The Netherlands celebrating their silver medal at the Women’s World Championships. Yet another nation with little handball tradition finding success on the Women’s side. How might a U.S. Women’s focused initiative be implemented?

Part 1 highlighted why it’s more feasible for the U.S. to develop a competitive women’s national team.   This part further explores the implementation and merits of a women’s program development focus.

Overview and Premise: To continue the discussion from the previous part this option would call for a very focused emphasis on developing women’s handball in the U.S. In short, a conscious and deliberative decision to direct the bulk of USA Team Handball’s resources towards women’s program activities. In terms of percentages it would be in the neighborhood of 90 to 95%. Obviously, such a decision would be controversial, but doing so would almost double the funding available for the women’s program. Instead of having 2 overly austere programs, USA Team Handball would be moving closer to having 1 legitimate program. And, as previously discussed the focus would be on the program with a far greater chance of national team success.

Impact to the Men’s Program: The defunding of the men’s program would require a number of cost saving measures to include switching to a part-time unpaid volunteer coach, closing the men’s residency program, and foregoing overseas trips for friendly matches. I would suggest that support would be limited to funding World Championship and Olympic qualification match participation and even this funding might require some self-funding from athletes. In many respects this rollback would be a return to the minimal approach used for both the men’s and women’s programs from 2007 to 2012. (Don’t get me wrong: I understand how painful such steps would be, but it would be necessary if this initiative were approved.)

Possible Implementation Steps

A number of steps could be taken with this initiative, many in conjunction with other initiatives highlighted in this series. Here’s a short list:

1. Hire an experienced European Coach with a strong track record. This would not necessarily be a top club coach, but perhaps a coach affiliated with a strong development program. Someone involved with the recently successful Netherlands development program might be a prime target.
2. Hire an assistant coach/recruiter. Combining these two roles would theoretically result in more productive recruiting. (Link to option 2)
3. Facilitate the establishment of a Women’s collegiate conference. As previously discussed Title IX requirements may draw NCAA interest in supporting women’s handball. Further the USOC is stepping up its efforts to work with the NCAA on funding for nonrevenue Olympic Sports. In theory a quality NCAA supported league could provide the pipeline for a competitive U.S. Women’s team. (Link to option 4)
4. Facilitate the development of a Women’s high school league. Again, Title IX could provide a vehicle for development. If high schools are establishing competitions for non-Olympic, non-NCAA sports like flag football, it’s not a stretch to seeing competitions established for Team Handball. As previously discussed High School/Collegiate League development in one geographic area would have additional benefits. (Link to HS flag football commentary)
5. Facilitate and provide support to select athletes so that they can join European clubs. It’s hard to imagine league play reaching the level of top clubs in Europe anytime soon. Therefore, developing athletes who can go to Europe at a young age should have renewed focus.  The U.S. might even considering an overseas program.  (Link to option 3)
6. Provide scholarships for select athletes to attend school at Auburn. As previously discussed if funding becomes available a handful of top prospects should be given financial assistance to join the program at Auburn.(Link to option 2)
7. Provide funding for multiple overseas trips for competition and exposure to European Clubs. These trips would provide an opportunity for the Women to grow as a team, but also strategically give them needed exposure for a potential professional contract.

Of course, if one adds up all these possible implementation steps it doesn’t take very long to bust the budget. Currently, there’s not enough funding available for one program, let alone two. If more funds do become available, however, the impact of this initiative will continue to grow at a 2-1 ratio.  In other words a legitimate, non-austere program might become a reality.

Pros

Less strain on resources: As previously highlighted the U.S. would no longer be fully funding 2 programs. Instead resources would be focused on the women’s program giving that program a better chance of sustained success.

Clear focus on fewer goals: And, of course, this will also mean that the bulk of the tasks and issues with running a men’s program would be put on the back burner.   Time spent addressing a day to day issue related to the men’s program would now instead be spent tackling some aspect of support to the women’s program. Perhaps several hours on the phone contacting potential recruits or organizing extra clinics for prospective women’s athletes.

Cons

Decreased support to men’s activities: There’s no getting around this elephant in the room. Providing less support to men’s activities will stifle development and growth for that gender.

Greater challenges in promoting women’s sports: While it’s more feasible to support and develop a successful women’s program on the court it will likely be more challenging to promote the women’s game via TV and other media opportunities. Rightly or wrongly there is simply more interest in men’s sports. One simply has to look at the limited Women’s sports viewing options on TV and the attendance for women’s sporting events to acknowledge this as a reality.

Risks

Pressure to more evenly split resources.   Favoring the women’s program is guaranteed to cause controversy even if folks can see the potential benefits. Many observers will surely point out that it’s possible to walk and chew gum at the same time. Why forgo supporting the Men’s program? Maybe a women’s focus, some will say, but why not split resources more like 60-40 or 70-30. Doing so, however, would simply water down the initiative and limit its impact. The U.S. would again be running two austere programs.

It also would not surprise me if some male athletes would take legal action and before this initiative is approved research on how other Federations like Field Hockey have handled legal concerns would be needed.

Costs

There are no added costs to implement this option. Instead this is simply a focused redirection of existing resources.

Timing for Implementation

This initiative could be implemented at any time, but a logical starting point may be the summer of 2016. Right now the women’s program is in somewhat disarray with only around 7 players training at Auburn. The program sorely needs new talent and a strong recruiting push in conjunction with the 2016 Olympic Games should have a decent chance of landing some quality athletes. And, some high quality recruits coupled with a better funded program could make some inroads towards respectability fairly quickly in Pan America. I highly doubt that it would lead in Olympic Qualification for 2020, but if the right recruits (younger, more athletic) are found it could set the stage for a realistic run for 2024.

Meanwhile, the first half of 2016 will be an excellent time to review and assess the Men’s Residency Program at Auburn. The U.S. Men will play in two meaningful World Championships Qualifying events. In March they will first participate in the North American & Caribbean Championships (NORCA) at a TBD location (reportedly Auburn is under consideration). Then, if they place in the top 4, they will participate in the Pan American Championships (18-26 June) in Argentina. I’ll speculate, however, that if the U.S. Men are going to have a respectable showing it may well necessitate fielding a roster mostly composed of Non Residency Program athletes. And, if this indeed is the case management should question the validity of the Residency Program after 2.5 years.

Final Thoughts

As a former Men’s National Team athlete it doesn’t take much for me to speculate how I would have reacted to such a move. Heck, I probably would have led the charge on legal action. But, then again, I would have also reluctantly seen the logic behind such a move. Finally, I fully recognize that while it might be logical to direct resources towards tackling one tough challenge (the one where we’ve got more chance at succeeding) then hopelessly trying to fight two battles, sometimes logic alone doesn’t carry the day.

Taylor Proctor on defense 5 years ago against Canada. She’s barely touched a handball since, but could immediately be an elite player on our national team. What does that say about our current program? And, should more resources be directed towards grass roots programs that can develop talent capable of contributing to our national teams at age 16?

There’s a nice article on former senior Women’s USA Team Handball athlete Taylor Proctor on the University of San Francisco Basketball website.  Proctor, a 21 year old senior is averaging 22.9 points/game for the Dons and is currently the 9^th leading scorer in NCAA Div 1. The article highlights her role 5 years ago in helping the U.S. Women come from behind to beat Canada and qualify for the 2011 PANAM Games.

Perhaps you’re now doing a little bit of mental math (as in 21-5 = 16 years old) and a little retrospective contemplation (the U.S. qualified for the 2011 PANAM Games, but failed in its 2015 attempt.) If you are, your reaction should be along the lines of:

“Really! Huh? Too bad we don’t have her still playing. What if she had continued playing handball and had roughly the same success that she’s had playing basketball at the collegiate level. Why maybe the U.S. would have qualified for the 2015 PANAM Games. Maybe a 6’, 21 year old might be signing a contract with a top European Club?”

Whoaa. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It is truly amazing that a 16 year old could make some major contributions in a Senior Women’s Handball match, but it was against Canada, another struggling side in PATHF. And, it’s a bit of an assumption that NCAA Div I basketball success would equate to similar Team Handball success.

Regardless, if Proctor does forgo a post collegiate basketball career it could be a good news story for USA Team Handball. My personal opinion, is that 22 years of age is right on the edge of being too old for a residency program, but the fact that she’s had prior handball training tempers that a bit. Sure, it would be nicer to get a quality athlete like her at age 18, but it’s just not practical when a full college scholarship beckons.

But, the really big questions folks should be asking are:

• What does it say about our current residency program if an athlete who’s barely touched a handball in 5 years could “walk on and already be an elite handball player in our program”?
• What happened to the youth movement that seemed to be on track in 2010?
• What are USA Team Handball’s strategic plans to facilitate the development of more athletes like Taylor Proctor (i.e. younger with real raw athletic talent)?

Here are some answers to those questions. The current women’s program is on life support. There are perhaps around 7 women athletes at Auburn training sporadically while the U.S. national team coach is living and coaching a lower level men’s club team in France. A recent national team tryout had zero female attendees. Just about any player with decent athletic talent would move very quickly up the U.S. depth chart.

What happened to the youth movement?  Only Sophie Fasold has played recently with the Women’s National Team.  She is currently playing for her club in Germany.  Kate Louthan is playing basketball at Colorado Christian University and Kiah Hicks is on the track team at Colorado State.  Morgan Thorkelsdottir was playing Club handball in Iceland in 2013, but I couldn’t confirm her current status.  Stephanie Hesser led the U.S. National Team in scoring at the 2013 Pan American Championships, but couldn’t make the 2015 tournament roster.  Outside of Fasold the youngest player on the 2015 roster were 23 years of age and the average age of the roster was 28.5.  Essentially, there is no youth movement.

And, as far as I know, there are no strategic plans to facilitate the development of younger athletes. Instead, the focus for the past several years has been to develop a residency program for national team athletes. And, then to recruit athletes as best we can to populate the program. This has resulted in the program being populated mostly with marginal, older athletes, some in their mid to late 20s. Essentially, an austere pyramid tip has been created for a virtually non-existent base.  You can decide for yourself whether resources (funding and man-hours) expended the past few years towards a residency program have been worthwhile or whether they might have been better spent towards programs like the Colorado Landsharks.  Programs that might still be producing some new talent instead of having closed up shop.

I would speculate, however, that it’s not all doom and gloom. The 2016 Olympics are just around the corner and recruiting should pick up. Hopefully, it will pick up enough so that USA Team Handball can attract some high quality athletes that are still relatively young enough to develop into quality handball players. Players that could then play overseas with a professional club to further develop their game.

And, maybe, just maybe some folks in charge will finally start to take a more critical look at the glaring disconnect between grass roots and national team efforts. And, come to the obvious conclusion that more thought and effort ought to be expended toward creating and sustaining clubs like the Colorado Landsharks/Dynamo. Clubs that found and developed talented athletes in their teens that could make real contributions on the Senior Women’s Team. Why if that were done we might even have a few more Taylor Proctor’s out there ready to join a Residency Program when their collegiate basketball careers are over.

Article highlighting youth contributions to Senior Women’s team back in 2010: Link

Holy crap! Is there something wrong with my DVR? 20 World Championship matches available for viewing. I must be dreaming I’m still living in France. No station here in the U.S. would ever show that much handball on TV. Why, if that were true the USA Team Handball community would be jumping up and down in celebration…

Sit down for a minutes to talk about handball with me or just peruse a few articles on this website and you’ll know just how important I think getting more handball on TV is for the development of the sport in this country. How important? I would argue that it is not just 1 of many important needs, but empirically the most important need.

Why? Well, it’s quite simple: Our sport’s awareness quotient is so dramatically low in this country that it hampers everything that we want to accomplish, be it better performing national teams or expanded youth development. There’s a reason why National Team Tryouts are so sparsely attended and why clubs struggle to fill rosters. It’s not because Team Handball is a crappy sport. It’s because too few people even know the sport exists. And, nothing could change that reality as effectively as regular TV broadcasts.

We’ve all seen the effect of Olympic broadcasts and many of us have lamented how it’s just a once every four year phenomenon. If only we could get events like the World Championship and Champions League on U.S. TV airways to keep the sport constantly in the public eye, Why, that could be the game changer of all game changers.

A Dream Come True…

Well, in some respects this dream has pretty much come true as beIN Sports US has aired 20 matches Women’s World Championship matches. Along with the weekly EHF Champions League match that means that American fans have been able to watch about 35 hours of team handball the past 2 weeks. That’s unprecedented and should be cause for celebration.

Unfortunately, though it’s just one more reason to shake your head or start banging it against the wall in frustration. Why? Well, for a number of reasons to include the following:

• – beIN Sports has a small subscription base
• – beIN Sports US is not promoting the sport effectively
• – USA Team Handball is not engaging beIN Sports US for promotional coordination

Who’s Fault?

Well, I’ll point some fingers at several organizations

IHF: The IHF owns the TV rights to the Men’s and Women’s World Championships and unfortunately the IHF doesn’t appear to place any emphasis on selling those rights to networks that will maximize exposure. Instead the rights are sold to the highest bidder. Obviously, price should be a consideration but for emerging markets with huge potential more consideration should be placed on maximizing the number of homes where your product will be viewed. Case in point: A few years ago beIN Sport reportedly submitted the highest bid for the US TV rights for the English Premier League (EPL). The EPL, however, went with NBC Sports to maximize exposure. How’s that working out now? The next rights buy was for a billion dollars over 6 years and NBC shows an EPL match live every Saturday.  A billion! Still hard for this old timer to believe that development

EHF: The EHF owns the rights to the Champions League and the Men’s and Women’s European Championship. And, just like the IHF they aren’t putting any emphasis on finding the right network: Again beIN Sports is the buyer and beIN Sports does show the Champions League match of the week 3 or 4 days after its played, but has yet to show any European Championship matches. This is all very disappointing and surprising as the EHF has shown to be more forward thinking in terms of promoting the sport.

European Professional Club Leagues: Just like the IHF and EHF, pro leagues should be looking for the right network. They’re not, though. Most notably the German HBL sold its TV rights to, you guessed it, beIN Sports, which doesn’t even bother to air any matches!

USA Team Handball Management (Past): So, how did the U.S. get stuck with beIN Sports in the first place? Well, while the U.S. Federation doesn’t sell TV rights it doesn’t own, the organizations that do own the content (IHF, EHF and HBL) have a genuine interest in waking the sleeping handball financial bonanza the U.S. could be. To the best of my knowledge, however, the USA Team Handball has not effectively engaged those organizations on the importance of steering their content to the “right” channel.

A couple of striking examples: Back in 2010, yours truly informed both USA Team Handball and the German HBL, that HBL matches were being shown in the U.S. on Dish’s My Sports German Channel. Then in August 2012 with Olympic handball buzz reaching unprecedented levels no one seized the opportunity to engage ESPN and NBC on the possibility of acquiring rights to broadcast this great “new” sport after the Olympics. Pure speculation on my part, but I’m thinking the right facilitation by USA Team Handball might have resulted in upcoming TV rights for key properties heading to the “Worldwide Leader” or perhaps their top competitor, the NBC Sports Network. Instead no such facilitation occurred and beIN Sports scooped up the rights. Now, I’m not suggesting that ESPN would now be airing weekly handball matches on one of its networks, but could I see regular streaming on Watch ESPN?: Yes. And could I see the occasional match on TV like the gold medal WC game: Yes, most certainly.

beIN Sport US: So, beIN Sports US has the North American TV rights to pretty much all the worthwhile handball related TV content. They surely are doing everything within their power to get the word out regarding their handball products.  Right? Well, in theory that should be true, but, for all intents and purposes beIN Sports US has done almost nothing to promote its Handball monopoly. In most cases they don’t even bother to show the content they’ve purchased. Then when they do show the content they own it’s almost always delayed. Their “handball” page is full of articles, but amusingly just soccer articles where a “handball” occurred.  Finally, there is virtually no advertising of their handball product. Not that there’s a whole lot of places to market the sport, but there are websites and social media possibilities. And, of course a partnership/sponsorship with USA Team Handball would be a logical course of action. But, yet somehow that hasn’t happened…

U.S. Team Handball Management (Present): While USA Team Handball surely would prefer another TV network, beggars can’t be choosers- right? And, isn’t it a good thing that a network has chosen to become America’s Home for Handball on TV?

Makes a lot of sense to engage this network to discuss a number of promotional opportunities that could be a win-win for both beIN Sport and USA Team Handball. For sure, it shouldn’t take much effort to convince beIN Sport to become a USA Team Handball sponsor. A beIN Sports advertisement on the USA website is a no brainer win-win. Surely banners at National Championships make sense too. And, why not a prominent jersey sponsorship: Watch America’s team on America’s Handball channel. Maybe beIN Sport could even be convinced to cover TV production costs for some matches in the U.S. to be aired, of course, on beIN Sport.

Well, as this article title suggests if there has been any effort expended by USA Team Handball to engage beIN Sport it has been unsuccessful. I know that a few phone calls have been made but I suspect that little beyond that has been done. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if several members of the Board of Directors don’t even know that beIN Sports is broadcasting handball on a regular basis. Regardless, it’s pretty clear that while I might think that engagement with beIN Sports should be a top priority it’s clearly pretty low on USA Team Handball’s job jar list.

John Ryan: Well, I would be remiss if I didn’t point a finger back at myself. After all I am the biggest and loudest advocate for getting more Team Handball on TV the U.S. I’ve set up a Facebook page which trickles in a few more members each and every week. I’ve learned far more than I would ever have wanted too about the arcane business of TV rights distribution. I’ve contacted every single entity listed above multiple times about the need to better promote Team Handball on TV in the U.S., but I have totally failed to affect change in any shape or form.

20 World Championship matches broadcast on a U.S. TV channel in HD. Cause for celebration for the handful that know and care, but the needle for this sport’s very low awareness quotient is still suck at near zero. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if Team Handball is just cursed and doomed to forever to be a backwater sport that no one cares about.