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On Monday, 28 July, USA Team Handball conducted an online Town Hall. I recorded the meeting and recorded almost the entire meeting. (There are a couple of gaps due to recording issues.) The YouTube version has 18 different segments identified of different people speaking and Q&A. Here are those 18 segments with a few notes for context:

• 1) (0:00) USA Team Handball CEO, Mike King provided a summary of recent activities
• 2) (13:00) Handball Futures Executive Director, Karen Rosolowski provided an updated on the Handball Futures effort
  • Handball Futures Website IG FB
• 3) (17:53) CEO discussion on future activities and plans
• 4) (29:25) Q&A Question from John Ryan regarding regarding making the Strategic Plan available to the membership
  • Note: The recording is hard to understand towards the end due to feedback. I was a bit confused regarding the document being approved… but, still being fine tuned in terms of Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Generally speaking, my experience is that documents that are still being fine tuned… are not final
  • My thoughts on Strategic Plan development: Link
• 5) Recording Gap
• 6) (31:00) Q&A Question from former national team member, Mark Wright regarding the impact of Men’s Coach Robert Hedin’s departure and the plans for his replacement
  • Handball Woche article on Coach Hedin’s resignation: “Robert Hedin resigns as Men’s National Team Coach, but not for sporting reasons“: Link
  • USA Team Handball article on Coach Hedin: “Robert Hedin Steps Down as Men’s National Team Head Coach“: Link
• 7) (35:25) Brief remarks from Board President, Patrick Jalabert and Board Member David Eldridge
• 8) (36:24) Question from John Ryan as to whether the CEO will make the hiring decision for head coaches
  • The interim head coach for the Women’s National Team had been decided by a commitee: Link
• 9) (37:05) Question from Cristofer Conner on how stateside Americans can be identified and developed for national team consideration
  • Note: U.S. Men’s and to a lesser extent, Women’s National Teams have been mostly comprised of Americans who learned and developed their handball skills in other countries:
    • “Two handball championships in Sweden separated by 30 years: from 0% to 83% dual citizens: Does that matter“: Link
    • “Expatica Americana“: A closer look at the dual citizens who play such an important role on U.S. national teams: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
• 10) (41:44) Question from John Ryan regarding plans for a stateside residency program
  • Note: I consider the decision to start a Residency Program at Auburn to be the biggest strategic mistake in the history of USA Team Handball. I guess my head is safe from exploding for the time being: Link
  • However, it does beg the question… If not a residency program, what is the plan going forward to field a competitive women’s team in 2028?
• 11) (43:26) Question from John Ryan regarding how current overall revenue and sponsorship revenue compares to last year and pre-COVID years
  • Note: I mistakenly pulled the $116,000 figure from the Handball Futures presentation. CEO, Mike King did not provide specific dollar figures and spoke in broad terms on several different finanancial topics such as revenues, expenses and net equity. These topics, of course, are intertwined, but it’s hard to get a handle on the current financial state of the organization without looking at numbers.
  • My comment at the end regarding the merits of a 20% increase in sponsorship revenue relates to the reality that when the numbers are smaller, percentages can be deceptive in terms of what they say. More is better than less, but expectations in an Olympic Quadrennial cycle should be much higher. (for reference, check out the 75% increase in total revenue from 1993 to 1994 below)
  • In the near future I plan to provide an update to this financial status article from 2024. In simple terms, my projection of skyrocketing revenues has clearly not materialized yet.

• 12) (50:58) Question from John Ryan regarding how the Board will decide to vote in the upcoming IHF President Election
  • Gerd Butzeck, the Managing Director for the Forum Club Handball (FCH) is challenging Dr Hassan Moustafa for the upcoming IHF President Election in December. Here’s a recent Handball-World interview: Link
  • My assessment: I found Board President, Patrick Jalabert’s response thoughtful and reassuring
• 13) (52:39) Question from John Ryan regarding the loss of Forum Club Handball support for the development of USA athletes with top handball clubs in Europe
  • The Forum Club Handball has placed several USA athletes with top clubs in Europe and paid for those athlete’s compensation. This program provided those athletes with an opportunity to train in a quality environment at no cost to USA Team Handball. Due to concerns with USA Team Handball management changes the program was put on hold in November 2024: Link
  • My assessment: I was surprised with the CEO response that the previous coaching staff had indicated that the program was no longer a high priority. I reached out to Coach Hedin and his recollection did not match the CEO’s words. I would assess that the number of player pool candidates for an FCH Program opportunity will ebb and flow. Perhaps we were at a temporary low point in terms of current candidates available, but that’s about to change if it already hasn’t. I see several strong candidates: Gary Philips, Mark Miller and Simon Neumaier to name a few.
• 14) (55:02) Question from John Ryan regarding the Interim Board President becoming the Permanent Board President
  • Note: I’m not sure what happened with the audio breaking up during Patrick Jalabert’s response
  • My assessment: It should be noted that the need to get the “board back to a place of stablity”… stems from the sequence of events that resulted in 4 independent board members resigning from the board
• 15) (56:45) Question from Cristofer Conner regarding efforts to support youth development
  • My assessment: I wholeheartedly agree with the CEO comments regarding the need to develop sustainable youth development. One off events to introduce handball are nice, but unless there is a pathway for continued development the benefits of such events are limited.
• 16) Recording Gap
• 17) (1:01:10) Tracey Williams-Johnson (Handball Futures) request for club collaboration and support to new athlete development
• 18) (1:04:10) John Ryan question regarding the roster composition of the USA clubs participating in the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Club Championships
  • Commentary regarding last year’s California Eagles roster: Link
  • Note: I am working on yet another commentary regarding this topic

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