USA Team Handball is currently having an election for one of its 9 seats on the Board of Directors. Voting is online for members only and concludes early Sunday morning (30 August 0300 (US ET)) Here are a few thoughts on the election and my 1st and 2nd choices
Ranked Choice: The Right Way to Conduct an Election
I’ve been around awhile and I’ve seen a lot of consequential Board of Directors elections. Elections that have most definitely changed the course of direction for the sport in the U.S. Seriously, who can forget Mike Hurdle edging out Bob Djokovich back in 2004 get elected Board President. An election so consequential it eventually led to the USOC decertifying USA Team Handball.
I won’t rehash ancient history, but I’ll state unequivocally that a one ballot winner take all process is super problematic for a low turnout election involving multiple factions. On multiple occasions (if not every time) this has led to the winner not having a majority (50% +1) and sometimes nowhere even close to a majority. For the past several elections I’ve eve warned candidates with similar positions there was a good chance they would cancel each other out if they didn’t drop out and settle on one candidate. Amusingly, these attempts to organize all failed because as it tends to happen… candidates always think that it’s the other candidates that should be the ones to drop out.
Here are the results of the last 3 elections conducted without ranked choice voting:
It’s impossible to know how the results might have been different with ranked choice voting, but I suspect that none of the top vote getters would have won their election if it had been conducted with ranked choice. And, a side note, one of the candidates for the current election, Max Littman actually did a guest commentary advocating for ranked choice voting. I’m not sure if that was the catalyst for a change to the By-Laws, but maybe it was.
My 1st Choice: Kevin Hutchinson
As I alluded to, in previous elections I was always careful to make sure that I was voting for a candidate with a solid chance to win. Under the old system voting for a long shot most likely was a wasted vote. With ranked choice voting I have less concern and it frees me up to vote for more of a long shot: Kevin Hutchinson.
Why is he a longshot? Because, while he has a solid resume he’s been away from the game awhile (for good reasons) and doesn’t have a club base of support. I’ve known Hutch for years. Played against him and even played on the same USA team at an International military tournament in 1997. We’re only casual friends and I’ll admit my bias is related to having similar backgrounds. Retired military officer, Service Academy graduate and a former national team player that was more of a role player, we’re cut from the same cloth. Maybe an entire board shouldn’t have that sort of resume (although it would be incredibly efficient), but from what I’ve seen this current board would really benefit adding someone who’s seen it all before and won’t be afraid to speak out with common sense logic. Most definitely he would be a Canary in the Coal Mine that would be hard, if not impossible, to gaslight.
My 2nd Choice: Josh Hetterick
With my 2nd choice I’m selecting a candidate who’s done some great work developing the Minnesota Team Handball Club: Josh Hetterick He’s been around the handball scene for 17 years and knows the lay of the land. I’m not sure exactly where he stands on a lot of issues, but he’s bound to have a club first mentality. I also have some insight as to how some of the different factions are aligned and I suspect he’s going to be the 2nd or 3rd pick for a lot of voters. Committed to handball, but not overly partisan. He’s the type of candidate who might never have won under the old system, but could clean up with the ranked choice process.
The Missing Option: Lewis Howes
I think it’s worth mentioning that one candidate is notably missing from the ballot: Lewis Howes. Rumors are flying, but I don’t know what’s real and what’s just a rumor. Maybe it has something to do with a $50k donation to handball wheelchair athletes… that didn’t pass through USA Team Handball? Maybe?
I, for one, still don’t know why he was the left off the ballot. I contacted both USA Team Handball CEO Mike King and Lewis Howes regarding the matter. USA Team Handball responded back stating in part “that USATH does not generally disclose such information to unrelated third parties absent a legitimate organizational or operational purpose or authorization for doing so.” And, I have to yet to get a formal response on the matter from Lewis Howes.
I could be wrong… but, I’m guessing there will be a lot more news to report on this in the future.
Multiple sources have informed me that Howes did submit his name to be a candidate, but that the Nominating and Governance Committee reviewed his candidacy and did not certify him as eligible to stand for the election.
I contacted USA Team Handball CEO, Michael King and Lewis Howes via email with several questions regarding this matter. King did not address the questions and responded in part:
The questions you raise are requests for non-public information concerning an individual registered USA Team Handball member. USATH does not generally disclose such information to unrelated third parties absent a legitimate organizational or operational purpose or authorization for doing so.
At the time of this posting (Monday, 24 Aug, ~0730 US ET) Lewis Howes had not yet responded to my email.
(This is a developing story and will likely be updated as more information becomes available.)
The Athletic recently published an article titled, U.S. rugby needs more players. The answer could lie in basketball. (Paywall, depending on how many articles you’ve recently accessed). The article makes the case that USA Rugby should try to get more former basketball players to try rugby instead of focusing on former American Football players. It then profiles former National Team player Luke Gross who played NCAA D1 Basketball at Marshall and how the USA Women’s program targets players with basketball backgrounds.
Rugby – Handball (in the U.S.) Parallels
If you’ve been following this website and handball in the U.S. you likely know that when it comes to niche sport challenges rugby, more than any other team sport is the most analagous to handball. Indeed, the parallels, are many. Here are a few:
In the U.S. both are niche team sports with a small, but passionate following.
In other parts of the world, both sports have a wider following that wants to grow the U.S. market
Both sports have relied on expats to teach the sport and to boost club roster strength
Both sports are typcially discovered by stateside athletes later in their sport careers
Both sports are mostly a collegiate club sport (Rugby has NCAA women’s teams and some colleges have granted “varsity” status to their men’s teams)
Both USA National Team have mostly struggled in international competition, but have had periods where they’ve shown signs of promise
Both sports have “cousin” sports that are similar and significantly more popular in the U.S. (Rugby- American Football; Handball- Basketball)
Both sports have often relied on crossover talent and/or dual citizens to field their national teams
Why the parallels even include community rancor and disappointment with the NGB office. If you want to have a little fun just go on Reddit and read the posts on the USARugby subreddit and replace “rugby” with “handball”. Over and over you’ll find threads where you will immediately recognize that what’s being discussed and debated could just as easily be said about handball in the U.S.
Where Rugby and Handball (in the U.S.) Diverge
But, while the parallels are numerous they are major differences. A really big one is that while both sports are niche, rugby has a much larger foothold in the U.S. Depending on your metric (clubs/membership) rugby is around 25 to 100 times more popular. Another big difference which arguably has facilitated rugby’s growth is that it’s an outdoor sport that doesn’t have to fight for gym time. I also think that rugby’s mostly native English speaking expat community was also better equipped to sell the sport in the 20th century than handball’s mostly English as a second language expat community.
Competing for the Same Guys and Girls…
The Athletic article’s premise that rugby should look more towards identifying former basketball athletes is a logical one with some major caveats. As Luke Gross, the former D1 basketball player aptly notes, “Basketball might be physical, but there is no comparison to getting hammered in a tackle.”
And, as a long time witness of cross-over talent I’ve seen more than one basketball get pretty miffed the first time a handball defender hits him head on and he’s told that’s not only allowed… it’s expected. Anecdotally, I would estimate that around 30% of those guys who get that first hit are never to be seen ever again on a handball court.
But, around 70% of those basketball players could be decent handball players. And, I’m not a rugby expert, but I suspect they have the same issue and probably it’s more pronounced. Most likely there are basketball player that never even come near a rugby pitch because they have zero desire to be tackled.
Whatever the percentage according to a quick AI search there are a lot of former basketball players out there that could play handball, rugby or some other sport. Every year, around 120,000 boy’s high school basketball players don’t play in college and around 4,000 men’s college players don’t turn pro. With the women the numbers are around 85,000 girls not playing college basketball and around 3,500 not turning pro. (all estimates based on AI and further complicated by the different NCAA divisions and NAIA)
Regardless, that’s a lot of athletes. Some of those athletes will be content to play pick up basketball, but some will be looking for another sporting outlet which could be rugby, could be handball or could be some other sport.
Competition for College Athletes
At the college level there is actually some low level competition to recruit these athletes. I say “low level” because in most cases rugby clubs are in a much better position to recruit. Their clubs are well established and at most colleges there isn’t a handball team to even possibly be an alternative. But, at schools where there are club programs for both sports it’s at least a consideration.
In particular, it’s been an issue with the women’s handball programs at both West Point and the Air Force Academy. One reason West Point didn’t even have a women’s rugby club until 2002 was that it had a very well established women’s handball club. And, vice versa, a very strong women’s rugby program at Air Force since 1977 is a major reason that except for a few years in the early 90s Air Force hasn’t had a women’s handball program. Both instititutions are big on athletic clubs, but there are only around 1,200 women at each school. Factor in that a high percentage of that 1,200 are already playing an NCAA sport and the number of potential athletes drops more. Both sports then compete for athletes with the same mentality and willingness to play a physical sport. There’s only so many athletes to go around and it’s a little harder to maintain clubs in both sports.
On the men’s side, I bet you that I could go to almost any collegiate rugby club practice and pretty quickly identify 10 athletes from which one could start a pretty good handball club. And, in the few instances where handball clubs are well established the reverse also is true. Does anyone doubt that some recent West Point handball players could also have been pretty solid if not great rugby players?
Competition for Post College Athletes
For many years handball actually had the advantage here because rugby wasn’t an Olympic sport. The elevator pitch to a would be crossover athlete was “Make the U.S. National Handball Team and you will be an Olympian.” Whereas, for rugby the best one could offer was a possible Rugby World Cup opportunity. Nice… but, nothing like being an Olympian. However, as Olympic qualification became more and more challenging for handball and since Rugby 7s gained Olympic status the advantage has clearly shifted more towards rugby.
It’s very debatable, however, as to whether post college athletes are actually desirable for either sport. It’s not that there aren’t some great post college basketball athletes out there, it’s just that age 22 is a fairly late age to change to another sport. It can be done, but it’s more challenging and many athletes can’t afford to spend time learning to play a sport for little to no compensation for a period of years. This is especially true when there’s no guarantee that they will eventually improve enough to get a decent pro contract. And, the reality is that a “decent pro contract” in either rugby or handball is probably less than what they could make in another profession that they won’t age out of in their 30s.
On the Men’s side being an Olympian would seem unlikely for a crossover athlete in either rugby or handball. Thanks to a golden generation of dual citizen athletes there just aren’t many (if any) available roster spots for handball. For sure, it would take one hell of an athlete to go from zero to hero in just 2 years. And, on the rugby side of things the men’s team is also fairly well established and rugby 7s (not the traditional 15s game) might be less suited for basketball crossover talent.
Some Day… Real Competition for Talent?
Today, the overall reality is that while both rugby and handball are niche sports in the U.S., rugby is still a much larger fish than handball. Any competition for players is a skirmish that rugby is winning easily without much of a fight taking place.
But, maybe… just, maybe handball will develop to the point where some day athletes will actually ponder the pros and cons of each sport and how their skills might better apply to one or the other. A real competition for talent. I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing a reddit post some day whining about handball poaching some of the talent they used to get.
(The USA Team Handball Board of Directors should have addressed our Women’s National Team years ago, but even at this late date it’s justifiable to go forward with a Residency Program.. Yes. Even if it’s not sustainable.)
My previous commentary addressed my frustration with USA Team Handball seemingly never learning from the past and repeatedly trying the same things over and over. And, watching those efforts fail leaving nothing much to show for after they’d gone away.
However, while this is frustrating I also recognize that sometimes it can be the right course of action to start an effort even if the likelihood of it sticking around is near zero. Key word: “sometimes” and it only should be done reluctantly because the need is high and there aren’t any feasible alternative courses of action.
The Slow Moving Train Wreck
Probably nothing illustrates this better than the current state of our USA Women’s National Team just two years out now from playing in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Our Women’s team has been very uncompetitive for several years and has struggled to win matches even against low level peer nations. If the Olympics were being held this summer (instead of two years from now) I think our Women’s team would be looking at 20 to 30 goal losses. We’re talking very uncompetitive matches that would have both experienced handball followers and newcomers discovering the sport saying, “What the heck?”
Long time followers of this website know that this is a problem that I have been concerned with in one way or another for over a decade (Detailed 2019 evaluation). Four years ago I even briefed the USA Team Handball Board of Directors on the need for a new Strategic Plan and my “stomp your foot” slide (see below) pleaded with the Board to start making some conscious decisions to address the problem.
Alas… the Board was soon to become preoccupied with the U.S. Handball Union and it’s aftermath so nothing was really done. Inaction, unfortunately, was indeed the defacto decision.
Residency Program in Ft Pierce, FL: A New Sustainable Residency Program Model?
It’s no secret that despite personally participting and benefitting from a Residency Program that I’m not a fan of the concept. There are multiple reasons, but the biggest one is that they are very difficult to sustain. It takes substantial funding or subsidized support at an Olympic Training Center (OTC) to provide athletes with food, lodging and a stipend. Funding that hasn’t been available for decades.
But, even when more funding was available back in the 80s and 90s it was still a really, really questionable use of scarce resources. It would really be interesting to do a forensic accounting of USA Team Handball’s glory days. I don’t know what the numbers would be exactly, but rest assured the lion’s share of resources went towards a handful of athletes at the top of the pyramid. Grassroots development was an afterthought as new national teams were created from scratch over and over again. And, then funding support from the USOPC was slashed… and not only couldn’t we properly fund residency programs anymore we had little to show for in terms of grass roots development. The lost opportunity costs are truly staggering.
But, maybe this new residency program is somehow different? After all, look how how “sustained” is referenced twice in this announcement of the new program.
This collaborative effort positions the Treasure Coast as a growing hub for Olympic and international sport development, aligning higher education, public schools, and destination sports tourism around a shared vision for sustained national-level training that prepares athletes for the highest levels of global competition.
“This partnership reflects the kind of collaboration and support it takes to move American handball forward,” said Michael King, Chief Executive Officer of USA Team Handball. “A consistent training environment is always a prerequisite to success, but it is never a given—it requires cooperation, shared resources, and institutional commitment. Thanks to Indian River State College, Play Treasure Coast, and St. Lucie Public Schools, we move directly into a full preparatory environment. That step change allows our athletes to train with continuity and accelerate toward sustained international performance.”
Alas, it’s much easier to say something will be sustained, then to actually sustain it. So far, I see two basic problems with the latest residency program incarnation. First off, it appears to have many of the same funding challenges that plagued the programs at SUNY-Cortland and Auburn. Athletes are paying for room and board. Couple that with upending your life to move to South Florida and that limits the quality of recruits that will join the program. For more on this topic check out this 3 part commentary from 2015 on the problems with an austere residency program at Auburn. (Part 1Part 2Part 3)
And, this leads to the second problem. For this first time since the lead up to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta we can honestly tell female athletes who have never touched a handball before that they have a legimate chance to be an Olympian. That is a powerful recruiting pitch that can offset the challenges of selling an austere residency program. I don’t know any of the athletes that have been recently recruited, but I did a little research on the cohort that recently traveled to Puerto Rico. Looking at their ages and background… I doubt that a single one of them would be making the sacrifices they are currently making if we didn’t have an automatic Olympic bid. And, in turn, this means come September 2028 the quality of recruits will take a nose dive.
Bottom Line: If you think this is some sort of new conceptual sustainable residency program… Well, as folks in the South like to say at places like Auburn, Alabama, “Bless your heart.“
It’s hard to see this program sticking around without substantially more funding. And, if more funding does somehow become available… I sure hope our Board of Directors fully considers other initiatives and whether they are better candidates for scarce resources. And, at the top of their list of factors to consider: sustainability
Ft Pierce Residency Program: A Valid Short Term Need…Even if it’s a Hail Mary
While the new Residency Program for the USA Program is not very likely to stick around I think a solid case can be made to still go forward with it. The logical question then is, “Why on God’s green earth would the #1 detractor of Handball Residency Programs be in favorite of doing a program yet again?
Answer: It’s “pretty much” the only way the USA Women can expand it’s meager talent pool and provide a handball crash course for newcomers to get them “sort of” ready for the 2028 Olympics.
I say “pretty much” the only way because, in theory, there are other ways. Qatar built a strong Men’s National team through naturalization. The U.S. has had naturalized citizens in other sports, but typically these athletes have become citizens through marriage or other standard processes. Manufacturing an entire team is just not something the U.S. would ever do, in my opinion. Another option would be to farm out athletes individually to top clubs in Europe where they could get top coaching and competition. However, that would take revitalizing and super charging a Forum Club Handball (FCH) support program for USA athletes that unfortunately no longer exists.
We could also debate whether other locations like Denmark (as GBR did before the 2012 London Olympics) or Los Angeles (copying the 1996 Atlanta strategy) would be better. They arguably are… but a different location is just a variation of the Residency Program concept.
And, I say “sort of” ready because two years is just not enough time to really get newcomers ready to effectively compete against the best teams in the world. If the program is done right I think it’s enough time to turn great athletes into decent handball players… but, not enough time to turn them into great handball players. There’s just too much too learn and certainly not enough time to garner the experience needed to be a great player.
All that said, it’s 4th and long, we’re running out of time and we don’t haven’t any good options. I don’t think we could tell the IHF and USOPC we can’t field a competitive team and decline our guaranteed Olympic slot. I also don’t think it would have been prudent to essentially go with our current talent pool and hope for the best. That might have saved money and allowed resources to go towards more sustainable efforts, but the Olympics is just too big a stage to field a team that will lose by 20-30 goals.
No. I think the right answer was to go with the Hail Mary pass to the end zone or as Scott Van Pelt likes to say a pitchy, pitchy, woo-woo play. We’re Americans. It’s the Olympics. We got to try something. Hey, sometimes it even works.
And, I’ll emphasize I’m not even talking about wins and loss. I will be ecstatic if the USA Women win a match at the 2028 Olympic Games. That’s not likely to happen with a 12 team field mostly comprised of the best European sides, probably Brazil, Angola and S Korea/Japan.
No, realisticaly I’m looking for “moral victories.” Of course, I hate that term, but it’s realistic. I’m shooting for losses with a scoreline of 10-19 goals. Maybe a single digit loss against some team. Playing a couple of teams close for a half. Back and forth sequences in every match where viewers can see a little potential. Where they can rationalize, “If the USA Women were only just a little bit more experienced” or “If we just had a couple more good players the results would be diffferent.”
Where some young American girls watching handball for the first time can envision a future playing the sport. Yes, indeed, that alone might just be worth the investment in a short term residency program in Florida.
While this logic applies for the USA Women, does it also apply for the USA Men? The short answer is no, but I’ll break down the long answer, next
I’ve spent a lot of time and energy advocating and writing about strategic planning. Sometimes, I’ve gotten the message across. But, at other times, I’ve been ignored. In particular, the last few years have been downright depressing. I’ve been told there is a plan in place, but if there is… I’m bewildered by some of the activities and initiatives that are taking place. I’ll eventually explain my bewilderment, but before I do that I’ll first breakdown why strategic planning is important.
Many Possibilities… but, Limited Resources
Virtually every handball related effort that has ever been undertaken in this country has had some value. Whether it was starting a new club, conducting a youth clinic or establishing a residency program for elite athletes. Even if an effort ultimately failed someone was exposed to the sport and something was learned from merely trying. There’s no shortage of worthy things to do, but as anyone who’s been around awhile knows we are critically short in terms of resources. We can’t do everything and sometimes even focusing on just one or two things is challenging. I first wrote about this challenge back in 2014 and proposed several options for consideration. Over time, some of the options have even been implemented to one degree or another.
The point of emphasis here is that before you decide on your initiatives you really, really need to take stock of what you have before you decide what you should do. This is because… what you want to do might not even be possible given your current starting point. I then continued the series with a fairly deep dive look at our overall demographics, national team player pool, club status and finances. (Spoiler Alert: Not much has changed in the plast 6 to 7 years; we’re still starting from the same point)
Understanding and Defining Sustainability
When I take stock of “What We Have” the number of reasonable courses of action dwindles considerably. At least they do for me, anyway. But, what’s obvious to me… isn’t so obvious to others because I now see quite a bit of time and energy being directed towards some efforts that have very little chance of being sucessful in the near term and practically no chance whatsoever of long term sustainability.
Why do I think that? What do I mean? Well, let’s start with the definition of sustainability. Merriam-Webster defines sustainbility as “capable of being sustained” and then defines sustained as “maintained at length without interruption or weakening.” AI and Wikipedia expand on these definitions and highlight how the term has more recently emphasized enviromental issues. In a handball sense, and particularly as it relates to handball in the USA, I’ll go with the Merriam-Webster definition of being “maintained at length without interruption or weakening.”
However, while I appreciate the simplicy of the definition it’s lacking a discussion at to how much resources should be applied to sustain an effort. Because, if you think about it, just about anything can be maintained if you keep throwing enough money at it. Conversely, if the money declines or runs out the program is in immediate jeapordy. So, from a financial standpoint, the sustainbility objective or gold standard would be for an effort to eventually become mostly self funded.
The other primary resource is people and their willingness to be involved whether as an athlete, volunteer or compensated staff. Similar to money, if you have enough people engaged in an effort… that effort can also be maintained. And conversely, if people lose interest for whatever reason an effort can quickly fail. This can even be true if just the one key person loses interest in supporting an effort.
Why Sustainability?
A desire for sustainability is somewhat self-evident. Just about everybody likes to see something they were involved in continue to function or work. In 2001, I helped get the DC Diplomats club get established and while surely someone else would likely have done the same thing sooner or later, I take a little pride in that club still being around. And, then in 2010, I helped establish the Las Vegas Scorpions. I like what I helped start there, but there’s less personal satisfaction with a club that’s faded away, even if it’s now showing some signs of life.
But, beyond pride and feeling good, sustainability is really important for a stuggling sport trying to gain a foothold in the U.S. I’ve been around 40 years and in that time I’ve seen far too many efforts start with promise, but then disappear. Here are a few:
Major youth progams in Los Angeles (80s/90s) and Atlanta (90s/00s).
Dozens of college clubs and adult clubs. Fun fact: Denver is on its 4th handball club (Pioneers, Rockies, a no-nickname team and today’s Wolves).
The multi sport Olympic Festivals that served as a stepping stone from clubs to the national teams in the 70s, 80s and 90s
National Team Residency programs in Colorado Springs it(80s-93), Philadelphia (93-94), Atlanta (94-96), Cortland (04-07) and Auburn (13-18).
Expending scarce resources on efforts that aren’t sustainable isn’t quite the same as throwing money down the drain… but, it’s really questionable. And, if one factors in the lost opportunity costs… The reality that even just redirecting a tiny amount of resources towards something sustainable and contemplates how over time that could make a difference… Well, you can see why I shake my head in frustration and become a little depressed.
Because there are some efforts that have been fairly sustainable. Some examples include:
CalHeat’s Middle School and High School programs
Collegiate clubs like West Point, Air Force, North Carolina and the relative new kid on the block, Ohio State. And, adult clubs like NYC, Chicago Inter and CalHeat
Questions that Should be Asked and Answered
This leads to a lot of questions that should be asked to include:
Why have some efforts fizzled out?
Why have some efforts stuck around?
Can we distill what’s worked and what hasn’t and apply those lessons learned to new efforts?
Can we ask hard questions about sustainability before efforts get approved?
So that efforts can be restructured to improve their prospects for sustainability
So that efforts that can’t adequately address sustainability concerns never see the light of day
I’ll try tackling these questions and more in the coming weeks.
Lewis Howes and the School of Greatness have stepped up to sponsor the USA Wheelchair Handball Program. The $50,000 donation will be used to help fund travel for upcoming international competition. The School of Greatness platforms will also lend storytelling and media support to amplify the athletes’ journeys and grow the sport’s visibility.
A USA Women’s Sr Team recently played three matches vs Puerto Rico. Here are the results: (Source: Puerto Rico Handball Federation Facebook Page: Link)
June 15: Puerto Rico 34 – 19 USA
June 16: Puerto Rico 30 – 24 USA
June 17: Puerto Rico 35 – 21 USA
Here are the leading scorers for the USA over the 3 matches: (Source: Puerto Rico Handball Federation Instagram Account: Link) (Note: These stats were updated based on a new post)
Jessica Kuster-Medina, 13 goals
Katie Timmerman, 12 goals
Kathy Darling, 9 goals
Beatrice Cangas-Perez, 8 goals
Rylee White, 7 goals
Kasey McCravey, 6 goals
August Raskie, 5 goals
Maegan Barkley, 4 goals
Devyn Holbrook, 2 goals
Ellie Brown, 2 goals
Photos/Videos:
Match photos (Puerto Rico Handball Federation) 1, 2, 3
Short highlight reels (Purerto Rico Handball Federation and Pro Live PR): 12
Behind the scenes videos (Various USA Team Handball Women’s Instagram: 123
New Recruit Research
The USA team appeared to be mostly composed of relative newcomers to the team. I haven’t seen an official roster, but I was able to do some top level online research of some of the new recruits. (And, of course, being online research via Instagram, LinkedIn and old college sports bio pages there’s bound to be some inaccuracies). That said, here’s what I found out:
Jessica Kuster-Medina
Age ~34, 6’2″ Rice University (2014), D-1 Basketball athlete, 6 year pro
And, not just a “D-1 athlete”, but perhaps the all-time greatest basketball player in Rice history. Really? Yes, really. Check out this video: Link
Age: ~26, 5’9″, Concordia (2023), D-2 Basketball athlete, 2 year pro
Actually, started playing in 2023, but took a 2 year hiatus to play basketball in South Korea. Check out this recent podcast for more information: Link
(LA THC celebrates their recent National Championship)
This past weekend the Los Angeles Team Handball (LA THC) won the inaugural USA Team Handball National Cup competiton with two wins over ChicagoInter (37-28) (42-27) and a 33-33 draw vs the New York Athletic Club (NYAC). This gave LA THC an overall record of 9-1-1 to put them in 1st place for the final National Cup Standings. (Note: The USA National Cup is a not a Knockout Tournament Cup as is commonly played in Europe, but more akin to a National League, albeit with matches played over just three weekends) As the winner of the National Cup, LA THC will represent the USA at the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Club Championships which will, in turn, serve as the NACHC qualifier for the Club World Championships (formerly known as the Super Globe)
A Strangely Quiet Title on USA Team Handball Platforms
LA THC has certainly trumpeted its National Championship with multiple posts on social media platforms. 123 European handball sites like Handball-World and GoHandball have been intrigued with all the retired pros playing for LA THC and have reported on it as well. Meanwhile, USA Team Handball has been strangely quiet with, I think, no mention of LA THC winning the title on social media and no article on its website. In fact, I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think there’s been any website posts regarding the National Cup all season.
If you start a brand new season long competition to determine a National Champion… One would think this would become a centerpiece for promotion with a dedicated section on the website with current standings, leading scorers and other statistics. Especially, when handball outlets around the world are suddenly taking interest in a USA domestic club competition. Instead… it’s almost like it’s being purposely hidden. Why?
Positive Elements of the National Cup Format
Before I try to answer that question, I’ll first address the National Cup itself. While it has been pilloried by some right from the start I actually like some elements of the competition. In particular, I’ve never liked having a one weekend, winner take all tournament (i.e. the U.S. Open National Championships) to determine a National Champion. Never liked it… but, understood why it was the practical solution for an amateur competition in a very large country. I also never liked the overly complicated points system for determining which clubs would compete in the elite division at Nationals. The National Cup essentially replaced one Open Nationals tournament with three Tournament like weekends in a quasi league format. And, with three tournaments it made it more expensive and theoretically impractical to fly in ringers, mercenaries to improve a club’s chances of winning a title. Overall it was a format far more likely to truly determine the top club in the U.S.
A Competition Plagued with Problems (Predictable and Unforeseen)
But, while there was some positive aspects to the competition it’s been been plagued with problems and challenges to include:
Lack of Support from Key Stakeholders (i.e. Top Clubs): While it’s relatively easy to come up with a new format for determining a National Champion getting consensus from all the top clubs in the U.S. is a far more challenging task. In particular, the last two national champions, the California Eagles (2024) and New York City (NYC) (2025) declined to participate. While one might simply write off the concerns of the Eagles as a manufactured team it’s pretty hard to do the same with perrenial contender, NYC, the largest club in the U.S. I do not know what coordination took place as the latest edition of the Competition Rulebook was developed, but there’s a fine art to ensuring all stakeholders are heard, compromised is reached and community buy-in is obtained. In short, dictating solutions is easy… building consensus is hard.
Flown in Players Bolstering Rosters to New Extremes: USA Clubs adding players who live nowhere near the location of the club to their rosters is nothing new. And, I have addressed this concern multiple times with increasing rancor. In theory, changing the format from one winner take all event tournament to three weekend tournaments should have made flying in players cost prohibited. But, the reality is that three clubs (LA THC, NYAC and ChicagoInter) to varying degrees, found the money and took roster boosting to new extremes. While this buzz was attention grabbing, particularly for foreign handball outlets, the overall look was concerning for Americans more focused on the development of stateside athletes.
Venue Shortcomings and an Unannounced Venue Change: I don’t think there were any issues with the first “tournament” in Chicago, but the second tournament in Denver was played on a narrow court. The third tournament was schedule to be played in conjunction with Army-West Point’s Annual Scott Pace Tournament, but instead it was quietly switched to the Velo Sports Center in Carson, CA (a suburb of Los Angeles). There was no announcement as to why the venue changed, but I’ve been told that West Point’s no stickum (resin) requirement and the lack of web streaming were the reasons behind this move. The Velo Sports Center was clearly a great venue, but the change meant that West Point couldn’t attend… It would have been pretty strange to not attend their own tournament. Coupled with the Denver Wolves not attending (purportedly due to injuries) this meant the final tournament had only 4 of the 6 participating clubs attending.
An Unnanounced Double Forfeit for Roster Violations: When LA THC played to a draw vs NYAC I had thougth they had won the overall title by virtue of their superior W-L-D record and that they needed that draw to win. According to multiple sources, however, the title had alreadly been decided due to roster violations by both NYAC and Chicago leading to them double forfeiting their first match. Further, I’ve been told that the Tournament Disciplinary Committee only made this ruling after both the USATH Handball Board President, Patrick Jalabert and CEO, Michael King, were removed from the Committee due to their conflict of interest. Jalabert has been the Chicago Inter President for years, but I’m not sure what Michael King’s conflict would be. He’s actually played for both NYAC and LA in the past, but I don’t think he’s ever been affiliated with Chicago.
Commentary: Bad Optics and a Competition with an Uncertain Future
Could this last incident be the reason why there has been no official USA Team Handball reporting on LA’s title? Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see a possible connection between the two. It was yet another case of “bad optics” for USA Team Handball’s Leadership team. But, was it so bad that world famous handball players celebrating a USA Championship had to be ignored?
With a competition limping to completion with a third of its teams absent and mired in controversy one wonders whether the National Cup will be a one and done experiment. Time will tell. Hopefully, there will be some lessons learned that can be evaluated by a reinvigorated Competition Committee. Perhaps a committee with all the top clubs empowered and committed to craft a more workable solution. One that can have a few Euros playing to provide some promotional benefits, but at the same time facilitate more state side Americans participating and growing the game.
(Carolina celebrates their victory over Treasure Coast: Link)
This past weekend the University of North Carolina (UNC) hosted it’s annual Carolina Blue Cup. The UNC alumni team, Carolina Blue, took the title with a 26-23 victory over Army’s 1st team, West Point- Black. Aaron Hamm had 8 goals for Carolina Blue and Owen Rodgers scored 6 for Army.
In the 3rd place match UNC’s 1st team, Carolina, defeated Army’s 2nd team, 26-23. The full results for the tournament are at the bottom of this post.
Treasure Coast Debut
But, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this annual tournament was the debut of a Men’s National Devolopment Team which was referred to as “Treasure Coast”. For the unitiated, the Treasure Coast is the regional name for the coastal area north of Ft Lauderdale, including the town of Fort Pierce, where Westwood Academy High School will serve as a training center for developing handball athletes. A handful of athletes are already currently training there and more may be identified at a tryout being held there this weekend. If you follow the USA Men’s National Handball Team social media pages (InstagramFacebook) you likely have seen some videos talking about the training taking place.
The team had a humbling debut against a field of 8 collegiate clubs and 4 at-large clubs. In Group play they narrowly defeated Air Force, 31-30 and easily defeated SUNY Cortland, 33-12, to win their Group. However in knockout play they lost to Carolina, 33-34 in the quarter finals and then tied a relatively new club team with just 9 players, Charlotte Flight, 32-32. Overall, they finished 7th in the field of 12 teams.
Video of the matches vs Air Force and Charlotte can be seen here:
Treasure Coast Roster (A Mix of Newcomers and Collegiate Veterans)
The Treasure Coast roster featured a lot of inexperienced newcomers to handball, but also included a core group that was actually more experienced than most of the teams participating in the tournament. In particular, I think the 3 West Point grads (Considine, Miller and Phillips) were each Collegiate National Championship MVPs. Pitt’s Greenstein spent the Fall semester in the Netherlands playing with a club team and Liden was on the Jr National Team. The rest of the roster included a few athletes with limited club handball experience and several who’ve only been playing a couple weeks. It’s a mixed group, but several have NCAA D1 experience in Football, Baseball or soccer.
Commentary: Closing the Gap to Collegiate Clubs and on to the National Team Level… not as Easy or Quick as one Might Think or Want it to be
The Freshman in question is Nate Wolfe. He’s a lefty and has only been playing handball since September. Similarily, Jack Tierney, a junior at AF sliced and diced the Treasure Coast defense for 14 goals in their narrow defeat.
Without a doubt, it’s bad optics for a USA Team Handball National Development Team to lose or just narrowly defeat a collegiate club. This past week the USA Men’s National Team social media channels featured plenty of weight training posts… but, none on its debut in competition. Yeah, I’m guessing the social media channels would have looked a little different if Treasure Coast had won the tournament.
And, having seen the team’s participating and some of the team rosters on USA Team Handball’s Sport 80 platform before the tournament, I figured Treasure Coast had a good chance of taking the title. They had enough quality experienced players and were facing relatively low level clubs. It didn’t work out that way and I think the team’s lack of playing together was a significant factor. And, for sure, the newcomers, despite some strong athletic backgrounds still have a long way to go. Yes, college club athletes who have only been playing a year or two have a significant experience advantage even against D1 athletes. These newcomers will close the gap and eventually have no problem against lower level USA clubs, but, as was demonstrated this past weekend, it will take longer than one might think.
There are multiple reasons why it will take awhile.
A raw talent gap… but not so wide: First, some of these collegiate teams have athletes that aren’t much of a step down in raw talent from their D1 counterparts. On average, solid collegiate clubs like West Point, Carolina and Air Force have at least 1 or 2 such athletes on their team.
Experience: If the raw talent gap is manageable, handball experience will trump that superior raw talent
Learning to play handball takes time. Even to learn the basics to play competently against lower level teams it takes a while. And, then to learn the fine points of the game it takes even longer. Finally, to master those fine points… we’re talking years.
And, if you are now thinking, “Hmmm, I wonder then how long it will take newcomers to close the gap with the athletes on our current Men’s National Team?” The best team we’ve had since the mid 1980s… Well, then you are asking the right question.
And, if you know the answer to that question it then leads you to a basic conclusion, which can best be summed up as… What in the hell does USA Team Handball think it’s doing in Fort Pierce, Florida?
Last Wednesday, USA National Team athlete, Isabela Da Cruz played the last 15 minutes in OGC Nice‘s French 1st Division match vs St Amand and made the most of her opportunity, scoring 3 goals with active play on both offense and defense. She was clearly OGC Nice’s bright spot in a 23-32 defeat and deserving of the club player of match award. This video shows the three goals she scored and the entire match can be seen at this link. (queued up to the last 15 minutes) (Side note: St Amand’s Head Coach is former USA Women’s National Team Coach, Edina Borsos)
OGC Nice’s 1st team is currently in 5th place in the Butagaz Energy League and Da Cruz plays behind the team’s leading scorer, French International player Marie-Helene Sajak. Da Cruz who is 19 years old and turns 20 later this month gets most of her current playing time with OGC Nice’s 2nd team which plays in NF1, the 3rd level of French Women’s handball. For the 2nd team she has 35 goals in 10 matches for a 3.5 goals/game average. (See Below)
Commentary: Unfair Expectations, Now on a Path to being Met
I first heard of Da Cruz back in 2021 and the bio of a 15 year old American, 5’9″ (176 cm), left handed, Right Back who had already played some handball in Brazil seemed too good to be true. And, my expectations further climbed when she made the leap to move to France to attend a French Handball Academy in Dijon. To put things into perspective, this was a remarkably unprecedented move for a U.S. Handball player. We have hardly anyone this age even knowing what handball is, let alone playing the sport and being deemed worthy of attending a French Handball Academy.
When I started to see her play for U.S. Youth and Jr National Teams my expectation was for a European trained player to tear through inexeperienced North American and Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) competition. So, I was disappointed to see a competent player, but one prone for mistakes and somewhat hesitant at times. Over the course of several competitions I saw improvement, but nothing to the level to match my expecations.
Fast forward to today and I’m rethinking those initial expecations and deeming them unfair. The trajectory of development is different for every player. And, looking back at my own skills development in different sports… I really should know better. Slow and steady development can lead to a moment when everything starts to come together and click.
Perhaps, one shouldn’t read too much into one 15 minute stretch in a match, but I now see a player where things are coming together. Isabela Da Cruz doesn’t have lightning 1v1 speed, but she’s starting to understand the game and is putting herself in position to score and/or be a threat to score so she can make that next pass for a great scoring opportunity. I’m not sure what the trajectory end point will be, but she’s just 19 years old… with plenty of time to further improve.
In a nod to Pablo Torre’s successful podcast I share some information I found regarding how Port St Lucie, Florida possibly got on USA Team Handball’s radar as a national team residency program location. Joining me to discuss is 1972 Olympian, 1976 Olympic Head Coach and former USA Team Handball Board President, Dennis Berkholtz.
Here are some links to topics and issues discussed in the podcast:
(Handball Inside’s Instagram Story montage of Los Angeles Team Handball’s recent recruiting spree)
Our Germans are Better than their Germans
Back in the day, long before I became America’s #1 handball fan, I was a Flight Test Engineer at Edwards AFB in California. As such, it probably wouldn’t shock you that the 1983 movie, The Right Stuff, is one of my all time favorites. Parts of the film were actually filmed at the base and Chuck Yeager used to periodically show up at the Officer’s Club on Friday nights because he was a living legend and kind of owned the base. In one memorable scene, Senator (and later president) Lyndon Johnson is told that the Russians are ahead in the Space Race because of all the German rocket scientists working for them only to be told by Wernher Von Braun, that “our Germans are bettter than their Germans.” Which, indeed, ultimately was proven true in the end.
Yes, one of the lesser known tales, is that at the end of WW II, Germany actually manufactured a pretty capable rocket, the V-2, and, both the Soviet Union and the United States were very interested in aquiring the knowledge behind that technical development. And, thanks to Operation Paperclip, the U.S. did a better job and over 1,600 German scientists, engineers and technicians were resettled in the U.S. after the war. The U.S. has plenty of very capable people, but this German core helped us get the job done once we put our mind to it.
Our Germans are Better than your Danes
80 years later a different talent acquisition battle is taking place on American handball courts. This time two teams, the Los Angeles Team Handball Club (LA THC) and the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) have both “acquired” European handball players to bolster their prospects of winning the USA Team Handball National Cup. Initially, I thought that only LA THC was bolstering their roster with Viran Morros and Domogoj Srsen coming from Europe along with most of the upper echelon handball athletes (Drew Donlin, Ty Reed, and Akuro Zuwed) living in the U.S. joining the team. But, then NYAC suprised LA THC at the first weekend of competition in October. This is because NYAC had very quietly added some Danish Handballers to augment their roster. LA THC lacked backcourt scoring and NYAC beat them 28-24 and whined about losing to a “Danish team.” I found this to be amusingly hypocritical and posted this on Instagram.
In response to the upset LA THC went on a recruiting spree and barring Mikkel Hansen quietly coming out of retiriement for NYAC they should dominate play with the addition of these athletes this weekend:
Michell Gabriel Hildebrandt
Alexander Hermann
Maximilian Hermann
Dalibor Doder
Martin Johannes Strobel
Tobias Reichmann
Joscha Ritterbach
Vid Kavticnik
Yes, just like the Soviet Union launching Sputnik to wake up the U.S., NYAC’s win in the first weekend tournament has woken up LA THC. The match has yet to be played, but, on paper, their Germans (and Austrians, Swede and Slovenian) are better than NYAC’s Danes. Way better.
Some Positive Aspects of this Development
While, I can’t help but chuckle at this whole development there are some positive aspects of it to include:
Publicity (Rest of World): Handball publications in Europe have been covering these player acquisitions as if they are somehow similar to Simon Pytlick signing with Berlin. And, some social media posts have gotten a significant number of likes and comments about how cool it is. I’m not sure if it really moves the needle much, but it doesn’t hurt for the world handball community to contemplate the possibility of handball in the U.S. becoming bigger even if it’s very debatable if it’s actually occuring.
Publicity (USA): In theory, former professionals playing handball in the U.S. could trigger greater handball interest in the form of press coverage, fans showing up to watch matches or watching competition online. I haven’t seen any signs of that yet, but, in theory, it could happpen.
Better competitition for upper level handball players in the U.S.: The U.S. may not have a very robust talent pyramid composed of handball athletes in the U.S., but it does exist. And, if you are at the very top of that pyramid your opportunities to play against similar or higher level competition are few and far between. The importation of some high quality athletes to play against (even if it’s just three weekends) is a good deal for those handful of athletes at the tippy top.
Great learning experience for the West Point collegiate program: Of the six teams participating in the USA Team Handball National Cup only one team is primarily American with an average age under 30 and that team is Army (West Point). Perennially, the top collegiate program these athletes who’ve only been playing handball 1-4 years and an average age of ~21 have yet to win a match in the competition, but they undoubtedly are learning a great deal from the experience.
The Negative Aspects
Deceiving the world handball community: All of the publicity surrounding these developments are announced like it’s a European club signing an athlete. The reality is that these athletes are essentially flying to the U.S. for a couple of weekends to play handball for teams that are only sort of connected to the location in their team name. LA has a supporting cast of athletes who do live in LA, but many of the top players don’t live anywhere near there. I think the situation is even more stark with NYAC as I’m not sure if any of the athletes on the NYAC 1st team live in New York City. Further, this is a competition structure unlike anything in Europe as it is essentially recreational handball played in nondescript gyms with the only spectators being friends, family and players from the other teams. This is handball in the United States for the last 50 years.
Punishing clubs trying to do develop the “right way”: The result of this handball arms race is that it’s challenging for clubs to effectively compete with just local talent. No, in order to compete for a title a club will almost always need to add players at key positions. This has been going on for years… it’s just gotten more pronounced lately. And, while one might argue that the same thing happens with pro clubs in Europe bringing in foreign talent to bolster the roster that point neglects the reality is that those are professional clubs and when those clubs bring in talent… the talent moves to that city to practice with the team. Another complication is that bringing in talent like that for big tournaments can even have a reverse “West Point” effect in that up and coming players lose playing time and valuable learning opportunities to the more experienced temporary members of the club.
Significant lost opportunity costs: People can spend their time and money on whatever they want to. And, this includes roster additions to win a competition. I don’t know what arrangments have been made to secure the sevices of these players, but I’m guessing it might be just as simple at travel and lodging costs. That might not seem like much, but when you’re talking multiple flights from Europe and lodging those costs start to add up. With handball in America facing many challenges one doesn’t have to think very hard to come up with alternative ways those funds could be spent to develop the sport in the U.S. But, again that’s the choice of the clubs and to LA THC’s credit they donated $1,000 to a new club at the University of Georgia. In my opinion, that’s the best thing so far to come out of this venture and I hope more such donations are on the horizon, hopefully to some new collegiate clubs in the LA area.
Just Marketing Buzz?
As someone who’s been around the block a few times both in the business and handball world, I’ll be the first one to tell you that marketing is very important. You can have the very best product or plan, but if you can’t sell it… that’s a problem. However, the reverse can also be true with the marketing way out in front of a loosely defined concept. And, in the age of the internet with content creators and influencers creating “marketing buzz” can even morph into the primary objective. Can even be interpreted as the primary metric of success. I don’t think that’s entirely what’s happening here, but it’s a significant component.
Or… Something more Tangible?
Marketing buzz is often over-valued, but it can be the first step towards achieving something more tangible. Beyond the buzz, the primary tangible objectives appear to be winning the USA Team Handball National Cup, the North American Club Championships and to go to the Super Globe. This super charged LA THC team should be able to easy accomplish these objectives. Going to the Super Globe is “something” to shoot for, but it also is the most maligned handball tournament in the world. At this year’s edition I was puzzled by the dismal attendance for a match between Magdeburg and Veszprem why it was so paltry and Handball influencer, Rasmus Boysen provided a succint explanation.
No Upward Wrexham Path in the U.S.
Some social media posts have made references to “elevating handball” in the U.S. This is pretty vague and can be interpreted in a number of ways. I think a lot of Europeans envsion a plucky amateur club spending money to climb into the professional ranks like FC Wrexham has famously done and how handball clubs like Hamburg‘s rebirth in Germany or more recently Hoj Elite in Denmark have done.
Unfortunately, that’s not how things work in the U.S. For one thing there are no professional hanball clubs to compete against and even if there were U.S. sports don’t have promotion and relegation. LA THC, NYAC or any other club are not going to continue to grow and eventually become professional entities like the LA Lakers or the New York Knicks. About the best LA THC and other clubs could hope for is some entity like Pro Handball USA actually establishing a semi-pro league and then getting invited to join it. Maybe that will happen some day, but I don’t think it will happen anytime soon.
Other Elevation Options
It goes without saying that there are also other ways to “elevate” a club besides turning pseudo-professional. The GoFundMe that was established for LA THC identifies it’s mission as “to provide athletes of all ages—youth, juniors, men, and women—a place to learn, play, and improve their handball skills.” This sounds pretty good to me and it has raised over a $100,000. However, it would be super interesting to see a breakdown of how that $100K has been spent and what portion of it has gone towards travel and lodging for retired handball professionals (i.e. “men”) and what portion has gone towards youth, juniors and women. Why, I’ve even proposed to Lewis Howes that he shift the focus from his personal Olympic Dreams to a women’s program focus as it could truly be a game changer. Done right LA THC could even field around half of our 2028 Women’s Olympic Team.
The Necessary Hype Vehicle to Enable the Grudge Work of Development?
One last possibility for consideration is that the Men’s club team is simply the hype vehicle to enable real development. One can always post videos of kids running around throwing handballs, but that just doesn’t get anyone excited. Whereas bringing in former pros to win a title is easier to hype up and sell. And, then once the hype has been sold, the real behind the scenes grudge work that develops handball can take place in earnest. I guess I would be down with that.
I, for one, certainly don’t buy the hype, but some people (particularly in Europe) will and maybe some Americans will as well. Even Americans who are unfamiliar with handball. Maybe… No one has been able to really crack that code yet. Many have tried… All have failed. But, as with all such adventures I will continue to watch with interest.
Pablo Torre and his popular sports related podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out have been on a burner for the past several months as he has investigated the NFL Players Union and the LA Clippers possibly circumnavigating the NBA salary cap.
In a nod to his successful podcast format I share some information I found regard what apparently is a new national team residency program quietly being organized in Port St Lucie, Florida. Yes, surprisingly (or not surprisingly) the best source of information in regards to what USA Team Handball is up to is not their website, social media channels, or Town Hall Meetings, but instead is a school board meeting in Florida.
Podcast Audio (mp3) is available at the top of the page; Podcast video (YouTube) is available below
Here are some links to topics and issues discussed in the podcast:
Audio of the USA Team Handball Town Hall held on 28 July, 2025 (queued up to my question regarding residency programs: Link
Video of the St Lucie School Board Meeting held on 28 October, 2025 (queued up to the discussion of the “Olympic Handball Team” coming to Port St Lucie): Link
August, 2013 Commentary expressing concerns with USA Team Handball starting a Residency Program at Auburn University: Link
Multiple commentaries from 2013-2016 highlighting problems and concerns with the Auburn Residency Program: Link (Scroll down the page)
Screenshot of USA Team Handball “news” page on 23 November 2025
If you have any suggestions for future topics that you would like us to consider please let us know on social media.
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