Will Annapolis ever compete for this trophy?

This weekend several hundred Army cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY will travel to the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, CO for the annual Army – Air Force football game.  American Football, however, is not the only sport that will be contested this weekend as the Army and Air Force will also battle it out for Service Academy Team Handball bragging rights.

And it may seem like hyperbole, but this is also the longest and most storied Team Handball rivalry in USA collegiate and arguably club history as well.  For at least 25 years (I know, I was there in 1986) and surely longer the two schools have been playing each other on a regular basis.  They’ve also been the two most consistently successful collegiate programs producing several Olympian and National Team players.  And while I will begrudgingly admit the rivalry has largely been one sided in favor of Army, I think it’s safe to say that both sides get fired up for the match against their fellow service academy.

But, now it’s time to get around to the title of this commentary:  Why is this rivalry just an Army – Air Force affair.  Where is the Naval Academy Team Handball Club?  For the record, this is not a new question.  I first asked the question a quarter century ago.  While living in DC a decade ago I made some phone calls to Annapolis, but meant resistance from the intramural leadership there.  Then out of the blue a couple of years later I got an email from someone at the Naval Academy looking for some advice on where to buy some handballs.  Yes, believe it or not they were starting an intramural program.

At that point I figured it was only a matter of time before a bunch of like minded midshipmen would start a club.  After all, that’s how I got introduced to the sport.  If you’ve got 500 or so Midshipmen taking up the game in intramurals there’s got to be at least 10 or so who fall in love with the game.  And when those 10 guys find out that AF and Army duke it out every year there going to want a piece of the action.  And for a year or two in the early 2000’s Navy did have a new club, but for whatever reason the club never got traction and faded away.

In a sense, the failure for a quality club to get started at Annapolis is a perfect example of the struggles this sport faces in the U.S.  In theory, this should be the easiest college in the country to start a club.  Here’s why:

Existing model/rivalries: There are differences between the 3 service academies, but there are probably not three institutions of higher learning with more in common in terms of structure and organization.  The rivalry goes without saying.

An existing intramural program:  It’s probably not an exaggeration to state that there are probably more people playing Team Handball at Annapolis than just about anywhere else in the country (excepting, of course, Army and Air Force).  Contrast that to the challenge of starting a club program where you have to first explain the sport to people.

A perfect location:  There’s one other college besides AF and Army with a pretty well established collegiate program:  North Carolina.  And Annapolis just happens to be about halfway between UNC and Army.  Navy could easily drive to matches between the two existing major programs on the East Coast.  Additionally, there is a relatively new club, the DC Diplomats only 40 minutes away.  Clubs in Seattle, Minneapolis, Phoenix and other locales can only dream of such convenience

Folks willing to help:  It goes without saying that Army and Air Force would bend over backwards to help start a program at Annapolis.  In fact, efforts have been made in the past.  The DC Diplomats would also love to have a nearby foe.  The USA Federation would also surely step in, simply based on the wealth of national team athletes that Army and Air Force have provided.

The wonders of Google and a challenge

Finally, the ulterior motive behind this posting, in particular the title, is that it’s only a matter of time before some Midshipmen looks into Naval Academy Team Handball and stumbles upon this webpage.  (There’s a good chance:  type in Bernd Wulffen into Google and see what comes up.)  And should that happen, Midshipmen X, please drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com. We’ll help you get your team started so that one day Navy makes it a 3 way battle.

Naval Academy summary of NCAA, club and intramural sports: http://www.usna.edu/admissions/athletics.htm

THN (3 May 2011): Commentary: USA Team Handball National Teams: Are there too many guys with short haircuts and accents? (Part 1: Military Athletes): http://teamhandballnews.com/2011/05/commentary-usa-team-handball-national-teams-are-there-too-many-guys-with-short-haircuts-and-accents-part-1-military-athletes/

Karoline Borg's performance at the PANAM Games was one of the bright spots for Team USA

The USA Women’s and Men’s National Teams had a disappointing Pan American Game tournament.  The women played hard but were overmatched and struggled to be competitive at times on their way to a winless 8th place finish.  The men were more competitive, but high hopes of reaching the semifinals were squashed early and the team only managed one victory enroute to a 7th place finish.

John Ryan and Christer Ahl discuss the results of the PANAM Games, the current state of the USA National Teams and prospects for the near term future and 2016.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the ‘Play the Game’ conference at the German Sports University in Cologne. This organization is Danish-based and has gained a reputation over the past dozen years as the main forum for the fight against corruption and the debate of other critical issues, both through its conferences and its ongoing work. You can find out more about both the organization and the recent conference through their web site www.playthegame.org Over the next few weeks, I will be providing brief reports on a whole range on different topics from the conference.

A general problem in the fight against corruption is the regrettable fact that such issues are given far too little exposure in the media, inadequate attention by stakeholders such as sponsors, and very limited reporting by ‘whistleblowers’. This makes the job of ‘cleaning up’ much more difficult, something that was the topic of my interventions at the Conference.

In the world of sports today, the main focus is on the obvious state of corruption in FIFA, the international football federations. Football has more exposure and FIFA deals with much larger amounts of money than other sports. Accordingly its wrongdoings set a very negative example for all other sports.

Doping continues to be a topic of major controversy. It is generally felt that those who want to use science for illegal purposes are ahead of the detection efforts, something that causes a demand for stricter policies and procedures. At the same, there are increasing concerns about the rights of the athletes.

Gender issues have typically tended to involve accusations about inequities in the treatment of female athletes and a delay in getting their events recognized for the Olympics etc. But increasingly it has become necessary to deal with transgender issues, including the balance between fairness vis-à-vis other athletes and the rights to privacy and to participate in some way.

The role of sports in the Middle East has often focused on the participation of women. But during the political events in several countries this year, it has become evident that the sports fans have often used their strong organization and ‘anti-authoritarian tendencies’ to play a vital role.

The autonomy of the sports movement has been pushed very strongly by the IOC in recent years, to the point of suspending countries where governments have interfered in the management of sports. However, it is increasingly becoming clear that it is unrealistic and undesirable to force the governments to stay out in many instance where sports federation desperately need their support financially or in terms of managerial or organizational know-how.

Both the Olympic Games and the football world championships have created a very questionable and costly legacy in recent decades, through the construction of numerous large stadiums that become ‘white elephants’ and remain unused when the big event is over. This tends to be a huge waste of public money, often in countries that can ill afford it.

Match fixing, either in connection with illegal betting operations or simply in the traditional form of ‘arrangements’ between teams/athletes or with referees, has become the new cause for serious concerns in many sports. The amount of money involved can be huge, so the temptations are large, and the systems for monitoring and discovery are finding it difficult to keep up.

Other topics that may show up in some of my future articles include the feeble role of sponsors in the fight against corruption, the challenges facing Brazil as a host of both the football world championship in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, the clear tendencies to an increase in violence in sports (especially on the part of spectators). I also plan to explain the circumstances surrounding the ‘Cologne Consensus’, a document that was the final product of the conference after consultations with the participants. It lays out possible ways in which the IOC could use its experience and leadership position to play a coordinating role in the overall fight against corruption in sports.

It is with great sadness that we today receive the report that Jan Boye passed away last night. Of course, the real shock came about two weeks ago in the form of the news that Jan had suffered a massive stroke, and that there was virtually no hope for a recovery. Jan’s passing came at the age of 49, at the height of multi-faceted career. We send our deepest sympathy to Jan’s family and to everyone in Danish handball.

Jan Boye was elected as President for the Danish Handball Federation just three months ago. This seemed like an excellent decision at a moment when the otherwise formidable Danish ‘handball machinery’ had suffered some setbacks at the managerial and institutional level. Jan was an experienced politician, who had served several years as mayor of Odense, Denmark’s third largest city and, among other things, famous for being the home town of Hans Christian Andersen. Jan had an energy and enthusiasm that seemed to inspire people and to get them to pull in the same direction.

But Jan was not just a career politician; he had his roots in handball. The reason for my feeling compelled to write about Jan’s passing is that I had the privilege to get to know him personally in his capacity as a top level international referee (where his partner was Bjarne Munk Jensen, currently member of the IHF Rules and Referees Commission). They performed successfully in both Olympic Games and World Championships, following in the footsteps of many great Danish referees. What I especially remember about Jan was his unflappable presence on the court and, above all, his disarming smile. Indeed, he really personified the famous ‘Danish smile’… May he rest in peace!

As John Ryan briefly mentioned a few days ago, it appears that important changes are tentatively underway regarding the competition system for PanAmerican championships. While the proposals need to be formally ratified during an Extraordinary PATHF Congress that is planned to be held in December during the Women’s World Championship in Brazil, it seems that the changes have gained sufficient momentum so that one could expect them to be approved. The person who ‘spilled the beans’ was PATHF Vice-President Mario Moccia, whose interview was captured by Ruben Gomez on his web site Mundohandball.com

Some years ago, a structure was introduced under which there would be an Elite Division and a ‘Division 1’, with promotions and relegations between the two levels on the basis of the rankings in these events. The Elite Division has had eight participating countries under this format. While this system on paper has a fair and professional look, it has caused major problems for those countries whose teams are on the borderline between the two levels or who rarely make it out of the Division 1 level. The main issue is that these countries have major difficulties in encountering government support or sponsors for the often expensive participation in these events.

Very few governments find it very interesting to support participation at what is really a secondary level, despite the label ‘Division 1’. Moreover, if the team does quality for promotion to the higher level, it entails a doubling of the expenses. And the interest among spectators, TV broadcasters and sponsors for a secondary level event is obviously also very limited, so there is not much of a PR value involved in hosting or participating in such an event.

Accordingly, the tentative proposal is to abolish the Division 1 and instead increase (from 8 to 12) the number of participants in THE PanAmerican Championship. Of course, the PanAmerican continent has a much larger number of countries with handball federations, so the issue of how the 12 participants will be selected clearly may become a matter of debate. The PATHF may find some formula for the first event in each category (senior, junior, youth for both men and women), on the basis of recent results. For future years, the lowest ranked teams may be replaced by the winners of some form of less costly regional qualifying. But these important details remain to be worked out.

It seems that there will be some difficulties in finding organizers for the expanded events, as few of the national federations in PanAmerica have the infrastructure, resources and experienced needed to host such large events. It is likely that the bulk of the events may have to be held in either Argentina or Brazil, something that would not be greeted with enthusiasm by the participants from the Northern or Central parts of the continent.

At least it seems understood that there is a basis for determining the host of the 2012 Men’s Championship. This event serves as the qualifying event for the 2013 World Championship, and it would make a great difference in the ranking and seeding for 2013 if a team wins or ‘only’ comes in second in the 2012 PATHF Championship. Both Argentina and Brazil would like to have that edge, which would be easier to obtain as a host. So it now seems agreed that the winner of tomorrow’s final Argentina-Brazil will win not just the Olympic tickets but also the right to host in 2012.

Kiel's French stars Omeyer and Narcisse will welcome Montpellier in a key Champions League Showdown.

It’s a battle of undefeated Clubs as reining French Champions Montpellier visit current German Bundesliga leader Kiel.  Kiel has been on an absolute rampage so far this season beating their German competition by an average of 12 goals a match in their first 6 games this season.

Montpellier at Kiel (ehfTV: Sunday, 9 October: 7:00 PM CET, 1:00 pM (U.S. East Coast)
Live Broadcast link:  http://www.ehftv.com/ehfcl/ec/cl/men/2011-12/live/high/001785
On Demand Broadcast Link:  http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2011-12/video/001785

The match is a homecoming of sorts, for Nikola Karabatic, who played at Kiel for 4 seasons winning a Champions League title with the club in 2007.  For Kiel’s Frenchmen Thierry Omeyer and Daniel Narcisse it will be an chance to play against the top side from France and several friends on the National Team.  In addition, Omeyer has recently announced that he will return to Montpellier in 2013 when his current contract expires.

This will be the only match with English commentary, but handball fans might also want to check out the Berlin-Kielce match which starts an hour and half prior.  Kielce will surely want to avoid going into an 0-2 hole.

EHF:  Karabatic: THW are like a machine:  http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2011-12/article/14239/Karabatic%3A+%22THW+are+like+a+machine%22

EHF:  Omeyer: A very special game:  http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2011-12/article/14237/Omeyer%3A+%22A+very+special+game%22

ehfTV broadcast schedule: http://www.ehftv.com/schedule

Unless there's a ground-breaking business plan, this may be the new salary for the head of USA Team Handball

The financial challenges that USA Team Handball (USATH) faces became even more telling this past week with a simple posting on the Federation website welcoming applications for new leadership.  The short post indicated that both the General Manager (GM) and Technical Director (TD) positions had been filled on a volunteer basis (implying non-paid) since the first of August and that the current incumbents had been invited to reapply.

And based on the details in the job advertisements it looks like severe austerity measures are likely to continue and intensify.  Here’s the key paragraph:

SALARY & BENEFITS:  GM shall receive no annual base salary, benefits or expense reimbursement. GM may propose his compensation to the BOD (Board of Directors) as part of an overall business organizational plan, wherein GM shall only be eligible for salary if specifically earmarked for such purpose via Sales, Donations or other Revenues generated directly by GM.

A similar paragraph is also included in the TD advertisement.

Upon reading this my first reaction was did they just reinstate the BOD we had a few years ago?  The same BOD that became so dysfunctional that the USOC eventually decided to decertify USA Team Handball as an NGB (National Governing Body).  What are they thinking?

Last year, I previously addressed the GM salary in a posting that reviewed USATH’s IRS Form 990.  The U.S. Government requires that all non-profits fill out a Form 990 as part of their justification for not being taxed.  GM Steve Pastorino earned $100K in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 and also received at least $100K in FY 2009.  (We certainly could debate whether the GM has done a job worthy of that salary and on more than one occasion we’ve highlighted shortcoming as well as successes.  But individual job performance is not the point of this commentary.)  As I noted there were a number of ways to compare that salary with similar positions in other sport organizations.  Depending on how you wanted to look at it, the compensation was either too much or too little.  I think it’s perhaps a little on the high side, but it’s in the ballpark.  Maybe a reduction was in order in light of the staff layoffs and decreased USOC support, but switching to unpaid volunteer?

Certainly, to my knowledge there is not another USOC NGB which has a volunteer heading its operations, but perhaps the BOD has decided what other USA NGB’s do doesn’t really matter.  After all, the Canadian Federation receives virtually no funding and their National Teams are comparable to ours and their grass roots development is probably a little head of us.  The Canadians are certainly “getting by”, so to speak.  I’m guessing, however, that if the Canadians had our level of funding one of the very first things they’d do would be to provide some compensation to their volunteers so they can devote more time to their efforts.

I guess on the surface, one can make a business case argument along the lines of “Why should you get paid if the work you perform does not correlate to increased revenue?  Your salary is just hurting the bottom line.”  After all, this is how many businesses function, especially for the individuals at the top of the pyramid.  You get paid for results to the bottom-line.

There are some fundamental problems with this “earn your way” philosophy:

1) A non-profit NGB is not a business, at least not in the traditional sense. Don’t get me wrong, a well run non-profit is still going to employ a lot of business principles and sound management practices, but by definition, a non-profit shouldn’t look at bottom profit as a primary consideration.  In fact, there will likely be quite a few decisions where management will correctly decide to hurt the bottom line finances of the organization because it’s mission is deemed more important than minimizing expenditures and maximizing revenue.

2) A GM has many responsibilities, and seeking additional revenue for the Federation through donation and sales is just one of them. The job advertisement, itself, highlights these many other functions that also have to be performed.  But tyng salary to bringing in the dough or you won’t get paid will surely mean that fundraising will take precedence over everything else.  And for the TD position, the salary is actually being tied to something that is even listed as an essential function in the job description!  Don’t get me wrong, I would like the GM and even the TD to work this area hard, but it shouldn’t be to the exclusion of everything else.

3) Bringing in revenue for a minor sport like Team Handball isn’t easy and certainly won’t be as simple as writing a business plan. With the current state of the economy fundraising and bringing additional revenue is now very challenging for pretty much every non-profit.  Even well established sports are finding it tough to find sponsors as individuals and organizations tighten their belt.  For a minor sport like Team Handball which will likely not qualify for the 2012 Olympics it’s going to continue to be even tougher.  I’m sure some prospective candidates will come forward with some business plans highlighting great revenue streams from a variety of sources.  After all, getting hired with a salary apparently depends on it!  Anyone who’s followed the sport in this country (even for just a couple of years, BOD members) should really know better.  I’m not saying it will never happen, but it’s going to take some time and some breakthrough events that finally result in the sport getting increased exposure and attention.

If the BOD fails to find someone with the “business plan” that knocks them out of the park they should really think twice, though, about selecting a volunteer GM.  Herewith are some of the reasons why they might want to reconsider:

1) A volunteer GM will not be able to devote the requisite amount of time required to do the job right.  In my opinion, it’s quite possible that USATH will be able to find a volunteer that can fulfill some of the duties inherent in the GM position.   But unless there’s somebody out there that’s independently wealthy and doesn’t need to work a day job, they’ll be hard pressed to find the time to fulfill all of the duties.

2) A volunteer GM will not have the same credibility with outside players (USOC, IHF, etc) that a full time paid GM will have.  Rightly or wrongly, the mere fact that the USATH has determined that it’s sufficient to have an “amateur” in charge will be viewed negatively by outside players.  They will assess that the U.S. is not really serious about developing Team Handball and will be less inclined to support development here.

3) A volunteer GM is less accountable to the BOD. If a volunteer GM isn’t performing or isn’t properly focusing on the right priorities, the BOD will be pretty hamstrung in terms of corrective action.  Anyone who’s worked with volunteers before knows the limits of how far they can be pushed.  They tend to prefer to do the activities/work they like to do and sometimes they have to be incentivized to work the activities they don’t like.  And attempts to coerce sometimes can be met with lackluster enthusiasm ore even abandonment as the volunteer find better things to do with their spare time.  However, when someone is paid and their livelihood depends on that paycheck, they tend to be less malleable.

In closing, I sincerely hope that I’ve missed the boat here.  For all we know there’s an up and comer GM out there writing the business plan that will lead our sport out of the wilderness.  Or perhaps a dedicated and skilled handball devotee is filling out his lottery card at the local 7-11 and will soon need some volunteer activities to keep him busy around the house.   Anything’s possible, of course, including the BOD backtracking on a misguided job posting.

THN (13 Feb 2010): USATH releases IRS documentation: First glimpse of budget numbers:  http://teamhandballnews.com/2010/02/usath-releases-irs-documentation-first-glimpse-of-budget-numbers/

USATH (7 Sep 2011): USATH welcomes applications for new leadership: http://usateamhandball.org/news/2011/09/07/usath-welcomes-applications-for-new-leadership/44515

USATH (General Manager Job Posting): http://usngbjobs.teamworkonline.com/teamwork/r.cfm?i=38313

Will melting icebergs result in Greenland participating in the PANAM Games?

Last week I heard several stories on National Public Radio (NPR) concerning the Arctic region.  A couple of stories on Greenland highlighted how the warmer temperatures there are making it easier to explore and potentially extract natural gas and oil.  The stories go on to highlight that dividing up the income from mineral wealth amongst a population of only 56,000 people could make Greenland a very wealthy country.  Wealthy enough so that it would no longer feel any need for Danish subsidies and could become a fully independent nation.  Hence, the title of this story.

Back at the 2007 World Championships in Germany I was first introduced to Greenland Handball and its passionate fans.  For a nation that small (population wise) to play some pretty respectable matches against much larger nations was quite a story.  Long time readers will also remember how later that year the Pan American Team Handball Federation’s (PATHF) tried to drop Greenland as a full member, so they could no longer qualify for the World Championships.  This site and others helped publicize that injustice gradually leading to Greenland’s reinstatement as a full member.

But, while this cleared Greenland for continued participation in IHF events, Greenland’s partial independence still isn’t considered sufficient for IOC and Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) related events.  This is why Greenland has never participated in the PANAM Games or qualification events for the PANAM Games, but does participate in PATHF Championships that lead to IHF World Championship qualification.

Full independence, however, would likely pave the way for recognition from the IOC and accordingly, the opportunity for Greenland to participate in the PANAM Games.  Qualification schemes could change, but the current system would logically put Greenland into the North American Qualification bin and the 3 nations would probably end up playing a single or double round robin with the 1^st place nation qualifying directly and the 2^nd place nation qualifying for the 2^nd chance tournament.

As things currently stand Greenland’s men’s team is probably on par with the USA and Canada.  I would even probably give them a slight nod, but a resurgent USA team with a few more games under their belt would probably beat them.  The Greenland women’s team has been less competitive, but, so quite frankly have been the American Women and the Canadians are currently in rebuilding mode.   So based on results over the past decade an independent Greenland would certainly stand a good chance of qualifying for the PANAM Games from the North American region.

Greenland independence, however, won’t happen overnight and it’s also hard to project future team success.  There are a lot of variables to consider, as well, such as Canadian and American funding levels.  And not to be overlooked is the potential for a more wealthy Greenland to invest a significant portion of its sporting budget on the one sport where they are already competitive.  More funding can only take your National Team so far, but it’s worth noting that at least some of Brazil’s Handball success for the past decade can be attributed to the generous sponsorship of the Petrobras oil company.  56,000 people aren’t a lot to work with, but if Iceland can be one of the top teams in Europe with 300,000 people, it’s conceivable that Greenland could be one of the top teams in Pan America.  And it’s not out of the realm of possibility to even envision a Greenland team that could qualify for the Olympics with a PANAM Games Gold.  It would probably take the combination of a “golden generation” of Greenlander Handball players and the rest of the PATHF nations slipping a bit, but it could happen.

THN (26 Jan 2007):  Greenland Handball:  A National Passion: http://teamhandballnews.com/2007/01/greenland-handball-a-national-passion/

THN (18 Apr 2007): Why the Recent Downgrading of Greenland’s PATHF Memership Status is Wrong: http://teamhandballnews.com/2007/04/why-the-recent-downgrading-of-greenland%E2%80%99s-pathf-membership-status-is-wrong/

National Public Radio Stories on Greenland:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=139825669
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/18/139734019/mineral-companies-eye-greenlands-untapped-wealth
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/17/139696551/greenlanders-divided-on-arctic-oil-gas-exploration
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/16/139673096/in-the-land-of-white-nights-and-erik-the-red

Edmond, Oklahoma: The future home of USA Team Handball. Really?

At the USA Team Handball (USATH) press conference held a couple of weeks ago I was a little surprised to hear that Edmond, Oklahoma is being considered as a potential location for our resident National Teams.  Having grown up on a farm in Iowa, I certainly don’t consider myself to be one of those snobbish types that views everything in between California and the East Coast to be “fly over country.”  There are some distinct positives about Midwestern locales like Iowa and Oklahoma.  Still, there’s probably more than a few reasons why I live in Las Vegas now as my gut reaction was, “Oklahoma? Really? This is the best we can do?”

Upon further reflection, though, I decided that a gut reaction wasn’t the best way to make an important decision like this.  No, an important decision like this should be carefully made, after a full evaluation of how well several locales meet key criteria.  And as I see it, here’s some of those criteria that should be considered:

– Quality and Availability of Facilities: This may seem like a given, but experience has shown that nothing can be taken for granted here, especially when it comes to gym access.   Bait and switch, whereby the best gym facility is no longer available in the winter due to other athletic teams having priority has been known to happen.  With many gyms being sized for basketball, access to a full court is never a given either.

– Local support: For the most part this criterion refers to how much support the host university will provide.  For instance, will the host school aggressively market itself as the home of the U.S. National Teams?  Will it help secure sponsorship?  Will it seek to host National Team matches on semi-regular basis and work diligently to bring in new fans?  Will it engage the local media?  Beyond, the school itself, what are the chances that a region would embrace being the U.S. Home of Team Handball?   The answer to this last question might actually work to a smaller city’s advantage as being that home could be a big thing in a small pond, vice just one more activity lost in the shuffle of a big city with lots of activities.

– Ease of Travel: Where ever National Resident Teams are located players, staff and hopefully visiting clubs and national teams will need to travel to and from that location.  If you take into account all those potential trips we’re talking about some serious cash adding up over time.  For the foreseeable future it’s hard not to envision quite a few trips back and forth to Europe and geographically this clearly makes the East Coast advantageous in terms of money and time.  Certainly, the departure of the National Teams from Colorado Springs in the 1990’s to Philadelphia and later Atlanta was due in part to this factor.

Additionally, about half the population of U.S. lives in the Eastern Time Zone.  As it’s more densely populated in the East there are a number of locations where driving would be more of an option for athletes and teams traveling to the training center.  That doesn’t mean any location on the Eastern seaboard will do.  (If you’ve ever flown into Burlington, VT to get to Lake Placid, you know what I’m talking about.)  No, the location should be relatively near a major airport with a major hub for European flights being the ideal option.

– Academic Opportunity and Quality: When it comes to our top sports, NCAA collegiate athletes will pick their college based on the coach, the team and the level of financial support (scholarship) they will receive from that college.  In quite a few cases an athlete will end up at a particular school simply because it’s the only one that offered a full scholarship.  For many of those athletes the academic opportunity and quality they get takes a back seat to the athletic opportunity.  When one goes lower down the pecking order in terms of NCAA sports, however, the value of the education at a particular school starts to become more important to the student athlete.  For Team Handball there will be a few potential athletes who’ll pack their bags and go to any college for the opportunity to develop their skills.  I’ll venture to guess, though, that the program will lose out on some prospects that aren’t willing to relocate to what is perceived to be a subpar institution.

– Athlete Financial Incentive: Of course, the possibility of a scholarship will certainly be an enticement. As a minimum, the selected university should have some form of financial incentive.  In the case of public institutions, athletes should at least be able to get in-state tuition rates.  And for private school, there should be a minimum grant.  (Although, I would think that the costs of private schools may put them out of the discussion from the get go.)  Free room and board would certainly be highly desired as well, but barring that it would be nice to get some reduced rates and/or a guaranteed location for the team to set up house in one of the dorms.

– Work opportunities: While I think the focus should be on a good college/university to sponsor the program, not all our athletes will necessarily want a four year degree.  Accordingly, there should be opportunities for professional training and 2 year degrees.  Additionally, I don’t think, that we should be overly concerned with ensuring that the location has multiple opportunities for young college graduates entering the work force.  As I’ve written before, I envision this National Team Residency program to be focused on athletes that are 23 and younger.

– USOC Support: The benefits of co-locating with an Olympic Training Center such as the ones located in Colorado Springs and Lake Placid shouldn’t be discounted.  Edmund is a designated Training site as are the facilities in Birmingham, Alabama that have been used previously.  It’s not clear what the what the difference is between a “center” and a “site” or what the overall financial incentive is for going with the USOC approved locations, but they’re probably significant.  Additionally, there’s the added benefit of having a big brother (USOC) around to help you out should there be problems with a location reneging on aspects of their arrangement

– Intangibles: There are some other factors that could play into this decision.  For instance, maybe there is another Dieter Esch out there somewhere who will donate several million dollars if the National Teams are located in Town X.   (After all, Salt Lake City didn’t just magically become the HQ for USATH, if you know what I mean.)

You can also factor in “gut reaction” into this fuzzy category.  For better or worse, there will always be locations that will garner instant positive or negative reactions.  Negative gut reactions can be overcome with the right sales job, but it’s certainly easier to not have to fight that battle.  And trust me, if Edmond, Oklahoma were to be the new home of our national teams, such a sales job would be a requirement for every athlete not living within 200 miles of there.  That doesn’t mean you can’t convince top athletes to move to Oklahoma. After all, if I’m not mistaken there’s a little town called Norman with a University that’s been doing it for years in sports like football and basketball.

So, that’s my list of criteria.  I’m sure there are others that need to be factored in.  Regardless, it can’t be understated just how big of a decision this could be.  The right deal in the right location could create a lasting hotbed for the sport with a local community turning out in significant numbers to support their U.S. National Team.  Conversely, a bad decision or a hasty one could wind up being a dead end that alienates a generation of potential athletes.

Youtube: Sarcastic home video “Welcome to Edmond”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnuaHXYef9c