28 Jun 11): U16 Girls Training Camp in August at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center: http://usateamhandball.org/news/article/43135

USATH (13 Jul 11):  Youngsters shine at Partille Cup:  http://usateamhandball.org/news/2011/07/13/youngsters-shine-at-partille-cup/43521

Partille Cup VIDEO: Olympic Solidarity Overview: http://partillecup.com/eng/index.php/home/webb-tv/?film=4407

USA Basketball (Under 19 History): http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/u19/history.html

 

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Time for a True European Super League (Part 3): Why playoffs are overwhelming superior to season long championship

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For the past few weeks, America's #1 Handball fan has been watching this German athlete more than the German Bundesliga. Why?

 

In Part 1, I highlighted how Europeans might want to consider making their sports leagues more like their Governments.  In Part 2, I provided an overall framework for a European Super League  In Part 3 of this series I take on the totally absurd notion that NBA/NHL style playoffs won’t work for European Professional Handball.

First, let’s establish that I’m a big fan of the sport of Handball.  Heck, I’ll go out on a limb and state that I am the #1 fan of the sport in the U.S.  Certainly, I doubt that any of my 308,000,000 compatriots watch more Handball on TV or the internet on a yearly basis.  (If you think you’re a bigger fan, please drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com and will compare notes.) So, it should be clear, I’m not here to bash the sport.  In fact, you’ll be hard pressed to find a bigger promoter of it.

Secondly, I’m not some clueless American who doesn’t understand European sports traditions.  On the contrary, I lived five years in France and became totally immersed in the club sport culture.  I played one season of lower division Handball and four years of over age 35 basketball in Levallois, a suburb of Paris.  Ask me what I enjoyed the most about living in France and I will say without hesitation it was playing club sports.  Oh, how I wish the U.S. had clubs where individuals of every level can play from the age of 5 years to 70.  (Yes, incredibly there was a 70 year old player on our basketball team.  I’ll never forget figuring out just how old he was after he told me about the Americans throwing him candy from the tanks back in 1945.)

Third, I think I’ve got a pretty good understanding of European professional club handball.  Living in France, I became a pretty big of the French League and this year, I’ve enjoyed watching around 70 German Bundesliga matches.  It’s truly been great to immerse myself in what is clearly the top professional Handball league in the world.

So, sorry for the diatribe, but I think I’ve got some pretty strong credentials to take on this topic.  And while there are many aspects of the American sports model, I’d like to see Europeans adopt, the most needed reform is clearly the addition of playoffs.   I’ve always thought this, but the TV viewing choices I have made the last few weeks have brought even greater clarity to the validity of this position.  To further explain, let’s just say that there are only so many hours in a day available to watch sports.  And earlier this year, for the first time in my life, I could choose to watch traditional American sports or Handball.  And while I didn’t go cold turkey on the sports I grew up with, Handball took priority.  Even more remarkably, basketball, my first sport passsion, became an afterthought.

But as Hamburg’s run to an HBL title became all but apparent my interest started to wane and since the NBA playoffs started in mid April my DVR queue has started to pile up with HBL matches.  Why would
America’s self-proclaimed #1 Handball fan suddenly prefer to watch basketball over handball?  Do I really have to explain this? OK, the answer is:

In terms of entertainment value, meaningless games with no bearing whatsoever on a championship cannot even begin to compete with the compelling “do or die” nature of a playoff format.

I’d like to maintain that even defenders of the championship format won’t argue this point.  They might argue about the logistics and the fairness of playoffs, but nobody in their right mind should argue about the entertainment value.   Seriously, do you want to watch Balingen-Kiel with nothing on the line or game 5 of Kiel vs. Hamburg for the title?

However, entertainment value is not everything.  Although, arguably for a professional sports league it should be the most important thing.  But, since this is Europe there are other reasons to defend the Championship model.  Herewith are some of those reasons and a rebuttal as to why they aren’t valid.

1) It’s not the fairest way to determine a champion. Players could be injured at the end of the season and a team that was playing poorly earlier in the year could get “hot” and win the title.  Only a championship format will fairly reward a team for consistent performance.
Rebuttal: If every club knows the rules for determining the league winner before the season starts, then whatever method is used can be considered fair.  Furthermore, what can be fairer than to have two teams play each other in a best of 5 or best of 7?  Seriously, the likelihood that an inferior team is going to put together 4 upsets is pretty unlikely.  No, if you can beat the other team 4 times, then clearly you are the better team.

2) Europeans only care about their local teams and are not interested in watching other teams play.
Rebuttal: If you have two high quality teams going head to head in a playoff series people will watch and when they watch, if they have a pulse, they can’t help but get drawn in.  In the recent NBA playoffs, I found myself becoming a fan of the Memphis Grizzlies, an 8 seed that knocked off the 1 seed, San Antonio and then battled Oklahoma City to a game 7 final in the next round.  I knew absolutely nothing about that team prior to the playoffs, yet ended up making sure I saw everyone of their games.  Could the same thing happen in Handball?  You bet and I would probably put middle of the road HBL side like Grosswalstadt in that category.  Sure, their victory over Kiel in Kiel was interesting, but other than dropping Kiel down a notch what did it mean?  Now, imagine Grosswalstadt as an 8 seed that #1 seed Hamburg has to be wary of in a 5 or 7 game series.  Hey, that sounds interesting.  I’m going make sure I see that.

3) It’s too many games. The season is long as it is.  Adding playoff games will make it even longer.
Rebuttal: If you structure the league properly it won’t be too many games.  In particular, in order to properly stage playoffs, it will be necessary to shorten the regular season a couple of months.

4) Clubs that don’t make the playoffs will have fewer games and will lose revenue. With a shortened regular season clubs that don’t make the playoffs will have nothing going on for the last couple of months.  What will the players do and won’t that be devastating financially to those clubs?
Rebuttal: Well, I can’t argue about the fewer games.  That’s life in the big city.  The financial loss will not be devastating, however, if the league has revenue sharing for their TV contract.  Not all of the revenue would be shared 100% equally, so clubs and players would still have lots of incentives for winning and advancing in the playoffs.  As an aside, you might find it interesting to note that NBA players (especially those with high salaries) are ridiculously underpaid during the playoffs, making only a fraction more than their base salaries.  In theory, if money was their only object, many of them would be better off losing and relaxing on the
beach.

5) These playoffs would interfere with Champions League. If two clubs were going head to head and one of them was still in the Champions League it would give an unfair advantage to the team that wasn’t.
Rebuttal: No argument from me on this one.  This is why, if you re-read part 2, you’ll see where I highlight that Super League teams would not participate in the Champions League or National Cups.  You can’t do both and as I explained if there was a true Super League, you wouldn’t want to.  Don’t get me wrong as things are currently structured the Champions League is the best thing going.  Next weekend, I’m really looking forward to the semifinals and final.    Those games mean something as they are “do or die” and a championship is on the line.  Still, if I had my druthers, those 4 sides wouldn’t be playing 2 knockout games.  No, they’d be playing two best of 5 semifinal series.  And instead of watching the Bulls vs. the Heat or the Mavericks vs. the Thunder on TV every other night I’d be taking turns watching R-N L vs. Barca and Hamburg vs. Ciudad Real.  I can dream, can’t I?

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Commentary: USA Team Handball National Teams: Are there too many guys with short haircuts and accents? (Part 2: Dual Citizenship Athletes)

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Swedish-American Martin Clemens Axelsson and Norwegian-American  Karoline Borg are key members of the U.S. National Teams

Anyone who follows USA Team Handball’s excellent American’s Abroad updates has surely noticed that two groups of Americans (military members and dual citizens) are very well represented. In Part 1, I assessed that having a lot of military athletes on our National Teams isn’t a problem, but rather a symptom of a problem (thin talent pool). In part two, I’ll consider whether the same is true for dual citizenship athletes.
Dual Citizenship Athletes
USA Team Handball, since its inception has had dual citizenship athletes playing for its National Teams and certainly it isn’t the only sport to have sprinkled its roster with these dual citizen athletes. Notably, USA soccer, particularly in its development years in the 80s and 90s, has had its fair share of foreign imports. Additionally, a number of Handball nations (e.g. Spain) where there is no shortage of homegrown players have bolstered their roster with mercenaries (naturalized citizens) simply to improve their national team.
Until recently, however, dual citizen athletes have been a distinct minority on U.S. teams that have been overwhelmingly comprised of born and raised, domestic based players. Arguably, at no other time in the history of the sport in the U.S. have so many dual citizen athletes (e.g. El Zogby.Axelsson, Borg) played such pivotal roles on U.S. National Teams.
So, should we be concerned that we have too many guys with foreign accents?
Yes, for three reasons.
1) Again, this is a very clear indication that we have a thin talent pool. First off, let’s acknowledge that most dual citizens if presented a choice between 1) playing for the Handball nation where they’ve learned to play and spent most of their life or 2) playing for Team USA they are going to choose the Handball nation. Only, if they have no realistic prospects are they going to consider the U.S. option. There might be exceptions to this (perhaps, Adam El Zogby), but it’s a good rule of thumb. So, if a second tier (or third, or fourth or even lower caliber) player from Europe can make the U.S. team it’s probably a good indication that our homegrown talent pool is third tier (or lower). This isn’t all bad. Such players can still be huge contributors that can help us knock off the likes of Canada, Greenland and maybe even Brazil or Argentina someday. But, they are not likely to put us into the next echelon in the World Championships or Olympic Games.
2) Integrating dual citizenship athletes can be disruptive. It should also be noted that the integration of dual citizens on a national team can be a tricky business. I got a sense of this during my short stint on the U.S. National Team when we had tryouts for a couple of dual citizens from Norway and Sweden right before the World Championship in 1993. Both athletes that tried out were nice enough guys and experienced players, but there was also a little resentment with these “outsiders” potentially taking a roster spot from the born and raised Americans. As two outsiders amongst 15 players that had been practicing together for several months there were few integration problems. The only minor problem I recall was when they started conversing in Nordic to each other in front of their teammates. Never a polite move in any context and this was put to a halt with some friendly counseling.
As the current National Team structure has most players playing with clubs overseas, the context is clearly different from my stateside experience. And everything might be all hunky-dory now as relatively few athletes are competing for roster spots. As competition for National Team spots heats up, though, politics will undoubtedly enter the picture. Heck, I remember divisions and accusations of political favoritism based on geographical regions within the U.S. Those New York accents can take a while to get used, but add an even thicker one with an accompanying separate cultural identity and there could be real cohesion problems. An American citizen is an American, but let’s be clear that there’s no getting around the fact that there’s a big cultural identity difference between growing up in the U.S. and growing up in a foreign country. It doesn’t matter how well someone speaks English and how frequently they connect with relatives in the States, they’re going to be more culturally attuned to where they’ve lived. Fortunately, the U.S., more than any other country, is a melting pot of different cultures, so team integration of such a diverse group is still likely to occur. All things being equal, though, it’s simpler not to have such a diverse team.
3) Dual citizens are less likely to support development in the U.S. An ancillary benefit (at least a hoped for one, anyway) of athletes participating in National Team competitions is that those athletes will use that experience to support development of the sport in the U.S. Anyone who has been around the sport in the U.S. knows full well that is not always the case. In fact, it happens a lot less than we’d like it to. Still, it goes without saying that it’s even more unlikely that a dual citizen with stronger ties to another country will decide to move to the U.S permanently and become involved in development efforts. Also, not to be forgotten is the role model aspect of a local club member getting promoted to the National Team. This can inspire younger players to new heights with the thought, “well if he can do it, I can do it.”
Should anything be done to remedy this imbalance?
In many respects this problem can be resolved the same way the military athlete imbalance can be fixed. If we widen our domestic talent pool with better players then the standard for dual citizens getting consideration will be higher and accordingly there will be fewer of them.
While this should occur naturally I also think that USA Team Handball should have some policies that will indirectly boost opportunities for domestic players. Right now, with no U.S. based residence program it’s pretty much impossible for a domestic player to improve significantly as a player without moving to Europe. As such, by default, this has given the dual citizen athlete already conveniently living and acclimated to Europe a distinct advantage. While, I’m not advocating a return to the full-up residence programs of the 80’s and 90’s, I do think that some resources need to be spent on preparing domestic based athletes for overseas competition. (This is outlined in Part 3: A Framework for Creating U.S. National Team Success) In addition, more time and resources should be devoted to getting those domestic athletes on good clubs with strong training programs. A watchful eye should be kept on dual citizen athletes, but logically they will be more able to fend for themselves.
In the end, I’d like to see U.S. National Teams with a smattering of dual citizens playing key roles. Not because I don’t like dual citizens, but because I’d like to have the quality of our domestic players be such that only a few talented athletes can make the cut. And who knows, maybe I’m dreaming, but perhaps one day I’ll even get to read a German (or Danish, pick your country) commentary deploring the fact that they’ve lost a prized dual-citizen prospect to the Americans.
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Commentary: USA Team Handball National Teams: Are there too many guys with short haircuts and accents? (Part 1: Military Athletes)

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West Point (pictured) and the Air Force Academy have several graduates in the USA National Team player pool. Is it too high of a percentage?

Anyone who follows USA Team Handball’s excellent American’s Abroad updates has surely noticed that two groups of Americans (military members and dual citizens) are very well represented.  It’s worth reflecting upon whether this presents a problem or concern with the sports development in the U.S. Here’s my analysis on military athletes.

There has been a long tradition of athletes with military backgrounds playing on U.S. National Teams.  The 1972 Olympic team, in particular, included several army athletes that were introduced to the sport via Army sponsored training camps.  Anecdotally, I’ve even been told that making the team back then had the added incentive of avoiding a tour in Vietnam.  In terms of collegiate club programs West Point and to a lesser extent, the Air Force Academy have been the bulwark programs that have been around for years as other programs (with the exception of North Carolina) have come and gone.  So it should come as no surprise that more graduates from these schools have gone on to join the National Teams than from any other college in the nation.

I am obviously biased, but I think most non-partial observers would also agree, that the typical service academy graduate who continues to play handball is both highly dedicated and disciplined in their approach to the sport. In simple terms they are usually highly coachable and true team players.  Aside from the right attitude, their Handball skills have generally been a notch above most other collegiate programs.  In other words a service academy graduate transitioning to the National Team isn’t starting at ground zero.

I suspect that the current preponderance of military athletes in the national team player pool is due to two primary reasons.  First, as I already alluded to, it’s simply a reflection of a very thin talent base.  This is clearly evidenced by only 4 men’s universities (West Point, Air Force, N Carolina and Texas A&M) and 2 women’s universities (West Point and N. Carolina) being represented at the recent collegiate championships.  With half the schools being Service Academies and the West Point men being so dominant that they played an intrasquad scrimmage for the championship it’s no surprise that our national teams have a lot of guys with short haircuts.

The second factor, undoubtedly trending towards more military athletes is the financial support being provided by the U.S. military’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP).  This program allows military athletes in a number of different sports the opportunity to train full time in preparation for the Olympic Games.  I’m sure USA Team Handball would prefer to have its own funding line to provide generous stipends to any promising athletes, but that’s not currently in the cards.

So, should we be concerned that we have too many guys in short haircuts? Yes, for two reasons.

1) First, it’s a stark indication that we need more colleges playing the sport in the U.S.  If all of the athletes being identified for the next level (National team competition or pro leagues) in any sport are coming from only two schools that’s an anomaly.  And such an anomaly can only be the result of either powerhouse programs gobbling up all the talent or that there just aren’t very many people playing.  West Point obviously has a top notch program, but it’s more the latter than the former.  So, it’s a problem, but it would be a problem if it was any two colleges in the U.S.  They just happen to be Service Academies in this instance.

2) The second concern, however, is legitimately tied to the unique circumstances of military athletes.  And that is what the military can giveth with WCAP it can also taketh with military service.  This is evidenced by several Army players being pulled from the program after the loss to Canada last December. Relying too heavily on military athletes can severely impact a
program and given the choice (free of WCAP incentives) I’m sure that USA Team Handball would prefer developing players with no strings attached.

Should anything be done to remedy this imbalance?

Yes, but there’s no need for a plan with the specific goal of reducing our dependency of military athletes.  Rather, it should simply be a natural reduction based on more top players being identified and developed through youth based programs and more colleges playing the sport.  As the talent pool widens it’ll become more likely that only the top couple of players from any one school in the country will be identified as National Team prospects.   And with strong traditions at schools like West Point and the AF Academy it’s probably a good bet that they will continue to provide top prospects, they just will have a smaller percentage.

So, I’ve assessed our current preponderance of military athletes on our National Teams as not a problem, but a symptom of a problem (thin talent pool).  In part two, I’ll consider whether the same is true for dual citizenship athletes.

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British Handball Update: Formal approval from the BOA, EHF funding and a victory over Italy

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Great Britain captain Ciaran Williams on attack vs. Italy

The 2012 Olympics are about 17 months away and the British Handball Federation has had several small victories, both on and off the court, in the past few months.  First off, back in January the British Olympic Association (BOA) (GBR’s Olympic Committee) granted full approval for the British teams to participate in the 2012 Olympics.  Never a done deal, the BOA’s approval was contingent on British Handball making the case that the games would leave a “lasting legacy” for the sport and that the men’s and women’s teams could put forth a “credible performance.”  Some had even argued that no funding should be spent on a team with no hope of medalling.

Terms like “lasting legacy” and “credible performance” are wide open to interpretation, but few would argue that progress isn’t being made on both fronts.  Notably the European Handball Federation (EHF) has stepped forward with some funding support to British Handball.  Details were lacking in terms of how much funding, but it appears most of it will go toward the salary of a full-time handball development officer in London.  Such a position makes sense and is a win-win for British Handball and the EHF as both organizations would benefit greatly were Great Britain to become a Handball nation.

On the court itself, Great Britain is still a long ways from being on par with the other 11 nations that will round out the field in London.  The Men’s recent matches against Italy (a 33-24 victory) and Turkey (26-28 loss), however provide some hope.  Neither of those teams strikes fear into Europe’s top handball nations, but those are a couple of teams that likely would have beaten a British side by 10 or more goals only a couple of years ago.  Does that mean the Brits are on track for a credible performance in 17 months?  That, of course, depends on your standards.  Both the men and the women are likely to get beaten badly by the other European sides and will be fortunate to win any games.  But, it wouldn’t surprise me if they have stretches where they play credibly. 

The more important standard though, is clearly the “lasting legacy” one.  Non handball nations like Australia and the U.S. have failed to fully take advantage of the opportunity an Olympics can bring.  Let’s hope that Great Britain can break that trend and use 2012 as a stepping stone towards becoming a Handball nation. 

Eurosport.com (21 March 2011): GB handballers raring to go: http://au.eurosport.com/olympicgames/olympic-games/2012/gb-hanballers-ready-to-go_sto2714238/story.shtml

EHF (15 Mar 2011): EHF supports Olympic legacy in London: http://www.eurohandball.com/article/13762

The Economist (17 Mar 2011): Britain’s new Olympic sports: New balls, please: The host nation extends its sporting repertoire: http://www.economist.com/node/18396255?story_id=18396255&fsrc=rss

BBC (19 Jan 2011): Great Britain handball teams given 2012 Olympic nod: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/handball/9362374.stm

THN Commentary (25 Jan 2008):  Times of London Handball Article Misses the Goal: https://teamhandballnews.com/2008/01/times-of-london-handball-article-misses-the-goal/

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Promoting Team Handball in the U.S. (Part 1): Las Vegas Rugby 7s Tournament: Undoubtedly, a model to follow

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Team USA takes the field in front of 25,000 fans

As frequent readers are well aware, I’ve written a number of pieces on the sport of Rugby and how its challenges to develop in the U.S. are similar to that of Team Handball.  Both are sports with similarities with sports Americans already excel at and follow passionately (basketball for Team Handball; American Football for Rugby).  And both sports are very popular in parts of the world (Scandinavia, the Balkans and Germany for Team Handball; the British Commonwealth for Rugby) but are minor sports in the U.S.  And finally, both sports have passionate followers in the U.S., who dream that one day their sport will crack into the big time and become part of the American sports landscape.

I live in Las Vegas, a town full of dreamers, and a couple weekends ago I saw and heard firsthand how Rugby is maybe, just maybe, turning that dream into a reality.  It was the second year that the USA 7s tournament was held in Las Vegas as part of the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) World Series for Rugby 7s.  A crowd of around 25,000 attended each day of the 2 day event held at Sam Boyd stadium on the outskirts of Vegas.  This may not seem like much of a crowd, but I can attest that it’s more than the UNLV football team often draws and without doubt you’ll be hard pressed to see spectators anywhere having more fun.  The event has a party time atmosphere with expats from many nations dressed up in costumes or their nation’s colors.   Outside the stadium is a festival area with rugby drills for the kids, assorted booths with national food dishes.   And as it’s an all day event, let’s just say that if fans start drinking beer before noon most of them are going to be in a good mood come nightfall.

But aside from the festive mood onsite an even more important indication of Rugby’s growth was the presence of NBC sports at the event.  In all, 5 hours of coverage (much of it live) was broadcast over the airwaves to every corner of the United States and 17 hours of coverage was available to much of the nation via the NBC Universal Sports online platform.  I’m not an expert on TV broadcasting, but based on the equipment, numbers of trailers and personnel running around NBC didn’t cut any corners on their production.  TV coverage like this alone, isn’t going to turn the U.S. into a Rugby power overnight, but there’s no denying that nationwide exposure like this is a godsend to a niche sport.

Here are a couple of audio excerpts from NBC’s broadcast.  It doesn’t take much to imagine a Team Handball broadcast and the same type of Olympic advertisement for our sport.

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From time to time I’ve gotten into verbal and written forum spats with members of the U.S. Team Handball community that pooh-pooh the importance of TV exposure.  The standard argument is that it’s a diversion of scarce resources (time and money) that would be better spent on grass roots development.  My counter argument is that it’s a numbers game and we sorely need new fans and players to support our grass roots programs and TV is the best way to grow those numbers.  Heck, you might even find a real gem of a player who takes a liking to a game he’s never seen before.  Last summer during the USA National Team – LA match in Chicago I whimsically made such a point on the Comcast broadcast.  Essentially issuing a challenge to anyone watching that if they think they can play this game better contact the U.S. Federation for a tryout.  For those of you who like to pooh-pooh the possibility of finding such a player, I suggest you check out this audio interview of Miles Craigwell, a former NFL player who saw a broadcast last year of Rugby 7’s, got in touch with the USA Rugby Federation and 8 months later started several matches for the U.S in Vegas. 

I’ll be the first to tell you that Rugby 7s is a much simpler game to learn than Team Handball, but we could still use a few more Miles Craigwells showing some interest in our sport.  And as I’ve argued many times before, we still need to have the grassroots programs in place.  Because, if you do your promotion well, you need to be ready to handle all those newcomers. 

But, are we doing our promotion of Team Handball as well as we could?  As I soaked in the enormity of this event for Rugby, I couldn’t help but contemplate “how is Rugby doing this?” and “why can’t something similar be done for Team Handball?”  In part 2 of this series I’ll tackle that very question.

Universal Sports (3 Feb 2011): Craigwell a football player turned rugby star: http://www.universalsports.com/blogs/blog=thescrum/postid=514632.html

The Economist (3 Feb 2011) Rugby in America: Worth a try: More and more Americans are being converted to the sport: http://www.economist.com/node/18070557?story_id=18070557&fsrc=rss

THN (11 Feb 2011): https://teamhandballnews.com/2011/02/nbc-to-broadcast-5-hours-of-7-on-7-olympic-team-sport/