Eurosport Live Handball Video Streaming

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Quietly, Eurosport has expanded the availability for viewers world-wide to watch live streaming of handball matches. This weekend, in particular, no fewer than 5 matches will be available for viewing. Those matches are

Friday, 23 March, 1945 CET Flensburg vs Valladolid (1st Leg, Men’s Champions League ½ Final)
Friday, 23 March, 2015 CET Hypo vs Aalborg (2nd Leg, Women’s Champions League ¼ Final)
Saturday, 24 March 1700 CET Sarajevo vs Hamburg (1st Leg, Men’s Cup Winners Cup, ½ Final)
Sunday, 25 March 1600 CET Portland San Antonio vs Kiel (1st Leg, Men’s Champions League ½ Final)
Sunday, 25 March 1615 CET Larvik vs Gyor (2nd Leg, Women’s Champions League ¼ Final)

The link for viewing the matches is: http://www.eurosport.com/handball/ In the right hand corner of the page is the video link. Wait, however, to click on this link until the match has started. Otherwise, you will probably get a blank screen.

Note: Daylight Savings Time starts in Europe on Sunday mornin. For Friday and Saturday’s matches there is a 5 hour time difference to the US East Coast. For Sunday’s matches the difference will be the standard 6 hours.

Handball Prediction Contest (Semi-Final Round)

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So do you think you know your Handball? Specifically, Men’s Champions League Handball? Here’s your chance to prove it. Predict the winners for the Semi-Final knockout stage and the margin of victory (total goal aggregate for both games) for each match. Also added for the semi-final rounds are two player vs player matchups as to who will score more goals in the semi-final matches

How to Enter: Click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=884363518331

Contest Scoring:
Correct Club/player: 5 points
Correct Club/player and margin of victory (8 points)

Prize: Winner receives a Kempa Handball Jersey courtesy of the International Sports and Academic Exchange (ISAE): https://teamhandballnews.com/page12.html

The Semi-Final phase of the contest closes Friday, 27 March, prior to the start of the Portland San Antonio – Kiel match. The contest will continue through the finals with accumulated points throughout.

Current leaders: Three contestants picked 3 out of the 4 quarter-final matches correctly and also accurately predicted the margin of victory. Those 3 leaders are David Bordeaux, Matt Van Houten, Mark Telthorster and they are tied with 24 points each. There are still plenty of games to predict, though, so their lead can still be overcome.

One entry per person please

USOC Statement on Latulippe Resignation

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The USA Women’s National Team posted the following USOC statement to their website on 17 March:

“Christian Latulippe has made an extraordinary effort to develop and structure a quality Women’s National Team (WNT) program. During the last four years he has endured organizational short comings and yet his loyalty and devotion to the success of the overall WNT program never wavered. He was central to the genesis and nurturing of the Resident Program at Cortland University.

Successful qualification for the 2007 Pan American Games is an important benchmark for the WNT for the short and medium term. It is our desire to continue the support of the WNT program with the goal of restructuring the roles within the program in the attempt to use all available resources within existing limitations to bring an energized focus to the goal of successful qualification for the 2007 PAG.

It is also our desire to retain Christian within the future for U.S. Team Handball and to position him to have perhaps a larger impact on the national program including both administration and coaching duties. Christian will begin working closely with Mr. Cavanaugh on a range of High Performance Planning, Event Direction and Technical Planning issues.

We are very optimistic about the realistic chances of the WNT to successfully qualify for the 2007 Pan American Games. To accomplish that goal we will need a total team effort from the athletes, coaching staff and administration supporting the WNT program. Best wishes for continued solid training and preparation for Mexico City.

Jay Warwick Michael D. Cavanaugh
Director – Sport Partnerships Manager of High Performance – Team Handball”

USA Women’s National Team Website: http://www.usateamhandballwomen.com/content/view/132/1/

The statement was read to the Women’s National Team on 6 March and obliquely references Coach Latulippe’s resignation as “restructuring the roles within the program.” The statement also hints as to rationale with the text: “to bring an energized focus to the goal of successful qualification for the 2007 PAG. Later this week, Team USA will be traveling to Mexico to participate in the 2nd Chance tournament in Mexico. The winner of this round robin tournament (Mexico, Chile, USA) will secure the 8th and final spot for the PANAM Games this summer in Brazil.

March Madness- A Canadian Dreams in France

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Each year in March, literally, millions of fans in the United States scramble to fill in their brackets for the NCAA Basketball tournament. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the NCAA tournament is the opportunity it gives for the small colleges to play the major basketball powers and pull off a miracle upset. In Europe, most nations stage a similar tournament for all their clubs with a few major differences. The tournament is usually conducted throughout the year and interspersed with regular league matches. Additionally, the lower division club usually gets to host the match making the possibility of an upset a little more likely. Recently, Canadian International Backcourt, Alexis Bertrand, and his Div 2 Cesson Handball teammates had their own chance to pull off a miracle as they hosted perennial French champion (7 in a row at last count), Montpellier this past Tuesday in a Round of 16 matchup in the Coupe de France.

I had some email correspondence with Alexis and he assured me that Cesson was more than a little bit excited about the opportunity, but were also realistic about their chances. In fact, they had recently played Montpellier and lost 33-23 in a friendly tournament. And that match had taken place during the World Championships and Montpellier had played without their International stars. This time around Wissem Hmam, Michel Guigou, David Juricek and others would be playing in a match that counted. That being said the goal was to keep it close and provide a packed gym of 1,200 fans a good show. And if they could keep it close then who knows what could happen in the last few minutes.

Cesson did, in fact, keep the match close in the first half, trailing only 11-9, but the wheels fell of the wagon in the 2nd half with Montpellier winning 28-18. With their Coup de France dreams over, Cesson will now try and focus on finishing 2nd in Division 2 and gaining promotion to Division 1. Currently, they are in 4th place, just 4 points behind 2nd Angers, who’s also played 1 more game than Cesson. Alexis has indicated that injuries have had an impact on the team and that he still isn’t 100% yet. Still the schedule is favourable for Cesson as most of their home games are against the teams in the top half of the standings. If they can win those home matches and also take care of business on the road against some of the weaker teams they may very well have 2 matches against Montpellier next year—in the First Division

Montpellier article: http://www.montpellierhandball.com/actus.php?m=1&a=510
Cesson article: http://www.cesson-handball.com/article.php3?id_article=610

USA Women’s National Team Coach Resigns

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Former USA Women’s National Team Coach, Christian Latulippe, has provided TeamHandballNews.com with the following official statement:

“After a major disagreement with a decision made by the USOC regarding a restructuring of my coaching duties, I have decided to step down from the head coach position of the US Women's National Team in Team Handball. I will be working until April 20th for the USOC to finish the NETHC season, to help Mike (Cavanaugh) during the National Championship and to help with the WNT transition. Finally, I might reconsider a reassignment of my duties with the USOC. The USOC will have until April 20th to come up with a proposal.”

Team USA Preparations for 2nd Chance Tourney

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Chris Cappelmann, USA Men's Coach has announced the roster for the upcoming 2nd Chance Tournament in Chile. The selection consists of the following players

Troy Steffen, Wing, Atlanta Team Handball
Ryan Hansell, Wing, Atlanta Team Handball
Levi Henderson, Wing, Atlanta Metro Condors
Gill Bozeman, Wing, Atlanta Team Handball
Patrick Oliver, Circle, Atlanta Team Handball
Jeff Goss, Circle, Atlanta Team Handball
Gary Hines, Back, Tolimar Tres de Mayo (ESP)
Derek Brown, Back, Atlanta Metro Condors
Alex McGlynn, Back, Univ of North Carolina
Bill Bigham, Back, Atlanta Metro Condors
Divine Jackson, Back, NY Athletic Club
Tom Fitzgerald, Back, NY Athletic Club
Bobby Dunn, Back, NY Athletic Club (Withdrawn)
Darrick Heath, Back, Atlanta Metro Condors
Italo Zanzi, GK, Atlanta Team Handball
Danny Caparelli, GK, NY Athletic Club
Matt Van Houten, GK, NY Athletic Club

The US will conduct a training camp in Lake Shore, Alabama from 31 March to 2 April and then depart for Chile on 3 April. The tournament matches will be played in Nunoa, a suburb of Santiago, from 6-8 April 2007. Schedule: (To be confirmed)

6 April USA vs Venezuela
7 April USA vs Chile
8 April Chile vs Venezuela

The winner of the round robin tournament will secure the 8th and final spot for the PANAM Games this summer in Brazil.

More information on the tournament is available on the Chile Federation website:
http://www.balonmano.cl/

Player search

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Handball in Brazil – ever since the opening game of the world-championships earlier this year, people have revised their view of the Brazilian game. The 27-22 defeat showed the world how close Brazil has come to the top. Now you can see for yourself just how good Brazil really is: come and play for us at the [link=http://www.itajaihandballcup.com.br]Itajai Handball Cup[/link] in Brazil! We're looking for players from all over Europe to join us for this adventure. Have a look at all the detailed information http://brembs.net/brasil_2008_invit_E.pdf and then let us know if you're interested.

Bruno Souza to Attend Brazilian Training Camp

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Brazilian Handball star and German Bundesliga veteran Bruno Souza will participate in an upcoming training camp in Brazil from 13-24 March in preparation for the PANAM Games in Rio de Janeiro later this summer. Souza did not participate in the World Championships in January and his return will certainly bolster Brazil’s backcourt.

The winner of the PANAM Games Handball tournament will automatically qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in China. Brazil is a heavy favorite to win the title, but Argentina’s victory against them at the World Championship gives Argentina hope that can pull off the upset. No word yet as to whether Eric Gull will return to the Argentine side.

Brazil Federation article (in Portuguese) http://www.brasilhandebol.com.br/noticias/noticia.asp?nid=2444

Podcast interview with Brazilian Assistant Coach Marcos Cesar from the World Championships: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.260

Liga Asobal vs HBL

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No Handball enthusiast in their right mind would even begin to argue against the fact that the Liga Asobal (Spain) and the HBL (German Bundesliga) are the top two national club leagues in the world. In fact, for this year’s Champions League all the Spanish and German teams have advanced, except when they have had to play each other. But the argument as to which of those two leagues is stronger is a hotly contested debate. Last year it was hard to argue against Liga Asobal superiority as two Spanish sides (Ciudad Real and Portland San Antonio) played each other in the final.

This year the case for superiority is more wide open, partly due to Ciudad Real and Portland San Antonio meeting in the quarter-finals. With the 2 top Spanish teams playing each other, it looked as if the Germans would get to continue their World Championship winning ways in the Champions League with 3 out of the 4 semi-finalists. Flensburg handled Barcelona with no problem, as did Kiel vs Hungarian side Veszprem. All Gummersbach had to do was beat Valladolid at home in Cologne Arena in front of 16,000 fans. Somebody forgot to tell Valladolid this, though, and behind a monster game, 10 goal outburst from Argentine Right Back Eric Gull, German fans left Cologne Arena unhappy for the first time this year.

Now two German sides are left to face two Spanish sides and we can only hope that the draw sets up Spain vs Germany showdowns in the semi-finals. (a 67% likelihood) If this is the case and either the German Clubs or Spanish Clubs manage a semi-final sweep they will make a good case for best league bragging rights. If we end up with separate Spanish and German semi-final derbies, however, the case for superiority will be less clear. Maybe, there are few fans out there that prefer the national derbies, but I suspect they are the minority. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again the EHF should change the draw format to prevent clubs from the same nation playing each other until it can no longer be avoided.

Long Island Newsday Article on USA's Divine Jackson

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The Long Island Newsday recently had an article on USA Men’s National Team member Divine Jackson:
http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ny-sphand0222,0,5671753.column?coll=ny-collegesports-headlines

Note: The article is incorrect when it states that the US has never qualified for the Olympics. While the US hasn’t qualified recently, the Men’s team qualified in 1972, 1976 and 1988 and the Women’s team qualified in 1988 and 1992. Both Men’s and Women’s team also automatically qualified when the US hosted the Olympics in 1984 and 1996.

Team Handball on TV – Streaming Options Increase, but Sometimes Disappoint

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Handball fans world-wide have had the opportunity recently in the past couple of weeks to view live handball matches via the web. In the United States, both the Carolina Cup and Miami Sharks featured live streaming of their weekend tournaments. And the quality of the video was much better than I would have expected for a couple of amateur club tournaments. Miami even added audio commentary featuring Team Handball News reporter Bogdan Pasat and Houston Stars goalie Mark Telthorster.

Carolina Tourney Results: http://www.unc.edu/cthc/CTHC-EVENTS-BC2007.htm
Sharks Invitational Results: http://www.miamisharksteamhandball.org/

In terms of Professional Club Handball some of the quarterfinal matches of the Champion’s League have been broadcast as well. The video feed was fine, but I was puzzled by the lack of audio commentary and the last minute advertising of this video option by Eurosport. Last year the web video offerings were prominently displayed on the EHF Champion’s League website. This time around it is only mentioned on the Eurosport website and you have to search a little bit on their site to find where to click. Frustratingly, for this weekend there is still no indication if any of the games will have a webcast. Compared to last year’s offerings this limited availability is a disappointment. I suspect that it is probably due to the contract with the Eurosport 2 TV channel. Which, of course, is fine if you have access to Eurosport 2. But even Europsport 2 won’t get you coverage of the key quarterfinal match-up of Ciudad Real and Portland San Antonio as this is only available to Spanish viewers.

The German Bundesliga (HBL) has also added matches via the Sportdigital.tv webisite: http://www.sportdigital.tv/index.php A season package can be purchased for 24.95 Euros and free video highlights of matches can be seen at this link: http://www.sportdigital.tv/index.php?pid=995&lang=de As I will be moving back to the US soon this might be something that I’ll consider purchasing next year. Arguably, the HBL is the top league in the world, and if one wanted to follow a professional club league this package would let you finally do it remotely. Unfortunately, however, the HBL currently have no plans to market this web option outside of Germany, which is why the site is strictly in German. And following a league with no understanding of the audio commentary or news articles (in a language you understand) will probably be somewhat unsatisfactory.

UK Handball Giants Program Launched

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In preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games, UK Sport has launched a talent search for tall athletes to participate in the British Handball Development Program. The program is seeking to identify good all-around male athletes taller than 6’3’’ (190 cm) and female athletes taller than 5’11’’ (180 cm) between the ages of 16 and 25. For additional news and audio interviews on this program check out the England handball website

http://www.sportfocus.com/webpro/handball/nlstory.cfm?ID=22655&NLID=42045

Commentary: Will there be a lawsuit from short athletes demanding their own program?