The South American Games Handball Competition will take place from 9-13 November 2006 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Four nations (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay) are participating in both the Men’s and Women’s tournaments. The top 2 nations will qualify for the PANAM Games this summer in Brazil, while the third place teams will qualify for the second chance tournaments in February. (Note: I'm guessing that Brazil is not participating due to the fact that they've already qualified for the PANAM Games and they will be hosting the World Beach Handball Championships very soon.)

Schedule/Results: http://www.balonmanoargentina.org.ar/compinternac/odesur/principal.htm

[b]Current PANAM Games qualification status:[/b]

[b]Women[/b]
1) Brazil- Host
2) Cuba- 1st Central America/Caribbean
3) Dominican Republic- 2nd Central America/Caribbean
4) Puerto Rico- 3rd Central America/Caribbean
5) TBD- 1st South America
6) TBD- 2nd South America
7) TBD- 1st North America
8 TBD- 2nd Chance Tourney Winner

[b]2nd Chance Tourney Participants[/b]
– Mexico- 4th Central America/Caribbean (Host)
– El Salvador- 5th Central America/Caribbean
– TBD- 3rd South America
– TBD- Canada vs US Loser

[b]Men[/b]
1) Brazil- Host
2) Dominican Republic- 1st Central America/Caribbean
3) Cuba- 2nd Central America/Caribbean
4) Mexico- 3rd Central America/Caribbean
5) TBD- 1st South America
6) TBD- 2nd South America
7) TBD- 1st North America
8 TBD- 2nd Chance Tourney Winner

[b]2nd Chance Tourney Participants[/b]
– Puerto Rico- 4th Central America/Caribbean (Host)
– Honduras- 5th Central America/Caribbean
– TBD- 3rd South America
– TBD- Canada vs US Loser

Canada’s Quebec League and the US North East Team Handball Conference (NETHC) have announced that they will form an alliance starting with the 2006-07 Season.

The Men’s teams will split into two leagues of 6 teams, split primarily along National boundaries (Chaudiere 2 will play with the 5 US teams). Each team will play the 5 teams within in its own league twice and the 6 teams in the other league once, for a total of 16 games. The top 4 teams from each league will then qualify for an end of season knockout tournament in April

The Women’s teams will consist of two divisions. The senior division will be organized similar to last year with the USA Women’s National Team as the only US participant. A lower division will be split into a US League of 5 teams and a Canadian League of 4 teams. Teams in the US League will play each other twice and the Canadian teams once. In the Canadian League the teams will play each other three times and the American teams once.

NETHC Website: http://www.nethc.org/
Quebec League Website (in French): http://www.handball-elite.com/

Full text of the merger announcement:

PROJECT
Alliance between the NETHC and the Quebec League

PROPOSAL

The alliance between two leagues: The “Northeast Team Handball Conference” (in USA) and the ‘Circuit Québécois’ (CANADA), which will allow inter-league games between the participating teams of each league.

RESPONSIBLE OF THE ALLIANCE

Commissioner of the NETHC: Christian Latulippe
Coordinator of the Quebec League: Michelle Lortie
Responsible of the referees in USA: Bruce Mosberg
Responsible of the referees in Canada: To be named
Responsible of the NETHC website: Kathy Darling
Responsible of the Statistics (Quebec League):

NUMBER OF INTERESTED TEAM FOR THE SEASON 2006-2007

On the men side, the alliance will have 12 teams divided in 2 leagues

Circuit Québécois (Men)
Champlain 1
Chaudière 1
Alberta
Champlain 2
Montreal
Sherbrooke

NETHC (Men)
New York Cty
Chaudiere 2
New Jersey
New England
Cortland

On the women side, the alliance will have 9 teams divided in 2 leagues.

Circuit Québécois (Women)
Chaudière
Sherbrooke
Laurier
Laval

NETHC (Women)
University of North Carolina
West Point Gold
USA ‘B’
West Point Black
Cortland

Please note that the ‘Circuit Québécois senior on the women side will remain similar to last year with the following teams: Champlain, Montreal, USA, Laval, Drummondville, Granby, Chaudière, Sherbrooke and Champlain 2.

REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

Each team will play the following number of games:

Circuit Québécois and NETHC (men) = 16 games (two games against each team of their league and 1 game against the teams of the other league)
NETHC (women) = 12 games (2 games against each team of their league and 1 game against the teams of the other league).
Circuit Québécois (women) = 14 games (3 games against each team of their league and 1 game against the teams of the other league).

For the NETHC games, the game schedule will be divided in weekend tournaments held between October and March, where each team will play 3 to 4 games per tournament. Only Alberta and University of North Carolina will play all their games during 3 tournaments.

The game schedule should allow each team to travel early Saturday morning and to comeback at a decent time late Sunday night, for example: Saturday games at 12:00, 13:30, 15:00, 16:30, 18:00 et 19:30 and Sunday games at 9:00, 10:30 et 12:00. When Alberta and University of North Carolina come to play, it is possible that they will play a game early Saturday morning.

Each team based in the Northeast Region will have a chance to host one of the tournaments. The team responsible will be asked by the league to provide the date when they can host a tournament. The commissioner will then decide the schedule.

PLAYOFF

On the men side, the top 4 teams of each league will participate to the playoff tournament, April 14-15, 2006. This year, a coin toss had decided that the final tournament will be hosted by the NETHC. See the schedule for the detail.

On the women side, the top 4 teams of the NETHC only will participate to the playoff tournament, April 14-15, 2006.

The playoff tournament will have to be played on an official size Team Handball court (40m x 20m).

LEAGUE ENTRY FEE

The NETHC entry fee will be calculated in function of the number of games played in the league. The cost per game was established at $85. This fee pays the referees, the organization of the league (website and so on) as well as the awards.

NETHC (Men) = 16 games x 85$ = 1360$US
NETHC (Women) = 12 matches x 85$ = 1020$US

* The entire league entry fee must be paid before the first game.

MEMBERSHIP CARD FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE LEAGUE
Each American player, coach and referee participating in the league will have to be a member of the Northeast Team Handball Conference. The cost of the membership will be 20$US, no matter the age of the player.
The membership card will provide a special risk accident & liability insurance for the league officials and the athletes participating in the league.
GAMES RULES
IHF Rules of Competition will be observed unless stated by specific tournament modifications. The IHF Rules can be found on the Web page: http://www.ihf.info/
GAME FORMAT
Game Time 2 x 30 minutes
Time-out One time-out per half (60 seconds)
Overtime Only during play-off (2 x 5 minutes, twice, then Shootout)
Half time 10 minutes
Forfeit Failure to arrive by game time will result in a forfeit
Protest rules
• Protest must be based on a rule application, not a referee’s individual judgment
• The protest fee is $50, which must be paid up-front to the Competition Committee, as well as your protest in writing. The protest fee is refundable only in the case where the protest in upheld.
PLAYER ELIGIBILITY
For a player to be eligible to play in the league, he/she must:
• Be a member of the ‘Fédération Québécoise de Handball Olympique’ or of the Northeast Team Handball Conference» at least 24 hours before his/her first game. The coaches will have to register their players online on the league website. A date and an hour will give to the commissioners the exact time of the registration. The player lists will be available online for all the teams
• The commissioners will handle eligibility infractions on a case-by-case situation. However, any ineligible player found to have played would result in at least a forfeit and a loss for that game. Further penalties (such as fines) will also be applied by the commissioners.
• Players must be on the roster before January 31st, 2007 and play at least one game before March 1st, 2007, in order to be eligible to play in the PLAYOFF.
• Note that a player can only appear on one roster list.

OFFICIALS
The referee responsible in USA will be responsible for scheduling the referees for all league games. Host teams will not be required scheduling officials; however they will be required to provide timekeeper and scorekeeper. The referees will receive 25$ per game. Transportation, hotel and a per diem will also be allowed to the referees.

Argentina and Brazil split the four titles up for grab at the recently completed PATHF Junior and Youth Championships. All 4 championships featured a Brazil vs Argentina Gold medal game. Brazil won the Men’s Junior and Women’s Youth titles, while Argentina won the Women’s Junior and Men’s Youth titles. Uruguay had the next best performance with three 3rd places. The Canadian Junior teams participating had a rough time, losing every match including some by some pretty lopsided margins (73-12 and 47-3).

Complete Results: http://www.brasilhandebol.com.br/compet/2006/pan-blumenau/index.asp

4 simultaneous Handball competitions (Men’s and Women Championships for both the Youth and Junior categories) start today in Bluemenau-BC, Brazil and will conclude on 2 September. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay will be fielding teams in all four tournaments, while teams from Canada, Mexico, the Dominican Republic will be participating in some of the championships.

The Men’s youth competition will qualify the top two teams for the 2007 World’s Youth Championship in Bahrain. I also think 2 spots will be awarded for the 2007 Junior Men’s World Championships in Macedonia, but the Brazilian website does not specifically mention that. http://www.brasilhandebol.com.br/compet/2006/pan-blumenau/index.asp

Handball Junior and Youth Competitions (Basic Organization)

It can be confusing to sort out all the different age-based competitions that Team Handball has on a world-wide and continental level. Here’s a basic primer:

The IHF now organizes 4 age based World Championships (2 for Men and 2 for Women)

Men
Youth World Championships (ages 19 and under) (takes place in odd years 2005, 2007, etc)
Junior World Championships (ages 21 and under) (takes place in odd years 2005, 2007, etc)

Women
Youth World Championships (ages 18 and under) (takes place in even years 2006, 2008, etc)
Junior World Championships (ages 20 and under) (takes place in odd years 2008, 2010, etc)

The age requirement works off the calendar year, so for the upcoming tournaments these are the age restrictions:

2007 Men’s Youth World Championships (Born in 1988 or later)
2007 Men’s Junior World Championships (Born in 1986 or later)
2008 Women’s Youth World Championships (Born in 1990 or later)
2008 Women’s Junior World Championships (Born in 1988 or later)

The different continent federations usually have qualifying competition to determine representatives to the IHF Championships. Often the qualification competition takes place in the year prior to the IHF competition. To keep the same age based team together for the following year’s world championships, the age requirement is one year lower than the IHF requirement. For example, the EHF recently completed a 20 and under Men’s Championships. The teams from Europe that qualified will then compete in the Junior World Championships (21 and under) in 2007.

As a result of a coin flip toss between Dawn Lewis (USA) and
Ward Hrabi (CAN) the USA will host game 1 and Canada will host game 2 and, if necessary, game 3. The winner of this best of 3 competition (for both the Men and the Women) will directly qualify for the PANAM Games. The loser will still have another chance to qualify in a 2nd chance tournament later in 2007,
Schedule

Thursday, 4 January 2007 (Lake Placid, NY- Olympic Training Center)
5:00 PM Canada Men vs USA Men
7:30 PM Canada Women vs USA Women

Saturday, 6 January 2007 (Montreal, Canada- Complexe Sportif Claude Robillard)
1:00 PM Canada Women vs USA Women
3:30 PM Canada Men vs USA Men

Sunday, 7 January 2007 (Canada- Likely, Claude Robillard)
Canada Women vs USA Women (if necessary)
Canada Men vs USA Men (if necessary)

Source: Matt Van Houten Myspace: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=73440975&blogID=158449893&MyToken=0acdddc9-51c8-4aa2-8d81-433d25a9affe

During the recently completed Central American and Caribbean Games in the Dominican Republic, three athletes from Cuba took the opportunity to defect. Julio Acosta and Carlos Castlillo defected from the men’s team and Damaris Nay, the team captain defected from the Women’s Team. Acosto was the first to defect and did not play in any games. Castillo played most of the tournament and had 8 goals in Cuba’s semifinal victory over Mexico. He disappeared, however, prior to the final, a game the Cuban’s lost to the Dominican Republic. Adding salt to Cuba’s wounds, the most valuable player for the Dominican Republic was former Cuban Felix Romero who had previously defected three years ago. Nay captained her team throughout the tournament, but disappeared after the final game.

Original sources: (In Spanish)
http://www.procubalibre.org.ar/prensa/nota.asp?id_nota=3397
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/news.php?nid=9524

These 3 join a group of defectors that includes some of the world’s top handball players, including Carlos Perez, who now plays for Veszprem and the Hungarian National team
http://www.mkbveszprem.hu/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=8 and Julio Fis, who plays for Ciuadad Real http://www.bmciudadreal.es/jugador.php?id=261&eq_id=33

Commentary: Cuba, for a combination of financial and political reasons until recently had not participated in International Handball competitions. And that political reason is that it is embarrassing to have your players defect. For the upcoming Pan Am Games, it would not be surprising for the Cuban Handball team to bow out of the competition for unspecified reasons prior to the event. Assuming this is the case, it’s quite possible that the Repechage (or second chance) tournament between the USA-Canada loser, 4th place South America, and 4th/5th place Central America could end up qualifying two teams, instead of one.

Women's Competition

GOLD – Cuba
SILVER – Dominican Republic
BRONZE – Puerto Rico
4th – Mexico
5th – El Salvador
6th – Guatemala

Cuba dominated the competition. Excluding a puzzling loss to Guatemala, they won every match by average of 25 goals with the Dominican Republic coming the closest with an 8 goal loss in the final. Puerto Rico, which had lost to Mexico 28-16 in pool play, turned the tables to beat Mexico, 23-19 for 3rd place. Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, have also now qualified for the 2007 Pan Am Games in Brazil. Mexico as the 4th place team, qualifies for the repechage (or second chance) tournament and has the option of hosting. The other participants will be the USA-Canada loser, the 4th place South American team and El Salvador (the 5th place team from these games)

Men's Competition

GOLD – Dominican Republic
SILVER – Cuba
BRONZE – Mexico
4th- Puerto Rico
5th – Honduras
6th – Venezuela
7th – Guatemala

The Dominican Republic pulled off a surprise 32-28 victory in the championship game, beating a Cuban team which had won all of its previous matches by an average of 21 goals. Mexico took the bronze beating Puerto Rico 33-28. As with the Women’s competition, the top 3 have qualified for the Pan Am Games, and Puerto Rico has the option of hosting the repechage tournament. As the recent US matches with Puerto Rico have been close (two friendly matches were split in Alabama and the USA had a 28-25 victory at the Pan Am Championships) there is plenty of incentive for the US and Canada to avoid a trip down to Puerto Rico.

A complete tabulation of the final results are available here: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=73440975&blogID=147935574&MyToken=aa040b7e-cc7b-471c-80c1-b8c9f4bb3186

Handball competition is underway at the Central American and Caribbean games. Handball is being played in the Dominican Republic. The top 3 teams in both the Men's and Women's competition will win bids to participate in the 2007 PanAm Games in Rio. The 4th place team (and possibly the 5th place team as well) will play in a repechage tournament with the loser of the Canada-USA competition and the 4th place team from the South American Championships. The Central American 4th place teams will have the first option of hosting the repechage tournament which is tentatively scheduled for February 2007
http://www.cartagena2006.gov.co/jucar/Home/defaultPage.aspx
http://www.cartagena2006.gov.co/jucar/Program/Consultas.aspx?c=3&d=BMA

Thanks to Puerto Rico’s 34-21 thrashing of Mexico, Team USA has qualified for the semifinals. Unless the USA pulls a major upset against Argentina later today they will finish second in Group B and will play Brazil in the first semifinal on Friday. Long time USA veteran, Tom Fitzgerald highlighted in a short email exchange that the younger players on the team were coming along nicely and were really benefiting from getting game experience.

With a 32-30 defeat of Uruguay, Greenland has also secured the second place spot in Group A. Greenland also defeated Chile by the same score on the first day.

Side note: The Brazilian Federation website indicates that the matches are available via web streaming, but I think this is only for the Brazil matches.

Analysis: Barring a major upset in the semifinal, Brazil and Argentina will meet in the final and Greenland and the USA will play for the Bronze and the 3rd ticket to the World Championships. It will be interesting to see how the next couple of days unfold. The USA will continue to benefit from more game experience, but the wear and tear of playing 5 matches in 5 days has to be factored in. The semifinal matches could very well quickly turn into 2nd team scrimmages as all 4 teams will likely (and rightly) be more concerned with their next match. If one of the coaches is quoted as saying they are not looking past their current opponent treat that quote with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Note: The following scenarios assume that Brazil and Argentina will remain undefeated in Group Play.

Group B

The USA will advance to the semifinals with either a Puerto Rico victory over Mexico or a tie between those two teams. If Mexico beats Puerto Rico goal differential in all group B matches will apply. The USA currently has a 20 goal advantage, but has yet to play Argentina which beat Puerto Rico by 18 and Mexico by 17.

Group A

Greenland will advance to the semifinals with either a win, tie, or a 1 goal loss today against Uruguay. If Uruguay beats Greenland the tiebreaker rules for 3 teams apply. The 1st tiebreaker is points among the matches involving the 3 teams (Greenland, Chile, and Uruguay). As this would be level at 2 points a piece, the next tiebreaker is goal differential among the matches involving the 3 teams. Greenland defeated Chile 32-30, Chile defeated Uruguay 27-26, and Greenland and Uruguay play today. Greenland is currently +2 and Uruguay is -1. Uruguay, therefore needs to win by 2 to advance to the semifinals. Chile’s goal differential is locked in at -1 and therefore can not advance unless they beat Brazil.

Group B

The USA rebounded from an opening round 28-28 tie vs. Mexico to defeat Puerto Rico 28-25 in a key Group B Match-up. The USA will likely advance to the semifinals if Puerto Rico defeats Mexico. If Mexico defeats Puerto Rico, goal differential will decide who advances between Mexico and the USA. This, of course, assumes that Argentina goes undefeated in Group play and that standard IHF tie-breaker rules are in effect. (i.e., for two teams with the same points the tie-breakers are head to head competition, followed by goal differential in all group matches, followed by total goals scored in all matches. If Mexico does beat Puerto Rico, the USA will know going into their match with Argentina the goal differential they will need to reach the semifinals.

Group A

Greenland defeated Chile in a key first round match up 32-30. The outcome of today’s Uruguay-Chile match up (currently in progress) will be pivotal in determining the scenarios for advancement that will likely hinge on the final group A game between Greenland and Uruguay. (This logic, of course, assumes that Brazil will go undefeated in group play.)

Guadalajara, Mexico, was unanimously selected by delegates of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) to host the 2011 Pan American Games. As the only city to officially bid, Guadalajara’s selection was virtually guaranteed. San Antonio, Texas, which bid in 2007 had considered bidding, but declined to do so for 2011. While the Pan Am Games is a minor event for many sports, it is a very important for Team Handball as the Gold Medal winner secures the one guaranteed Pan American slot for the Olympics. The 2007 Pan Am Games will be in Rio de Janeiro and this home court advantage, plus Brazil’s recent on-court performances suggest that both their Women’s and Men’s team will be strongly favored to win. Projecting out 5 years is tougher to predict, but suffice to say Mexico will be a more neutral location and taking the Gold in 2011 should be a more wide open competition.

The Brasil Federation Website has announced the results of the draw. http://www.brasilhandebol.com.br/

Group A: Brazil, Chile, Greenland, Uruguay
Group B: Argentina, USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico

Analysis: This draw is extremely favorable for Team USA, as they will avoid Chile, Greenland, and Uruguay during group play. Argentina is the obvious favourite to win Group B and the USA – Puerto Rico match will likely determine the other team that will qualify for the semifinals and an opportunity to secure one of the top 3 places and qualification for the World Championships in Germany.