Colton Strickler is a media representative for DNVR Rugby. In the first part of our discussion we focused on the Colorado XO Rugby Club that is focused on rugby training for crossover or “talent transfer” athletes from other sports. In the 2nd part I let Colton ask some handball newbie questions he has as a rugby guy. Then we discuss Major League Rugby (MLR), the relatively new pro rugby competition in the U.S. and the inherent challenges with starting a new professional league.
Some of the topics discussed during our Handball Q&A session
Did Jake Plummer play handball? Yes, but the wrong handball: Link
The semantic problems of handball/team handball: Link
How should a newcomer watch a handball match?
The success/failure rate for handball keepers
Where handball can be seen during the Olympics: Link
How handball is organized in Europe
Who is the Handball GOAT and who are the top players today?
Colton Strickler is a media representative for DNVR Rugby. The Colorado XO Rugby Club is a rugby club located in Glendale, Colorado that is focused on rugby training for crossover or “talent transfer” athletes from other sports. In just 2 years time this program has had 6 athletes sign pro rugby contracts with Major League Rugby, the relatively new pro rugby competition started in the U.S.
On the podcast we discuss:
Why Rugby’s experience is applicable to handball
The XO athlete that triggered this whole podcast: Link
Colton’s rugby background
Rugby talent transfer: Rugby 7s vs Rugby 15s
How the Colorado XOs got started
Colorado XO Recruiting Strategies
Sports the XOs target
The limited post collegiate options for American athletes
Colorado XO finances (generalities, not specifics)
How the Colorado XO schedule is a bit like Notre Dame football
While searching for that video, this video of former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow playing dodgeball and drilling Shaq also popped up.
In my opinion, this video supports what has been discussed for 10 years now. That Tim Tebow would have been a phenomenal handball player. I know, I know…it’s just celebrity dodgeball, but you can still see it. He’s got the arm (lefty), the moves and the mentality of a handball player.
Alas, he continued to believe that he had a future as an NFL quarterback. Then he gave baseball a try. I had thought he had finally resigned himself to being just a football commentator, but earlier this year he announced that he was going to give the NFL a try yet again, this time as tight end.
The intent of this page is to provide a consolidated location for 2020 Olympic Handball information that can serve both dedicated handball fans as well as newcomers just discovering the sport.
Olympic Handball Competition Schedule and Results:Link
Team Information (Official pages, previews, rosters and handy Wikipedia pages): Link
Hey, media person, just discovering handball: Think you’ve got a new idea on how the U.S. can win Olympic Handball Gold? Think again… Check out these articles dating back from 1996.
The Rip Beach Handball Club will be in action this weekend in Spain.
More information on where to find web streams for National Team, Professional Club and USA Competitions: Link
For regular updates on when and where handball matches can be streamed online follow Team Handball News on social media: TwitterFacebookInstagram
All times are CET which is 6 hours ahead of US ET. Odds courtesy of Bet MGM and/or OddsPortal.
American Athletes in Action
The Rip Beach Handball Club will be participating in the Orihuela, Spain stop on the Arena Handball Tour. Many of the athletes playing for Rip Beach are also members of the USA Beach Handball National Team. I will post the scheduled match times and results when they are available. They also will surely be available on Rip Beach Handball’s social media platforms
6th place Dormagen hosts 4th place Elbflorenz in the last match of a very long season. A win here would put Dormagen level on points (40) with Elbflorenz.
The Euro Cup is a tournament for the European nations that had already qualified for the 2022 European Championships and this make up match is a tune up opportunity for Olympic bound Spain and a chance for Croatia to start their rebuilding effort.
Ebiye Udo-Udoma and the rest of the U.S. Men’s Beach Team Handball squad will be in action several times this weekend.
More information on where to find web streams for National Team, Professional Club and USA Competitions: Link
For regular updates on when and where handball matches can be streamed online follow Team Handball News on social media: TwitterFacebookInstagram
All times are CET which is 6 hours ahead of US ET. Odds courtesy of Bet MGM and/or OddsPortal.
American Athletes in Action
The USA Beach Handball Men are participating in a tournament in the Canary Islands. On Friday and Saturday they play round robin matches. The top two teams will play for 1st while the the remaining 3 teams will play a mini round robin for places 3-5. (Note: Local Time for the Canary Islands is 1 hour behind CET)
This past Wednesday, USA Team Handball released a preliminary roster for this summer’s North American and Caribbean Handball Championship. The roster lists 28 athletes and here’s a breakdown by age and where they first learned to play handball.
USA Preliminary Roster (Youngest to Oldest)
USA Preliminary Roster (Youngest to Oldest)
The ages on the roster range from 15 to 39 with an average age is 25.1. This is quite the range and is considerably more spread out then the typical women’s national team roster which is more bunched up with the bulk of the athletes in their 20s. For comparison, take a look at the rosters of the 24 nations at the 2019 IHF Women’s Handball World Championship
USA Provisional Roster (Nation Where they First Played Handball)
USA Preliminary Roster (Nation Where they First Played Handball)
All of these athletes are Americans, but the U.S. is a large nation with a global population. Estimates vary, but as many as 9M American citizens live in another country so it’s no real surprise that some of those 9M learned to play handball where they grew up. In fact, 57% (16 of 28) of the U.S. roster originally played handball in 8 different countries. Norway leads the way with 4 athletes followed by Germany with 3. Other nations: Cape Verde (2), Denmark (2), Sweden (2), Canada (1), Israel (1), Japan (1).
The fact that the U.S. has so many dual citizen athletes is sometimes seen as controversial, but it shouldn’t be. I addressed this reality and its implications for the U.S. National Team and the sport’s development previously in a series of commentaries Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
In terms of the 12 U.S. athletes that were raised stateside, 3 athletes (Kaffka, Stewart and Taylor) are products of Collegiate Clubs, 6 athletes (Lombard, Hartnett, Vallone, Fithian, Gascon and Darling) primarily first learned how to play at a Residency Program (Cortland or Auburn University) and 3 athletes picked up handball either on their own or with a club (Da Cruz, Faulkner and Smet).
Final Roster Projection
My projection for the Final Roster is a mixture of logic and guesswork. The logic portion is primarily looking at the last major tournament roster (the 2019 PANAM Games) and penciling in any name from that roster that is also on the preliminary roster. Of course, just because someone made the team last time doesn’t guarantee that they will make the team again, but it’s usually a good starting point. Further strengthening this logic is the COVID-19 pandemic as it has somewhat frozen things in place since March 2020 with many athletes not even playing handball much since then. There are 11 potential returnees and assuming that 16 athletes will be allowed for this tournament that means 5 newcomers.
And, this is where some major guesswork is required as I am not familiar with many of the other names on the roster nor do I even know what positions some of them play. So, keeping this in mind here is a top level assessment of which athletes might make the final roster. To be clear, though, I’m not actually going to make any hard projections other than that I think all 11 athletes from the PANAM Games will make the final roster. I just simply don’t know enough about the newcomers.
Goalkeepers: Sophie Fasold was one of the 2 goalkeepers on the PANAM Games roster and the other GK, Bryana Newbern is not on the 28 player preliminary roster. Fasold has also been able to play a full season with her club team, Nord Harrislee in the German 2nd Division, so I think she will likely get the the bulk of the minutes. The coaching staff will have to choose whether they want 2 or 3 goalies on the roster and both Sanna Wheeler and Emily Mrymo have previously made Jr team rosters. Also, identified as a GK is McKenna Smet who is very new to handball.
Goalkeepers
Left Wing:Julia Taylor was the 3rd leading scorer for the U.S. at the PANAM Games and Maria Vallone was her backup. It would seem that these two spots are fairly locked in, but I’m not familiar with the other potential options.
Left Wings
Right Wing: Zoe Lombard and Elisabeth Hartnett were the U.S. PANAM Games participants, but they may be joined by 16 year old, Eden Nesper who played on the U.S. Youth team in 2019 and plays for both the U17 and U19 for her club team, Hannover Badenstedt in Germany. The Hannover U17 team won the Germany cup title this past weekend. She’s a capable player with a bright future, but that’s still a pretty young age to be playing against grown adults. It will be interesting to see what the coaching staff decides.
Circle Runner: Veterans, Sarah Gascon and Jennifer Fithian, should both make the roster and they will be joined by Shani Levinkind. Levinkind was selected to the PANAM Games roster, but did not participate due to injury. Karen Schultze, 20, plays in Germany and had previously been added to the player pool, so one can assume that she’s also a strong candidate. This position may seem to be set, but because there are some major question marks at backcourt some of these players might end up playing there instead of at circle.
Circle Runners
Backcourt (Left, Center, Right):While the other positions appear to be somewhat settled there are a lot of question marks as to who will be playing the three backcourt positions. Well, not all question marks. Left Back, Nicole Andersen, the 2nd leading scorer for the U.S. at the PANAM Games returns and will likely be called upon to assume a greater leadership role with the team. Also returning are veterans Kathy Darling and relative newcomer Sif Skov Christensen. And… that’s it, (as far as I know) when it comes to returning back court players.
Logically, this means some newcomers are probably going to be expected to play some really important minutes at the key backcourt positions. And, really not knowing these players means some major guesswork. I’ve heard some good things about Emma Ready and I’ve even played quite a few times vs her father long ago in California so perhaps she’s inherited some of his feisty quickness. Despite being just 17 she could be an option at Center Back. Cecile Brown and Emilie Johansson are also possibilities and as dual citizens perhaps they’ve gotten quite a bit of playing time despite their relatively young ages.
Backcourts
But, really for all I know several names on the roster that I haven’t even mentioned (see below) could well be the athletes the selection team goes with.
Roster Candidates (Unknown Position)
But, here’s one thing I do know: U.S. success or failure in Elgin this summer will likely hinge on these newcomers and their ability to make meaningful contributions at backcourt.
Roster Churn
Much of the above commentary focused on the likely returning players from the 2019 PANAM Games and some new gaps where newcomers will need to step up. So, for context I’ll highlight some players that were not on the preliminary roster and the contributions that will be missed.
First and foremost, center back Jence Rhoads, the U.S. leading scorer (24 goals in 5 matches) from the PANAM Games is not on the roster. Anyone who’s seen the U.S. play for the past several years knows that she’s developed some solid skills and has been the point guard directing traffic on offense, making the players around her more productive. Also, not returning are left back Julia Sayer and right back Ashley Butler. All told, those 3 athletes accounted for 44% (40 of 91 goals in 5 matches) of the live action goals scored at the PANAM Games. In terms of backcourt productivity they accounted for 74% (40 of 54 goals) of the backcourt scoring. Further limiting experienced options is the news that the long awaited return of right back Karoline Borg will be delayed due to pregnancy. Borg, age 30, plays right back for Aker Topphåndball in Norway’s top and league and had previously played for the U.S.
While these roster changes will impact the U.S. it’s more than likely that the U.S. won’t be alone with this problem as other NACHC nations are also surely encountering similar roster churn. Such change is inevitable and it will be interesting to see how successful teams are in integrating their newcomers and getting their teams ready after a long pandemic layoff.
Note: If there is any information in this table that is incorrect, drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com and I will update it.
USA Men’s Preliminary Roster prior to the 2021 WC: Link
Semifinal: TV Hannover-Bandstedt vs HC Erlangen (Saturday, 1715): Video Link
Eden Nesper (#44) is a Right Wing for Hannover; Nesper was named to the U.S. preliminary roster for this summer’s North American & Caribbean Championship
Hannover won 30-23 and will play in the first place match on Sunday.
1st Place Match: TV Hannover-Bandstedtvs HSG Blomberg-Lippe (Sunday, 1345): Video Link
Gauthier Mvumbi, Detroit Handball Club Ambassador… Shaquille O’Neal, American Handball Ambassador At-Large?
Gauthier Mvumbi, Detroit Handball Ambassador
During the 2021 World Championships this past January, Gauthier Mvumbi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a media sensation and was christened the “Shaq of Handball”. This got the attention of Shaquille O’Neal and he even reached out to Mvumbi via Instagram. For a while Mvumbi was the darling of the handball media world, but I figured his 15 minutes was going to be up pretty soon.
Then a few weeks ago, Detroit Handball announced on social media that Mvumbi had agreed to be a handball ambassador for the club. I greeted this announcement with skepticism and, in part, it directly led to a recent podcast discussion on social media with Detroit Handball Club President, Joey Williams. During the podcast, I tried to get a straight answer as to just what this “ambassadorship” entailed, and from my perspective I never really got a satisfactory answer. Being somewhat old school, I wrote the whole thing off as pretty much attention for attention’s sake.
The Two Shaqs are Still Talking
But, then I read that the two Shaqs have continued their friendship and according to a recent interview in the French newspaper, L’Echo Republicaine, they are still in contact with each other. Further, Shaquille O’Neal apparently has some interesting in helping out handball in the U.S.
Here’s a translation of a portion of the interview
Gauthier Mvumbi, you will become the ambassador of US handball. Explain to us! I will help promote handball in the United States, help its development. I will participate in internships, summer camps, gala matches. I will go back and forth, but I remain above all a handball player in France or in Europe.
In which big American city? The Detroit club contacted me. In the near future, Shaquille O’Neal also wants to be involved and take on some responsibilities. Shaq would like to explore possibilities to help make handball more attractive in the U.S.; With a 5 year time frame.
Are you still in touch with the NBA star? We talk to each other regularly. The plan is to go to the U.S. in July and meet each other in person. That will be something!
Shaquille O’Neal as a Handball Ambassador?
Shaq wants to help make handball more attractive in the U.S.? Wow! It true, that would be a godsend of epic proportions. A few years ago I highlighted what USA Team Handball should look for in terms of new Board Members. I identified a need for millionaires (or even better, billionaires) and handball gospel spreaders, who could help educate the U.S. Shaq would be both in one package.
Shaq made a small fortune as an athlete ($292M on salary alone) and he continues to add to that fortune as a pretty effective ad pitchman for a number of different products. He’s got a fair amount of cash that could be put to good use. With the USA Team Handball budget at around $500K he could effectively buy out the organization if he wanted to.
But, where he would really shine is as a handball pitchman. He has millions of followers on social media and one Tweet or IG post from his Shaqness would effectively reach more new fans and players than a year’s worth of carefully crafted social media campaigns from various handball outlets in the U.S. and world-wide.
How Shaq Could Help Handball in the U.S.
Shaq as an ambassador and proponent for the sport could be an epic game changer in so many ways. Here are just a few ways he could help out:
Athlete recruiter: With a few targeted social media posts Shaq could reach hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of potential new handball athletes at all levels. Which, of course, would be really cool, but hopefully such a message could be coordinated with U.S. clubs nationwide so that they could be effectively prepared to engage with the new Shaq recruits.
TV and Web Streaming advocate: There currently is no TV home for handball in the U.S. beIN Sports TV and ESPN+ have failed to meet expectations. Shaq works for TNT and coincidentally, play by play for the Olympics will be provided by Matt Winer with NBA TV. Both properties are owned by Turner Networks which has been bought out by AT&T and will now be combined into a new to be named conglomerate with Warner Media and Discovery. A new media behemoth which will likely have a new streaming platform.
What if Shaq advocated for this new streaming platform to carry the EHF Champions League, the World Championships and other handball events?
What if they had Shaq, Kenny, EJ and Charles Barkley do an Inside the EHF Champions League show? And, maybe Matt Winer (with his newfound handball experience) could replace EJ as he has done in the past. Yes, those guys know nothing about handball, but, trust me, it would still be really entertaining!
Sponsor a college program: The interview states that Shaq wants to make the U.S. “Championnat” more attractive. Literally, that means the “National League” and the U.S. doesn’t actually have such a league. Our vast size and the amateur status of the sport pretty much makes that impossible and creating a pro or even a semi-pro league would require some major investment. While Shaq has the resource to create such a league, a more practical effort near term would be to beef up the U.S. collegiate competition. In particular, Shaq could support one college program with the intent of turning that program into a national power. As, I wrote last year a modest investment could very quickly create a national title contender. What college to choose, though? His alma mater, LSU is a candidate, but an HBCU would also be a possibility.
KRAS/Volendam vs Aalsmeer (Saturday, 2000 CET): Video Link
Mark Ortega is Volendam’s coach and Alex Binderis (#4) plays circle runner for Volendam
5th place Volendam hosts 2nd place Aalsmeer. This is Voldendam’s last match of the season and a win would enable them to move into 4th place in the 5 team league: Link
Liga ASOBAL (Spain)
Valladolid vs Leon (-1.5) (Sunday, 1900 CET): Video Link
Drew Donlin plays defense and circle runner for Leon.
Donlin had a great game (5 goals) last weekend vs Barcelona.
7th place Leon travels to 9th place Valladolid. This is Leon’s 2nd to last match of the season and will likely be that last match that will be available on Laligasports TV,
The first match was to be played in Sweden, but had to be cancelled due to positive COVID cases. Both matches will now be played in Athens and the winner will be decided by aggregate goals.
There is a U.S. connection: The U.S. national team played a couple friendly matches vs Ystads in 2020: Link
Joey Williams is the President of the Detroit Handball Club. In Part 1 of our two part conversation we discuss the trials and tribulations of his efforts to start the Detroit Club. For the most part he’s been very successful getting the Detroit Club started in the middle of a pandemic, no less.
Here are some links related to our discussion
Joey’s 2016 experience at a European GK Camp: Link
Joey’s 2019 experience at the ISI Sports Academy in Denmark: Link
2019 Commentary which discussed the hurdles of starting a new club: Link