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During a break in the action at last weekend’s National Championships, USA Team Handball (USATH) Chairman, Dieter Esch and board member, Jeff Utz sat down with me for a nearly hour long interview/discussion. The interview is focused on USATH’s relations with other handball organizations (IHF, PATHF, HBL, etc) and the upcoming Germany-Poland friendly match that will take place on July 17th in Chicago.

In the wide ranging discussion, Mr. Esch doesn’t hesitate to express his opinion and notably he candidly expresses his dissatisfaction with IHF President, Mr. Hassan Moustafa in regards to his private consulting contract with the IHF’s TV partner, as well as a lack of business sense in regards to emerging markets.

THN (23 Jan 10):IHF President Moustafa had lucrative private contract with IHF’s TV partner: Link
THN (10 Feb 10): IOC President Rogge comments on Moustafa’s contract with Sportfive: Link

A battle for Group C supremacy between two Champions League titans that know each other very well. Ciudad Real is in first place with a 5-0 record and Hamburg is in 2nd place with their only loss being against 32-26. These two sides also have met in the semifinals the past two seasons with Ciudad Real advancing both times.

Sunday 22 November, Hamburg at Ciudad Real:
Video Link: http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2009-10/video/000724
Audio Commentary: https://teamhandballnews.com/request63.html (Left click to listen on your computer/right click to download)

– The audio commentary needs to be synched with the efhtv.com video. I provide an audio countdown at the beginning of each half to help you perform the synching. Depending on your computer's setup, you may be able to play both the audio and video simultaneously. Alternatively, you can download the audio file to an MP3 player.

With the IOC’s vote last week Rugby has joined Team Handball and other sports as part of the Olympic program. Frequent readers to the site know full well that I think rugby’s development in the U.S. is the closest model for Team Handball to follow and learn from. In this podcast from American Rugby News, the topic of varsity sports on college campuses is discussed in detail. Rugby is mostly a “club sport” on hundreds of college campuses throughout the U.S., but in some colleges it has been established as a varsity sport. The podcast explains what varsity status means and doesn’t mean in terms of a team sport at colleges and how to develop and nurture a sport on a college campus. As the U.S. seeks to expand its collegiate handball program from a handful of schools to a nationwide network this podcast should be a must listen to anyone who’s already involved with collegiate Team Handball or is thinking about start a new program.

American Rugby News: College Talk: http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/national/Collegetalk_Varsity.shtml
Podcast Download Link: http://www.americanrugbynews.com/podcasts/Collegetalk_3.mp3

Stefan Fatsis and his podcast mates Mike Pesca and Josh Levin briefly talk about Handball in their most recent “Hang up and listen” podcast. During the 3rd topic on their irreverent sports podcast they start off discussing ESPN’s broadcast of the “Hardbat” ping pong tournament this past Sunday. Naturally, the discussion turns to a sport more worthy of ESPN broadcasting.

Stefan is a strong backer of Team Handball, but I’ve chastised him for getting his melons mixed up. As every true Handball aficionado knows, the cantaloupe is the official melon of Team Handball due to its size and weight. A watermelon while tastier is too large and oval shaped.

Amusing 2 degrees of separation (who needs 6 with Team Handball)
– The former Executive Director of USA Team Handball, Mike Cavanaugh, is now the CEO of USA Table Tennis. OK, Hardbat is a bastardization of table tennis, but I’m sure Mike’s not complaining about the exposure.
– Keep listening for a few minutes after the Handball discussion and you’ll hear Mike Pesca do an end of show take on the scandals plaguing SUNY Binghamton basketball. Coincidentally, this is where USA National Team Handball blogger Jordan Fithian played hoops, although he claims not to have been a part of the problem

Slate Hang up and Listen Podcast page: http://www.slate.com/id/2230999/
Slate Hang up and Listen Podcast download: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.slate.com/media/slate/Podcasts/Sports/SG09100501_HUAL.mp3 (The Hardbat discussion begins at 26:50 and the brief Handball discussion is at 31:00)
Jordan Fithian’s Blog: http://www.usateamhandball.org/blog/blog/378

American National Team player Jennifer Farrell’s interview with American Public Media’s, “The Story” is now available online. The interview recounts how she got involved in handball, the U.S. quest to qualify for the 2008 Olympics and her hope that Chicago will be selected to host the Olympics in 2016.

Link to MP3 Audio: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_867_Enslaved_In_LA.mp3 (Jennifer's interview starts at 31:00)
American Public Media: The Story: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_867_Enslaved_In_LA.mp3/view
Duke Magazine Article (Feb 2008): http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/010208/depmini-farrell.html

This past Saturday, USA Team Handball conducted a town hall meeting in conjunction with the National Championship tournament in Elgin, Illinois. The audio podcast includes presentations by USATH President, Dieter Esch, General Manager Steve Pastorino, Technical Director Mariusz Wartalowicz and IHF President Hassan Moustafa, as well as a few questions from the membership

The quality of the audio varies. President Moustafa is particularly difficult to hear. Also word to the wise: You’ll need to turn it up fairly loud to hear some of the speakers, but be prepared for some ear drum shock when clapping starts.

A big thanks to USA Team Handball Board Member and Athletes Advisory Council Representative, David Thompson, who did the recording and file conversion.

USA Team Handball Town Meeting: https://teamhandballnews.com/request56.html
Left click to play, right click to download. (File Size: 46 MB; Running time is 53 minutes)

On Saturday, February 28, Chambery hosted Zagreb in a critical Champions League Main Round match in Group 2. Chambery is undefeated in group play through 4 matches and leads the table with 8 points. Zagreb is in 3rd place with 4 points and needs a win to keep their quarterfinal hopes alive.

Chambery vs. Zagreb Video: http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2008-09/video/000430

Chambery vs. Zagreb Audio: https://teamhandballnews.com/request48.html (1:28) (Right Click to download)

Tip: Listen to the audio call of the EHFtv Clock (not the game clock) at the beginning of the 1st and 2nd halves to synch the audio with the video.

With 20 years of experience Paul Bray is the dean of English language Handball commentators. For this year’s championship he can be heard calling the matches from Zagreb (Main Round Group I) on both Handballworldcup.tv and ESPN360. He will also call the semifinals and final next weekend.

Two years ago while covering the World Championships in Germany I had the opportunity to chat with Paul about his handball background, how he got started commentating and the future of Handball web streaming on the internet.

Interview with Paul Bray (2007): https://teamhandballnews.com/request28.html
Left click to listen, right click to download

This week’s podcast discusses:

– National Board Members and how they need to raise more money
– National Federation funding strategy: Grassroots or National Teams?
– Strategy for the National team: Bring in the young guns or keep the journeymen players in their mid to late 20’s?
– Ways to attract more crossover players from other mainstream sports
– The need for more high school programs and quality college programs

*Oh, and the podcast is actually about American Rugby. But, just replace handball everywhere they say rugby and you’ll still find it entertaining and revealing. The most relevant parts of the discussion starts at around the 10 minute mark.

Podcast Link: http://narr.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=410792

Barcelona hosted Kiel in a 3rd round battle of titans earlier today. As an experiment I did some audio commentary of the first half. If you download the audio commentary to your MP3 Player/IPOD you should be able to listen to my commentary as you watch the video on your computer. The tricky part will be synching the audio and video. At the beginning of the match I count off the time on the ehfTV.com clock. If you pause your MP3 player until the video reaches the time I read out you should be synched up. (Note: the clock I used is the video clock; not the game clock)

Audio Commentary: https://teamhandballnews.com/request46.html
Video: www.ehftv.com (Game was played on October 19, 2008)

John Ryan and Bogdan Pasat review the 2008 Olympic Handball Tournament, discuss the status of the new USA Handball Federation and upcoming interviews planned for future episodes

Handball Talk (Episode 3): https://teamhandballnews.com/request45.html

John Ryan and Bogdan Pasat preview the Men’s and Women’s Olympic tournaments, Bogdan’s job with NBC, why Team USA didn’t qualify for Beijing, the new USA Handball Federation and THN’s website plans for the Olympics.

Episode 2: https://teamhandballnews.com/request44.html

The new USA Team Handball Federation has completed day 1 of its inaugural handball summit in St Louis. A wide range of issues to include the new federation's structure, grass roots development and National Team programs were discussed. Chairman, Dieter Esch, and General Manager, Steve Pastorino, introduce themselves and share their initial thoughts on Team Handball and day 1 of the summit.

Dieter Esch: https://teamhandballnews.com/request42.html (4:17)

Steve Pastorino: https://teamhandballnews.com/request43.html (7:15)

(left click to play; right click to download)