Youth Olympic Games – a new opportunity but not without its contradictions

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The inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are currently being held in Singapore, and the handball competition has just gotten underway. This event is being proclaimed by the IOC as a new important feature with its own particular objectives and characteristics. The IOC president, Jacques Rogge, feels a special ownership of the YOG, which he is presenting as his personal idea. In doing so, he tries to emphasize that, unlike in the ‘real’ Olympics, in the YOG the focus should not be on competitiveness, on winners and losers, or on medals and nationalism. Instead it should be on the broad participation of youth in sports, on education and awareness (for instance regarding anti-doping, ethics, and fair play), and on an opportunity for cross-cultural learning.

This means, for instance, that the IOC does not publish a medal count (although media certainly keep track), and it is said that the IOC President tried to resist the idea of having flags, hymns and a medal podium, but that the majority of his IOC colleagues prevailed. Similarly, the organization of the event should take relatively modest forms, but this of course is not quite as the authorities of Singapore really prefer it to be; they want to show off their capacity and abilities. For instance, the opening ceremony became a somewhat more glamorous affair than the IOC had hoped. There are also educational seminars and cultural events available to all the participants, but it is not clear how well-attended this events really are.

The YOG has its critics, both within the IOC and outside. Foremost among them is perhaps the IOC veteran Richard Pound, former Chief of WADA (the IOC Anti-Doping Agency), who is even staying away from Singapore, and many sports federation officials and academics around the world. They do not take issue with the principles and objectives, but many feel that in practice the whole idea is unrealistic and could even have negative effects.

It is noted that one cannot ‘order’ the participants, the nations and the media to set aside a focus on winning. The YOG is not likely to do a lot to cause new masses of youth around the world to become engaged in sport; in fact, its existence may push the competitiveness further down into the age groups, creating elitism, with segregation and elimination of the less talented at a younger age. It is also noted that that IOC does not have the kind of reputation that would make it well-placed to educate athletes about ethics and anti-corruption.

All the 26 Olympic summer sports participate in the YOG, although in some cases in modified forms or with special qualification and selection rules for the teams and the athletes. The 3600 athletes (in ages 14-18) are more evenly distributed by continent and country, and in individual sports there can be only one participant by nation. Some sports, like soccer, have quite deliberately gone for a selection that fits the spirit of the YOG; the participants are generally teams of a modest caliber: for instance, boys teams from Haiti and Zimbabwe, and girls teams from Iran, Trinidad, Equatorial Guinea, and Papua & New Guinea. In handball, the top teams of the respective continents are included, which makes for a tough task for the Oceania representatives, the girls from Australia and the boys from Cook Islands.

Some of the 26 sports experiment with new variations or with different rules, in comparison with the ‘real’ Olympics. For instance, basketball uses a half-court game, with 3 players against 3. (Perhaps something for handball in those many places where the available courts are too small…) Cycling goes for a combination of BMX, Mountain bike, Time trial, and Cross-country, perhaps an idea that will catch on. In Modern Pentathlon the riding has been eliminated. In gymnastics there is a new feature involving acrobatics. In a couple of sports there will also be something as unusual as ‘mixed gender’ competition. This involves judo and also swimming relays. However, while the IOC President made some proud pronouncements about this experimentation, senior NBC representatives were heard commenting that it is not going far enough and that the rejuvenation of the Olympic program is generally too slow, particularly in the pursuit of younger viewers.

Returning to the handball competition, our sport lived up to some of the IOC preferences regarding staffing. Clearly it was possible to meet the expectation of having young but well-qualified referees handle the games between these young teams. It was more difficult to find young delegates and technicians with sufficient experience; but at least IHF managed to include two women among the delegates (Patricia Malik de Tchara – ARG, and Monika Hagen – SWE). When the handball competition started, the Australian girls lost 4-41 against Denmark, and the boys from Cook Islands lost 4-58 against France. (Perhaps the spirit of friendship and cross-cultural understanding had not been fully conveyed…). In line with the nature of the YOG, we will not be reporting more generally on the results and the winners of the YOG handball competition. But we will come back with a follow-up of the fate of our friends from Oceania.

Link to the official web site for the YOG: http://www.singapore2010.sg/public/sg2010/en/en_about_us.html

Link to IOC's web site with coverage of the YOG: http://www.olympic.org/

Link to the special YouTube site for the YOG: http://www.youtube.com/user/singapore2010

Link to the results page for the YOG handball competition: http://gis.singapore2010.sg/RINF-app/generator/cat/sch/lan/ENG/dis/HB/sch-dis-dat-rep.xml

World Championships deserve solid organization also at the youth/junior level!!

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In his posting yesterday, John Ryan applauded IHF VP Miguel Roca for an 'unusually candid interview' on the IHF web site, regarding the many horrors of the recently finished Women's Youth World Championship in the Dominican Republic. I agree, but what for me is more significant is that the IHF allows a World Championship to be organized in a location where there are known reasons to expect serious shortcomings.

It is easy to criticize the organizing country, but this is not the whole story. An organizer may have completely overestimated its capacity and/or underestimated what is involved in hosting successfully an event of this magnitude; and sometimes one might feel that a federation should know better than to ask to be the host.

But the reality, also in this case, is that there are always enough people in the IHF and the Continental Federation who should know what the situation is, and should use their best judgment to make a clear recommendation for or against. The decisions are these days formally taken by the Congress, but this is not so important; a Congress will not really allocate an event if the IHF Council clearly is against it. In fact, such a proposal would not even be put to a vote.

It is also a reality, unfortunately, that sometimes a lower level event is not seen as 'such a big deal' and so there could be a tendency to allocate events on a political basis or in a carefree manner. In my IHF years, I sometimes heard comments like 'it is only a youth (or junior) event'… But, to mention just some examples, should these teams have to put up with a situation where buses get lost or never arrive; should they have to face a communications and logistics chaos? should they have to deal with power outages during entire matches or during the critical stages of the final? And should they have to be concerned about their personal safety!!!

Clearly, political considerations and carelessness are not explaining everything. To some extent, the participating teams themselves share in the blame. The teams have to pay a daily fee per player to cover hotel, food , transportation and everything else. And often a proposal from a potential host is met with the outcry that the daily fee is too high to be affordable. Indeed, in Europe most countries who have reliable conditions and experience from organizing events have given up the idea of being hosts, because they are seen as too expensive!

So to find organizers that are low-cost countries but still have the capacity to handle a World Championship in a solid manner becomes a difficult balancing act. It seems to me that those federations who know that their teams tend to qualify for many of the youth/junior events must also appreciate that they 'cannot have it both ways'. You cannot expect it to be both inexpensive and wonderfully organized. Because there are not many countries who have the resources to be such generous and competent hosts, and your teams deserve fair and solid conditions.

IHF posts unusually candid interview with Miguel Roca

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The IHF recently posted an interview with IHF Vice President, Miguel Roca discussing the recent Women’s Youth Championships in the Dominican Republic. In the interview, Mr. Roca acknowledges the logistical snafus that plagued the tournament, highlighted the lack of overall quality play (compared to the men’s youth) and lamented the poor results of non-European teams.

These, of course, are not startling revelations. European news sources have chronicled the logistical shortcomings and the poor performance of non-European teams is clearly discernible from the results. What is unusual and practically never seen, however, is an IHF acknowledgement of anything that can be construed as negative performance by the IHF. It’s too early to assess whether this marks the first step towards more candor on the IHF website or whether this is an anomaly, but I’ll give credit where credit’s due. Here’s hoping for a follow up interview that outlines what steps the IHF will take to correct these shortcomings.

IHF (12 Aug 10): Interview with Miguel Roca: “We still have a lot of work ahead of us”: http://www.ihf.info//MediaCenter/News/NewsDetails/tabid/130/Default.aspx?ID=419

Rules changes over the years: did you realize…? do you remember…?

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Most participants in our sport tend to have their personal opinions of the rules of the game. But generally one just has to accept what has been decided and adapt accordingly. So it is easy to forget how things used to be and, conversely, one might not remember that some specific aspects have not always been the way they are today. Without any attempt to be scientific or systematic, here is, for your possible amusement, a collection of changes from the last 30-40 years:

Considering that it has almost become a sport in itself to come up with new colors and designs for the ball, often matching the colors of the country organizing an event, it is hard to believe that until 1985 there was an absolute requirement that the ball must be of one solid color.

Most of you will still remember the old ‘referee-throw’, used after an interruption without a foul or any other violation. But while we during 1981-2001 used a ‘jump ball’, like in basketball, only the old-timers will remember that before 1981 the method was to bounce the ball hard against the floor with all players waiting 3 meters away.

Some rules have an origin in the outdoor 11-a-side handball, with some features similar to football/soccer. So it is not so strange that we had a ‘corner-throw’ until 1981, when it was realized that one could just as well use a throw-in from the corner.

A key element in the judging of passive play is now the ‘forewarning signal,’ which was first used informally in 1981. But do you remember that before that time it was possible to give a free-throw directly without forewarning; and repeated passive play was earlier supposed to lead to 2-minute and 5-minute suspensions!

At the lower levels, it is still common to use only [u]one[/u] referee in a match. But did you realize that the 2-referee system has only existed since 1970. Before that time we used 1 referee plus 2 goal judges; and in international games we had line judges like in soccer!

It seems perfectly natural that you are allowed to dive for a ball that is rolling or stationary on the floor. But this was prohibited until 1997. Previously it was only allowed to dive if the ball was in the air.

The ‘team time-out’ was included in the rule book for the first time in 1997. But it is then more remarkable that it was already used in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, as a special exception at the request of the TV broadcasters. When this was suddenly decided, the IHF had to scramble to work out the exact procedures. You get no prize for guessing correctly who invented the ‘green card’.

Did you realize that until 1974 you had to execute the throw-in with two hands, and with both feet in contact with the floor, in football/soccer fashion? If you did it incorrectly, your team lost possession.

The 7-meter throw has for the longest time been tied to the notion of ‘destroying a clear scoring chance’. So can you imagine that before 1981 the referees could award a 7-meter throw also for a particularly ‘dirty’ foul anywhere on the defender’s half of the court and completely unrelated to a scoring chance?

In my early years as a referee I hated the rule under which directing the ball in to your goalkeeper led to a 7-meter throw. Because it meant that a very young player who got confused and clearly directed the ball (but without really being conscious of it) caused a 7-meter; by contrast, a very skilled and experienced defender could do it ‘sneakily’ so that the referee could not say for sure that it was intentional; and a 7-meter was in any case a totally excessive punishment. Finally it was changed to a free-throw in 2001.

The ‘yellow card’ was introduced in 1977, and the ‘red card’ followed in 1985, when the distinction between the (almost never used) ‘exclusion’ and the ‘direct disqualification’ was introduced. (I hope you noticed that the ‘exclusion’ was eliminated in the new rule book effective July 1 this year!)

After it had become an ‘epidemic’ practice for players who had been called for ‘steps’ or ‘offensive foul’ to bring the ball and prevent a quick restart for the opponents, it was decided in 1981 to make this punishable with a direct 2-minute suspension. The effect was immediate and every player now knows instinctively to drop the ball and move away. This is a matter of envy for our counterparts in football/soccer.

In 2005 it was concluded that it really does not make sense to give a free-throw when an attacker enters the goal-area of the opponents; if one instead simply regards it as a goalkeeper-throw, then the restart is more flexible and potentially much quicker.

Until 1981, it was important for both the referees and the players to notice and remember if a ball had been gone out over the goal-line outside the goal or if it had been caught by the goalie in the goal-area; in the first case, it was then required for the opponents to step back and wait outside the 9-meter line. Fortunately, this distinction is no longer relevant.

Finally, one of the most important changes in terms of impact on the game was introduced in two stages in 1997 and 2001. The objective was to speed up the restart after a goal had been scored, including the elimination of delays caused by the opponents. So, from 1997, the throw-off could be taken without waiting for the opponents to get back to their half; but the impact was not quite as great as had been expected.

To make the restart even more dynamic and to put more pressure on the defenders, it was then decided in 2001 to allow the teammates of the thrower to start moving on the whistle signal, instead of waiting until the ball has been played. And this (difference of up to 3 seconds) did have the desired effect, so that the now common tactics of a ‘quick throw-off’ can be very spectacular and successful.

Lars Christiansen: A legend leaves the Bundesliga

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Danish left wing, Lars Christiansen decided last season to transfer from German club, SG Flensburg, to Danish club, KIF Kolding, thus ending his 14 year Bundesliga career. This Sunday he will be honored with a farewell match at the Campushalle Arena in Flensburg. As a visible symbol of what Christiansen has meant to the club and the city, the square in front of the Campushalle has been named Lars Christiansen Platz. It’s worth noting, that Christiansen’s play was not just appreciated by his own club. Last season other German clubs paid him tribute as he did one last tour through the Bundesliga. Even arch rival Kiel, held up a large banner wishing him well.

At 38 years of age his career is on the downward slope, but playing in Denmark should help prolong it a few more years. As a numbers/statistics loving American, though, I can’t help wonder why he didn’t play one more season to break the all-time career scoring mark. With 2,875 goals he was only 30 short of Kyung-Shin Yoon’s record of 2,905. It’s hard to imagine an athlete in any American sport moving on in a similar situation. But then again he’s a Dane, and it’s pretty clear that records aren’t a priority with him.

When I first started to watch the Bundesliga on a regular basis a few years ago I had no allegiance to any team and I just wanted to see good matches. However, as I saw more games and started to identify the players I soon found myself rooting for Flensburg. Even on the TV screen with commentators speaking a language I didn’t understand it didn’t take long for this fan to appreciate Christiansen’s attitude, demeanor, and skills. Some folks are destined to be fans of flamboyant players like Stefan Kretzschmar and some are destined to be fans of the Lars Christiansen’s of the world. Count me in the latter camp. It’s going to seem strange to see Flensburg play without his reliable fast break and wing shots finding the back of the net.

Lars Christiansen Official Website: http://lars-christiansen.com/
Photo of banner displayed by Kiel fans: http://galerie.redsport.de/index.php?option=com_joomgallery&func=detail&id=3787&Itemid=53
Article and photos on Flensburg’s naming of Lars Christiansen Platz http://sporten.tv2.dk/haandbold/article.php/id-32800224:plads-opkaldt-efter-lars-c.html
http://www.sg-flensburg-handewitt.de/lars39961.html?&L=0
THN (23 May 08): 2,908 Goals: The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of German Handball Heads Home and a Marketing Opportunity is Squandered: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.507

Handball-World (16 Aug 10: "Thanks, Lars – Lars Christiansen says goodbye with an impressive gala: http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=1&auswahl=26869

Sweden World Champions in Women’s Youth

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In women’s championships it is often a battle between Denmark and Norway, whereas the Swedish successes over the years have come on the men’s side. In fact, Sweden has never before won a medal of any kind in any international championship for women. But Thursday evening in Santo Domingo this trend was broken. Sweden managed to beat Norway in the final, 34-29.

It may seem as if it was a relatively close game, but in fact Sweden followed its pattern of having a long stretch in almost every match where they simply pulled away from the opponents. It was 6-4 after 15 minutes but suddenly 17-10 at half-time and 20-10 early in the second half. Thereafter the Norwegians managed to move gradually closer, but the Swedish victory never seemed threatened.

Sweden had been impressive throughout, having defeated the group rivals France (who finished fourth) by 31-18 and then taking a 22-13 half-time lead against Hungary. The quarter-final was the only tough game, where Spain took Sweden to overtime, but the Swedish girls prevailed 24-22. Then in the semi-final it was back to a big win, as the bronze medal team from the Netherlands was swept aside, 38-21.

The final rankings include one disappointing feature. The best non-European team was the home team from the Dominican Republic in 8th place, after an unexpectedly strong showing, but partly thanks to a favorable draw. The normal top teams from outside Europe here came in 9th (Korea), 10th (Angola) and 13th (Brazil). This is not a very promising outcome if one has the hope that the ‘non-Europeans’ might gradually catch up with the traditional powers from Europe. The only non-traditional participation at the end was that of the Iranian referees Mousavian/Taghavi in the final.

IHF invites representatives for European top men's clubs

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Following the recent 'ground-breaking' meeting between the EHF and the new entity representing the European top men's clubs, Forum for Club Handball (FCH) https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.1039 , there was a clear expectation that it would become untenable for the IHF to refuse to formally invite the FCH (and the original, more narrow grouping, GCH) to relevant meetings. And now it has been announced that for a meeting on September 17 regarding issues such as the competition calendar and the compensation to clubs, the FCH President Tomaz Jersic and the GCH President Joan Marin have indeed been invited. This is a major step forward, albeit belatedly.

At the same time it is also becoming clear that the professional handball players in Germany will finally follow the example of their colleagues in several other countries; in the next couple of weeks, they will be founding a German Handball Players' Union. As noted by Jaume Fort, Head of the European Handball Players' Union, the inclusion of the German players is obviously an important development in the efforts to gain recognition for the players as a full partner in all discussions concerning their situation, such as precisely on the issue of the competition calendar. One can only hope that this will soon become a natural occurrence.

Cuba's request for 'back door entry' to the PanAmerican Games denied by the PATHF Executive

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A couple of weeks ago, apropos the final results of the Central/Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, I mentioned a 'rumor' that Cuba (who had failed to participate in that event) would seek the privilege of participating in the 'final chance' competition for the one remaining slot in each of the men's and women's events in the PanAmerican Games next year. It did turn out that Cuba indeed made such a request, but it has now been confirmed that the Executive Committe of the PanAmerican Federation turned it down.

As I noted, this was of course the only reasonable outcome; anything else would have been a shameful manipulation and a great unfairness to the other teams who are eligible to participate in the 'final chance' event. These teams have expended money and efforts to participate in regional events in order to have this final chance, and it would have been highly improper to see another team 'entering through the back door', without having made the effort to go through the same qualifying process as the others.

There are some suggestions that the Cubans tried to use the argument that they had not been able to obtain U.S. visas to participate in the Central/Caribbean Games. It seems that one needs to be careful with such assertions, as such claims can easily be investigated. Instead one could imagine several other reasons for the Cuban absence in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, but I will not enter into such speculation here. The main thing is that the PATHF took the right decision, and they should be congratulated.

So what now remains is to see which teams will qualify directly from the USA-Canada matches (both men and women) for the PanAmerican Games in Guadalajara October 2011, and which teams will have to participate in the 'final chance' events. joining the men from Uruguay, Puerto Rico and Guatemala, and the women from Chile, Costa Rica and El Salvador, respectively, And then will come the important decision about which countries will gain the advantage of hosting these events. This will be determined following the USA-Canada matches in late December or early January.

Editor's Note: Christer may have chosen not to speculate, but it should be noted that any Cuban who steps on American soil is granted residency in the U.S. with no questions asked. Even without the political dimension of defection this is a very tempting economic opportunity. Also, while Puerto Rico has it's own national teams and other aspects of an independent nation, it is still part of the United States.

Favorites prevailing in Youth World Championship

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The Women's Youth Championship is today moving into the final stage after the group play that started in the Dominican Republic a week ago. The event has been characterized by logistical problems but on the courts everything has looked normal in most respects. This includes the results so far.

From group A we saw Netherlands and Denmark move on to today's quarterfinals; while this was not so unexpected, perhaps it could be seen as a small surprise that the Netherlands won the group. (In combination with their strong showing in the Junior World Championship last month, it seems to suggest that the Netherlands has a new strong generation coming along on the women's side). Most observers will be confounded by the weak performance of the German team.

In the neighboring group, Norway did not meet much resistance until they played the host team from the Dominican Republic in the last match of the group play. So my prediction that the favorable seeding and draw of the host country team would see them through to the quarterfinals came true. Denmark and Norway are now playing in an intriguing quarterfinal match-up today. Netherland takes on the Dominican Republic.

In group B, Uruguay got the third place and next play Angola, even if up to the last minute the IHF seemed to misinterpret its own regulations and give that spot to Japan… German media were already discussing the suggested Germany-Uruguay match-up, which now correctly turns into a Germany-Japan pairing in the quest for 13th place.

Sweden was unexpectedly superior in group C, where it came down to the wire between France and Hungary for the other quarterfinal spot. Their game on the final day ended in a tie, with France moving on thanks to a better overall goal difference. In group C, the strongest one on paper, my suspicions were confirmed. Korea and Brazil tend to have to defend the honor of the non-Europeans in all women's events, but here they were unable to keep up with Russia and Spain.

So we now have interesting quarterfinals between Sweden and Spain, and between Russia and France, The perennial women's 'super powers' Korea and Hungary have to be content with fighting it out for 9th place. You can follow the results through the IHF web site: http://www.ihf.info/IHFCompetitions/WorldChampionships/WomensYouthWorldChampionships/WomensYouthWorldChampionship2010/FixturesandResults/tabid/5094/Default.aspx

IHF Junior and Youth Tournaments: What are the U.S. plans?

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In the Dominican Republic, about a 2 hour flight from Miami, the International Handball Federation (IHF) Youth World Championships are currently taking place. 19 nations from around the world and hundreds of athletes, 18 years old or younger, are participating in this event. The U.S. is not there as no team was sent to the earlier qualifying events for this hemisphere.

The decision not to compete is nothing new as U.S. participation in age based IHF tournaments has historically been sporadic and infrequent. There are a number of reasons why this has been the case, but I’ll briefly highlight 3 primary factors:

1) Cost: Not only can it be expensive to simply send a team to the actual championships, the costs for qualifying events also have to be factored in. And this could be 2 qualifying tournaments if the U.S. has to first play in a Div 1 event prior to the Pan American Championships. And if you want to prepare for these events in a meaningful way there will also be costs for team tryouts and training camps
2) Scheduling/Calendar: The IHF championships are in the summer, but the Pan American Championships qualifying events take place during the school year. Inevitably, this will mean that some High School and Collegiate athletes won’t be able to make these events.
3) Insufficient talent pool: Historically, most U.S. athletes have been introduced to the sport in their late teens and early 20’s. This means that there have been very few athletes to choose from for these events and that they were very inexperienced in relation to the other nations participating.

But, this is past history. Is there any reason to think that plans might change? Certainly, the Federation’s youth focus would seem to indicate that it is at least being considered. A youth team recently travelled to participate in the annual tournament in Partille, Sweden and the Futures High School program has been given a lot of emphasis by the Federation. Factor in the decision not to fund participation in upcoming Men’s and Women’s Senior events and one conclude that perhaps resources are being channeled in this direction. Not much can be done considering calendar issues, but the U.S. is working to broaden the talent pool. One could at least envision a high school all star team comprised of athletes who are currently playing in the futures program or have traveled to events like the Partille Cup.

So, are Youth and Junior Championships part of the Federation’s plans? So far there have been no official pronouncements and if all you did was check the U.S. website you probably wouldn’t know that these events even existed. Last May, I submitted a series of questions to the Federation seeking information concerning their future plans across the board and specifically what the plans were for participating in future PATHF and IHF events. I’m still waiting, but barring answers, perspective players can still look at the calendar and work backwards.

The IHF has settled into a routine for the Youth and Junior Championships. The Women’s events take place in even years (2010, 2012, etc) and the Men’s events take place in odd years (2009, 2011, etc). The PATHF webpage indicates that the Men’s Div 1 Junior Championships will take place this October in Venezuela. As this is around the corner, it’s probably pretty unlikely the U.S. will attempt to qualify. In terms of Youth Qualifying events nothing is listed for Div 1, so it may be that there are only enough nations for a championship in the April time. Bottom line, though is that it looks like time is running short for 2011. Perhaps 2012 will be the first time the U.S. will make a run at qualifying.

For more information on the ages for youth and junior tournaments check out our new qualification page in the links on the right side of our homepage: https://teamhandballnews.com/page38.html

IHF 2010 Youth Championships: http://www.ihf.info/IHFCompetitions/WorldChampionships/WomensYouthWorldChampionships/WomensYouthWorldChampionship2010/tabid/5092/Default.aspx
PATHF Women’s Youth Championships Results (April 2010): http://www.panamhandball.org/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showPlan&mode=1&p=13&Itemid=30
THN Commentary (26 Nov 09): Another PATHF Tournament in Costa Rica: Where are the Americans?: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.888

Handball on TV in the U.S: One last chance

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Most Comcast regional networks in the U.S. have already aired the matches from Chicago, but there still is one last chance to see the matches on TV. The Mtn. Network (aka, the Mountain) will broadcast both matches late Sunday night/early Monday morning (depending on where you live in the U.S). The Mtn. is available in most markets where this is a Mountain West Conference (MWC) collegiate team and is available nationwide on Direct TV, Channel #616.

USA Vs. LA 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM (Pacific Coast)
Germany vs. Poland 10:00 PM – 11:30 PM (Pacific Coast)

IHF website upgrade includes useful video analysis and nonsensical national rankings

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Last October, I was flabbergasted by the International Handball Federation (IHF) going an incredible 42 days without an update to their webpage. The IHF took a lot of criticism, but made a commitment and signed a contract for a much needed web update. Last month the IHF unveiled this much needed new look. Without question it’s a significant improvement on the old site in terms of style and aesthetics even if it is mostly a repackaging of the same information.

But in at least one area (Video analysis) the IHF deserves credit for providing handball followers new and useful information. At the recently completed Women’s Junior World Championship several short videos analyzing play are now available for download. The videos are edited with captions and use slow-motion to highlight strategy and techniques used during the tournament. While these videos are not the quality of a “Sports Center” breakdown they are pretty decent and should be informative for coaches and players. The videos also are a little hard to find, so follow the links at the bottom.

But, while I find the videos a nice addition I can’t help but be amused and perplexed by the national team rankings prominently displayed on the homepage. The methodology for these rankings are not explained and most visitors would probably assume that it is a rough measure of how National Teams currently stand performance wise perhaps using some weighted formula taking into account recent competitions. But, as the French Men’s team, currently in the midst of one of the more dominating runs in the history of the sport is listed as the 6th best Men’s side that’s obviously not the case. No instead, it appears to be a compendium of historical performance which even includes the 11 a side outdoor game played at the 1936 Olympics.

I suppose this is mildly interesting, but it would have been much better to have come up with a ranking system that’s focused on recent performance. Other sports, such as soccer and rugby have been using rankings like this for years. While the formulas used for those sports have also resulted in questionable rankings, they usually have been in the ballpark and are a useful marker for nations to assess where they stand compared to their peers. Hopefully, the IHF will rethink the rankings and come up with a new system to reflect this.

THN Commentary (1 Oct 09): 42 Days and Counting: IHF misses the boat on self promotion and new media
https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.836
THN Commentary (21 Oct 09): IHF to seek more progressive web presence: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.852

IHF Home page: www.ihf.info
IHF: IHF website offers new content and new design: http://www.ihf.info/TheIHF/Organization/President/Wordfromthepresident/tabid/1719/Default.aspx
IHF Women’s WC Analysis (Article): http://www.ihf.info/MediaCenter/News/NewsDetails/tabid/130/Default.aspx?ID=388
IHF: Women’s Junior WC Video Analysis:
http://www.ihf.info/IHFCompetitions/WorldChampionships/WomenJuniorworldchampionships/WomensJuniorWorldChampionshipinKorea2010/VideoAnalyses/tabid/5624/Default.aspx

IHF Rankings: http://www.ihf.info/TheGame/RankingTable/tabid/98/Default.aspx
IHF Rankings Spread Sheet: http://www.ihf.info/files/ranking/EWIGEBES.XLS (Extra credit to any reader that can explain what all the numbers mean in this file)

World Championships for Women Junior and Youth

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The [b]JUNIOR[/b] event finished today in Korea. The final stage was a first-rate one, with the battle for the medals taking place between the home team Korea, the women superpowers Norway and Russia, and the new sensation on the women’s side Montenegro. It is really remarkable how Montenegro is suddenly the dominant one among the former Yugoslav republics in the women’s competitions. As I have commented in recent time, their senior women’s team has been doing extremely well in EHF competition and will be a serious contender in the EURO 2010 later this year.

In the end, Korea was the team among the top four who failed to win a medal. After losing a semifinal to Russia (26-30) there was considerable hope that a bronze medal could be won as a consolation. But Montenegro, who had lost its semifinal to Norway with big numbers (16-26), bounced back and won the bronze match with the smallest of margins (24-23). The consolation for Korea is the unanimous praise they received as organizers. ‘The best ever’ was a common remark!

The final was won in superb style by Norway. After the convincing win in the semi-final, last year’s European champions just pulled away from 8-8 to 13-8, and then in the end the margin was nine goals for 30-21. For information regarding the All-Star team, see this: http://www.ihf.info//MediaCenter/News/NewsDetails/tabid/130/Default.aspx?ID=392 Top scorer was Nathalie Hagman from Sweden with a total of 75 goals.

In the placement matches, Hungary grabbed 5th by beating Netherlands 29-28 in a match between two teams that are normally strong in women’s handball. Germany won 7th place through 31-30 against a Swedish team that had come into the Main round with zero points, after having had the bad luck of contending with both Russia and Montenegro in the group play.

Apart from Korea, Brazil was the only other non-European team in the Main round where they finished last, i.e., in 12th place. This means that PanAmerica will be back down from four to the mandatory three teams as an allocation next time, two years from now. This must have been a bit frustrating, because a very strong performance by Brazil in the group play was followed by three straight defeats in the Main round.

The [b]YOUTH [/b]event will get underway on Monday in the Dominican Republic, who has the unenviable task as (relatively inexperienced) organizers to follow directly after Korea. We wish them good luck! Here the number of participants is 20 rather than 24, with the Europeans outnumbered 9 to 11.

On the A/B half, it would be a conservative guess that the perennial powers of Denmark, Norway, Germany and Netherlands will be able to do well, with perhaps Angola as a ‘dark horse’. The home team got, as is customary, a favorable seed and might be able to contend for a quarterfinal spot.

On the C/D half, there is likely to be a strong fight for the two top spots in one group among France, Hungary and Sweden. The other group seems to be the ‘group of death’, with Korea and Brazil defending the honor of the non-Europeans against Russia and Spain. I will not stick my neck out and predict the outcome of that group….