The USA Men’s Youth National Team is participating in the 2026 North American & Caribbean (NORCA) Champhionships. The tournament is being played in Salinas, Puerto Rico. The eight participating teams have been divided into two groups of four that will play a round robin with the top 2 teams from each group advancing to the semifinals.
Qualification: This tournament is an IHF Trophy event. Based on previous events teams will be competing to qualify for two separate events:
2027 Men’s Youth World Championships: According to the World Championships Wikipedia page the top two nations will qualify for the World Championships. As Guadeloupe and Martinique are overseas Departments of Franch their place in the standings will not count for this qualification
2027 IHF Trophy Intercontinental Championships: The winner of the Gold medal match will qualify for this event. As it is not a World Championshps, Guadeloupe and Martinique can qualifiy for this event.
Athlete Elgibility: Next year’s World Championships is an U19 event, so effectively this competition is a U18 event. Athletes need to have been born in calendar year 2008 or more recently
(Believe it or not, Tompkins District Attorney Matt Van Houten had what was likely his first tense office interview with Team Handball News 13 years ago.)
Note: I generally try to keep this handball site only about handball, but I’m going to steer off of that general rule at first. I’ll swing slighty back towards handball at the end.
It can be somewhat disconcerting to see people and things you are personally familiar with become plastered all over national news. I first experienced this back in 2021 when national media descended on my home town of Brooklyn, Iowa to cover the tragic disappearance and murder of Mollie Tibbets. I went to school with her mother and aunt and it was surreal to see people I knew being interviewed. And, when I saw Donald Trump trying to score anti-immgration points and to get the grieving family involved I knew that was likely to go nowhere. Iowa’s a red state… but, not everyone is MAGA. And, in a small town most everyone’s political leanings are common knowledge. Joining Trump to criticize immigrants? No, we’ll take one into our home for a year because his parents had to move.
I’m now having a similar reaction to seeing a former opponent and teammate, Matt Van Houten, interviewed by the national media and pillaged on social media. For those that aren’t aware Van Houten is the District Attorney (DA) of Tompkins County, New York and his jurisdiction includes Cornell College the site of an alleged campus rape in 2024. He’s been interviewed by multiple national news outlets like CNN and criticized on social media for not bringing charges earlier. Here’s an example of one critic pointing out that it’s just a male DA being condescending and misogynistic with the implication he’s lazy and/or just protecting fraternity bro culture.
Well, I’m here to tell you that is just total nonsense… pure and simple.
Now let me caveat first, that I don’t know the inside baseball of what lawyers and DAs are supposed to do. I’ve seen reports and social media posts saying he should have done more and others that say he handled it correctly. New York Governor, Kathy Hochul has weighed in and says she’s lost confidence in him and has appointed the State Attorney General as a special prosecutor. Did he not do enough or is this case simply a huge political football now and the Governor is just responding to that? Honestly, I really don’t know. I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve had to work with some and know enough to know that how they go about their business isn’t always common sense with a clear cut answer. I’m not wading into that debate.
I will, however, wade into any insinuation on his character or that he would take such allegations lightly. I don’t think I’ve spoken with Matt in at least 10 years, but I spent some time with him when we were both on the National Team back in 1991-93 and there was more than enough interaction, both on and off the court to know that’s just not in his character.
And, then I recall some discussions back in 2012-14 time frame when he was the CEO of USA Team Handball. Including one long phone conversation on handball matters as he drove up to Boulder to visit his daughter at the University of Colorado. Again, I’m not buddies with Matt and I don’t know the specific details on his personal life, but he was a single father and very much involved in his daugther’s life. And, now that I have a daughter, also attending the University of Colorado, I wouldn’t be shocked if we now could have a conversation about the party culture up there in Boulder that our daughters have been exposed to. To think that he would look upon some young woman’s traumatic experience with misogny and just right it off as no big deal or frat bros just being frat bros. Sorry… nonsense.
The 2013 Office Interview
Further, to my point about Matt and I not being buddies we actually had a fairly adversarial relationship back when he was the CEO of USA Team Handball from 2012-2014. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows my personal backstory. I wanted his job and was pretty bummed I didn’t even get an interview. I also thought we was in over his head. Law school prepares you well to be a lawyer. It’s less useful, however, in preparing you for what is primarily a management job function.
And, in the 2012-13 timeframe I was highly critical of his efforts to start another residency program at Auburn University. I was raising all kinds of questions regarding what I thought was an unwise desision that needed more rigor and process before proceeding. And, this led to an in office interview in August 2013 not that unlike the ones I’ve seen more recently on CNN and other outlets. He was in the hot seat answering questions I’m sure he’d prefer not answering. Who knew? Team Handball News was providing media training for the big boys 13 years later.
I didn’t like any of the answers that I got in that interview. “Like” in the sense of what those answers meant for where USA Team Handball was headed with the Auburn initiative. But, I got answers that were straightforward. I didn’t feel like key facts were being omitted. That topics were being conflated to avoid discussing the real underlying issue. Bottom line: I didn’t feel like I was being manipulated.
It was pretty much a textbook example of walking away from an interview not likely what you heard… but knowing you’re getting the straight story. One that I suspect Jake Tapper and others also walked away with more recently. So, for any folks out there not satifsfied with how DA Matt Van Houten handled his duties as Tompkins County DA it’s OK for you to think that, just don’t take the leap to imply there’s an underlying character issue. There’s not.
Vafa Ahmadiyeh: “Refereeing is simply not a priority for USATH, not in words, not in actions, not in funding, and not in resources”
In an email sent on September 15th and addressed to “Dear Referee and Handball Friends”, Vafa Ahmadiyeh, announced that he is stepping down from his role as the Chair of the National Referee Committee (NRC). Elected to the NRC by his peers he was later appointed by the USA Team Handball Board of Directors in March, 2025 to serve as the NRC Board Chair.
Ahmadiyeh did not mince words and described the current state of handball refereeing as follows:
As to why he is stepping down he highlighted several areas where USA Team Handball is coming up short:
In higlighting the these problems he also emphasized the following:
In closing, Ahmadiyeh recommended that an early NRC election be called and committed to support officiating needs during the upcoming season, but as a friend of handball and not the NRC Chair.
Here’s an excerpt from a March 2025 USA Team Handball article announcing the results of the NRC election and Amadiyeh’s appointment as NRC Chair:
With Amadiyeh’s resignation all three NRC members (Ahmadiyeh, Bryan Cothorn and Anahita Pirnia) who were elected last year to serve on the NRC have now resigned. Additionally, the board member representative on the NRC, Patrick Jalabert was recently defeated in the Board of Directors election. This turnover suggests a new election and USA Team Handball Board of Directors action will be needed to reconstitute the NRC board in a timely manner for the upcoming season.
Canada and the USA will played two matches on 26 and 27 September with the winner on aggregate goals directly qualifying for next summer’s PANAM Games in Lima, Peru. The USA won 47-36 on aggregate to qualify. Canada will still have a chance to qualify in a 2nd Chance Tournament vs Chile, Mexico and Puerto Rico on a TBD date/location.
Schedule
Match 1: Saturday, 26 Sep, 1600 US ET / 2200 CET
Match 2: Sunday, 27 Sep, 1400 US ET / 2000 CET
Streaming:Link (Note: this is a new Canadian Federation YouTube Channel)
Venue: Ecole de la Magdelaine, La Prairie, Quebec (Suburb of Montreal)
Results
Match 1: USA 25-14 (15-9) CAN
USA (Da Cruz 6, Lode 5, Klug 5, Butler 3, Doherty Dahloff, 3, Andersen 2, Taylor 1)
USA Final Roster: Below is the Final Roster for the USA. Club and other information is based on archived information and internet research. If you have any corrections send an email (john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com or DM on social media.
Canada Final Roster
Provisional Rosters: Below are the provisional rosters that the U.S. and Canada submitted to the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC).
Head to Head Competition (Since 2018)
2025 North American & Caribbean (NORCA) Championships (Mexico City, Mexico) ResultsUSA Roster
7 Apr 25 Pool Play CAN 26-17 (15-9) USA
12 Apr 25 3rd Place Match CAN 26-20 (11-12)
2023 North American & Caribbean (NORCA) Championships (Nuuk, Greenland) Results
6 Jun 23 Pool Play CAN 26-11 (14-6)
2022 PANAM Games Qualifcation (Lansing, Michigan, USA and Montreal, Canada) Results
10 Nov 22 USA 26-17 (15-9) CAN
13 Nov 22 CAN 23-17 (14-9) USA
2021 North American & Caribbean (NORCA) Championships (Elgin, Illinois, USA) Results
Canada did not participate
2019 North American & Caribbean (NORCA) Championships (Mexico City, Mexico) Results
USA 42-21 (22-12) CAN
2018 PANAM Games Qualifcation (Auburn, Alabama, USA and Montreal, Canada) IHF Report
USA Team Handball is currently having an election for one of its 9 seats on the Board of Directors. Voting is online for members only and concludes early Sunday morning (30 August 0300 (US ET)) Here are a few thoughts on the election and my 1st and 2nd choices
Ranked Choice: The Right Way to Conduct an Election
I’ve been around awhile and I’ve seen a lot of consequential Board of Directors elections. Elections that have most definitely changed the course of direction for the sport in the U.S. Seriously, who can forget Mike Hurdle edging out Bob Djokovich back in 2004 get elected Board President. An election so consequential it eventually led to the USOC decertifying USA Team Handball.
I won’t rehash ancient history, but I’ll state unequivocally that a one ballot winner take all process is super problematic for a low turnout election involving multiple factions. On multiple occasions (if not every time) this has led to the winner not having a majority (50% +1) and sometimes nowhere even close to a majority. For the past several elections I’ve eve warned candidates with similar positions there was a good chance they would cancel each other out if they didn’t drop out and settle on one candidate. Amusingly, these attempts to organize all failed because as it tends to happen… candidates always think that it’s the other candidates that should be the ones to drop out.
Here are the results of the last 3 elections conducted without ranked choice voting:
It’s impossible to know how the results might have been different with ranked choice voting, but I suspect that none of the top vote getters would have won their election if it had been conducted with ranked choice. And, a side note, one of the candidates for the current election, Max Littman actually did a guest commentary advocating for ranked choice voting. I’m not sure if that was the catalyst for a change to the By-Laws, but maybe it was.
My 1st Choice: Kevin Hutchinson
As I alluded to, in previous elections I was always careful to make sure that I was voting for a candidate with a solid chance to win. Under the old system voting for a long shot most likely was a wasted vote. With ranked choice voting I have less concern and it frees me up to vote for more of a long shot: Kevin Hutchinson.
Why is he a longshot? Because, while he has a solid resume he’s been away from the game awhile (for good reasons) and doesn’t have a club base of support. I’ve known Hutch for years. Played against him and even played on the same USA team at an International military tournament in 1997. We’re only casual friends and I’ll admit my bias is related to having similar backgrounds. Retired military officer, Service Academy graduate and a former national team player that was more of a role player, we’re cut from the same cloth. Maybe an entire board shouldn’t have that sort of resume (although it would be incredibly efficient), but from what I’ve seen this current board would really benefit adding someone who’s seen it all before and won’t be afraid to speak out with common sense logic. Most definitely he would be a Canary in the Coal Mine that would be hard, if not impossible, to gaslight.
My 2nd Choice: Josh Hetterick
With my 2nd choice I’m selecting a candidate who’s done some great work developing the Minnesota Team Handball Club: Josh Hetterick He’s been around the handball scene for 17 years and knows the lay of the land. I’m not sure exactly where he stands on a lot of issues, but he’s bound to have a club first mentality. I also have some insight as to how some of the different factions are aligned and I suspect he’s going to be the 2nd or 3rd pick for a lot of voters. Committed to handball, but not overly partisan. He’s the type of candidate who might never have won under the old system, but could clean up with the ranked choice process.
The Missing Option: Lewis Howes
I think it’s worth mentioning that one candidate is notably missing from the ballot: Lewis Howes. Rumors are flying, but I don’t know what’s real and what’s just a rumor. Maybe it has something to do with a $50k donation to handball wheelchair athletes… that didn’t pass through USA Team Handball? Maybe?
I, for one, still don’t know why he was the left off the ballot. I contacted both USA Team Handball CEO Mike King and Lewis Howes regarding the matter. USA Team Handball responded back stating in part “that USATH does not generally disclose such information to unrelated third parties absent a legitimate organizational or operational purpose or authorization for doing so.” And, I have to yet to get a formal response on the matter from Lewis Howes.
I could be wrong… but, I’m guessing there will be a lot more news to report on this in the future.
Multiple sources have informed me that Howes did submit his name to be a candidate, but that the Nominating and Governance Committee reviewed his candidacy and did not certify him as eligible to stand for the election.
I contacted USA Team Handball CEO, Michael King and Lewis Howes via email with several questions regarding this matter. King did not address the questions and responded in part:
The questions you raise are requests for non-public information concerning an individual registered USA Team Handball member. USATH does not generally disclose such information to unrelated third parties absent a legitimate organizational or operational purpose or authorization for doing so.
At the time of this posting (Monday, 24 Aug, ~0730 US ET) Lewis Howes had not yet responded to my email.
(This is a developing story and will likely be updated as more information becomes available.)
(The USA Team Handball Board of Directors should have addressed our Women’s National Team years ago, but even at this late date it’s justifiable to go forward with a Residency Program.. Yes. Even if it’s not sustainable.)
My previous commentary addressed my frustration with USA Team Handball seemingly never learning from the past and repeatedly trying the same things over and over. And, watching those efforts fail leaving nothing much to show for after they’d gone away.
However, while this is frustrating I also recognize that sometimes it can be the right course of action to start an effort even if the likelihood of it sticking around is near zero. Key word: “sometimes” and it only should be done reluctantly because the need is high and there aren’t any feasible alternative courses of action.
The Slow Moving Train Wreck
Probably nothing illustrates this better than the current state of our USA Women’s National Team just two years out now from playing in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Our Women’s team has been very uncompetitive for several years and has struggled to win matches even against low level peer nations. If the Olympics were being held this summer (instead of two years from now) I think our Women’s team would be looking at 20 to 30 goal losses. We’re talking very uncompetitive matches that would have both experienced handball followers and newcomers discovering the sport saying, “What the heck?”
Long time followers of this website know that this is a problem that I have been concerned with in one way or another for over a decade (Detailed 2019 evaluation). Four years ago I even briefed the USA Team Handball Board of Directors on the need for a new Strategic Plan and my “stomp your foot” slide (see below) pleaded with the Board to start making some conscious decisions to address the problem.
Alas… the Board was soon to become preoccupied with the U.S. Handball Union and it’s aftermath so nothing was really done. Inaction, unfortunately, was indeed the defacto decision.
Residency Program in Ft Pierce, FL: A New Sustainable Residency Program Model?
It’s no secret that despite personally participting and benefitting from a Residency Program that I’m not a fan of the concept. There are multiple reasons, but the biggest one is that they are very difficult to sustain. It takes substantial funding or subsidized support at an Olympic Training Center (OTC) to provide athletes with food, lodging and a stipend. Funding that hasn’t been available for decades.
But, even when more funding was available back in the 80s and 90s it was still a really, really questionable use of scarce resources. It would really be interesting to do a forensic accounting of USA Team Handball’s glory days. I don’t know what the numbers would be exactly, but rest assured the lion’s share of resources went towards a handful of athletes at the top of the pyramid. Grassroots development was an afterthought as new national teams were created from scratch over and over again. And, then funding support from the USOPC was slashed… and not only couldn’t we properly fund residency programs anymore we had little to show for in terms of grass roots development. The lost opportunity costs are truly staggering.
But, maybe this new residency program is somehow different? After all, look how how “sustained” is referenced twice in this announcement of the new program.
This collaborative effort positions the Treasure Coast as a growing hub for Olympic and international sport development, aligning higher education, public schools, and destination sports tourism around a shared vision for sustained national-level training that prepares athletes for the highest levels of global competition.
“This partnership reflects the kind of collaboration and support it takes to move American handball forward,” said Michael King, Chief Executive Officer of USA Team Handball. “A consistent training environment is always a prerequisite to success, but it is never a given—it requires cooperation, shared resources, and institutional commitment. Thanks to Indian River State College, Play Treasure Coast, and St. Lucie Public Schools, we move directly into a full preparatory environment. That step change allows our athletes to train with continuity and accelerate toward sustained international performance.”
Alas, it’s much easier to say something will be sustained, then to actually sustain it. So far, I see two basic problems with the latest residency program incarnation. First off, it appears to have many of the same funding challenges that plagued the programs at SUNY-Cortland and Auburn. Athletes are paying for room and board. Couple that with upending your life to move to South Florida and that limits the quality of recruits that will join the program. For more on this topic check out this 3 part commentary from 2015 on the problems with an austere residency program at Auburn. (Part 1Part 2Part 3)
And, this leads to the second problem. For this first time since the lead up to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta we can honestly tell female athletes who have never touched a handball before that they have a legimate chance to be an Olympian. That is a powerful recruiting pitch that can offset the challenges of selling an austere residency program. I don’t know any of the athletes that have been recently recruited, but I did a little research on the cohort that recently traveled to Puerto Rico. Looking at their ages and background… I doubt that a single one of them would be making the sacrifices they are currently making if we didn’t have an automatic Olympic bid. And, in turn, this means come September 2028 the quality of recruits will take a nose dive.
Bottom Line: If you think this is some sort of new conceptual sustainable residency program… Well, as folks in the South like to say at places like Auburn, Alabama, “Bless your heart.“
It’s hard to see this program sticking around without substantially more funding. And, if more funding does somehow become available… I sure hope our Board of Directors fully considers other initiatives and whether they are better candidates for scarce resources. And, at the top of their list of factors to consider: sustainability
Ft Pierce Residency Program: A Valid Short Term Need…Even if it’s a Hail Mary
While the new Residency Program for the USA Program is not very likely to stick around I think a solid case can be made to still go forward with it. The logical question then is, “Why on God’s green earth would the #1 detractor of Handball Residency Programs be in favorite of doing a program yet again?
Answer: It’s “pretty much” the only way the USA Women can expand it’s meager talent pool and provide a handball crash course for newcomers to get them “sort of” ready for the 2028 Olympics.
I say “pretty much” the only way because, in theory, there are other ways. Qatar built a strong Men’s National team through naturalization. The U.S. has had naturalized citizens in other sports, but typically these athletes have become citizens through marriage or other standard processes. Manufacturing an entire team is just not something the U.S. would ever do, in my opinion. Another option would be to farm out athletes individually to top clubs in Europe where they could get top coaching and competition. However, that would take revitalizing and super charging a Forum Club Handball (FCH) support program for USA athletes that unfortunately no longer exists.
We could also debate whether other locations like Denmark (as GBR did before the 2012 London Olympics) or Los Angeles (copying the 1996 Atlanta strategy) would be better. They arguably are… but a different location is just a variation of the Residency Program concept.
And, I say “sort of” ready because two years is just not enough time to really get newcomers ready to effectively compete against the best teams in the world. If the program is done right I think it’s enough time to turn great athletes into decent handball players… but, not enough time to turn them into great handball players. There’s just too much too learn and certainly not enough time to garner the experience needed to be a great player.
All that said, it’s 4th and long, we’re running out of time and we don’t haven’t any good options. I don’t think we could tell the IHF and USOPC we can’t field a competitive team and decline our guaranteed Olympic slot. I also don’t think it would have been prudent to essentially go with our current talent pool and hope for the best. That might have saved money and allowed resources to go towards more sustainable efforts, but the Olympics is just too big a stage to field a team that will lose by 20-30 goals.
No. I think the right answer was to go with the Hail Mary pass to the end zone or as Scott Van Pelt likes to say a pitchy, pitchy, woo-woo play. We’re Americans. It’s the Olympics. We got to try something. Hey, sometimes it even works.
And, I’ll emphasize I’m not even talking about wins and loss. I will be ecstatic if the USA Women win a match at the 2028 Olympic Games. That’s not likely to happen with a 12 team field mostly comprised of the best European sides, probably Brazil, Angola and S Korea/Japan.
No, realisticaly I’m looking for “moral victories.” Of course, I hate that term, but it’s realistic. I’m shooting for losses with a scoreline of 10-19 goals. Maybe a single digit loss against some team. Playing a couple of teams close for a half. Back and forth sequences in every match where viewers can see a little potential. Where they can rationalize, “If the USA Women were only just a little bit more experienced” or “If we just had a couple more good players the results would be diffferent.”
Where some young American girls watching handball for the first time can envision a future playing the sport. Yes, indeed, that alone might just be worth the investment in a short term residency program in Florida.
While this logic applies for the USA Women, does it also apply for the USA Men? The short answer is no, but I’ll break down the long answer, next
A USA Women’s Sr Team recently played three matches vs Puerto Rico. Here are the results: (Source: Puerto Rico Handball Federation Facebook Page: Link)
June 15: Puerto Rico 34 – 19 USA
June 16: Puerto Rico 30 – 24 USA
June 17: Puerto Rico 35 – 21 USA
Here are the leading scorers for the USA over the 3 matches: (Source: Puerto Rico Handball Federation Instagram Account: Link) (Note: These stats were updated based on a new post)
Jessica Kuster-Medina, 13 goals
Katie Timmerman, 12 goals
Kathy Darling, 9 goals
Beatrice Cangas-Perez, 8 goals
Rylee White, 7 goals
Kasey McCravey, 6 goals
August Raskie, 5 goals
Maegan Barkley, 4 goals
Devyn Holbrook, 2 goals
Ellie Brown, 2 goals
Photos/Videos:
Match photos (Puerto Rico Handball Federation) 1, 2, 3
Short highlight reels (Purerto Rico Handball Federation and Pro Live PR): 12
Behind the scenes videos (Various USA Team Handball Women’s Instagram: 123
New Recruit Research
The USA team appeared to be mostly composed of relative newcomers to the team. I haven’t seen an official roster, but I was able to do some top level online research of some of the new recruits. (And, of course, being online research via Instagram, LinkedIn and old college sports bio pages there’s bound to be some inaccuracies). That said, here’s what I found out:
Jessica Kuster-Medina
Age ~34, 6’2″ Rice University (2014), D-1 Basketball athlete, 6 year pro
And, not just a “D-1 athlete”, but perhaps the all-time greatest basketball player in Rice history. Really? Yes, really. Check out this video: Link
Age: ~26, 5’9″, Concordia (2023), D-2 Basketball athlete, 2 year pro
Actually, started playing in 2023, but took a 2 year hiatus to play basketball in South Korea. Check out this recent podcast for more information: Link
(LA THC celebrates their recent National Championship)
This past weekend the Los Angeles Team Handball (LA THC) won the inaugural USA Team Handball National Cup competiton with two wins over ChicagoInter (37-28) (42-27) and a 33-33 draw vs the New York Athletic Club (NYAC). This gave LA THC an overall record of 9-1-1 to put them in 1st place for the final National Cup Standings. (Note: The USA National Cup is a not a Knockout Tournament Cup as is commonly played in Europe, but more akin to a National League, albeit with matches played over just three weekends) As the winner of the National Cup, LA THC will represent the USA at the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Club Championships which will, in turn, serve as the NACHC qualifier for the Club World Championships (formerly known as the Super Globe)
A Strangely Quiet Title on USA Team Handball Platforms
LA THC has certainly trumpeted its National Championship with multiple posts on social media platforms. 123 European handball sites like Handball-World and GoHandball have been intrigued with all the retired pros playing for LA THC and have reported on it as well. Meanwhile, USA Team Handball has been strangely quiet with, I think, no mention of LA THC winning the title on social media and no article on its website. In fact, I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think there’s been any website posts regarding the National Cup all season.
If you start a brand new season long competition to determine a National Champion… One would think this would become a centerpiece for promotion with a dedicated section on the website with current standings, leading scorers and other statistics. Especially, when handball outlets around the world are suddenly taking interest in a USA domestic club competition. Instead… it’s almost like it’s being purposely hidden. Why?
Positive Elements of the National Cup Format
Before I try to answer that question, I’ll first address the National Cup itself. While it has been pilloried by some right from the start I actually like some elements of the competition. In particular, I’ve never liked having a one weekend, winner take all tournament (i.e. the U.S. Open National Championships) to determine a National Champion. Never liked it… but, understood why it was the practical solution for an amateur competition in a very large country. I also never liked the overly complicated points system for determining which clubs would compete in the elite division at Nationals. The National Cup essentially replaced one Open Nationals tournament with three Tournament like weekends in a quasi league format. And, with three tournaments it made it more expensive and theoretically impractical to fly in ringers, mercenaries to improve a club’s chances of winning a title. Overall it was a format far more likely to truly determine the top club in the U.S.
A Competition Plagued with Problems (Predictable and Unforeseen)
But, while there was some positive aspects to the competition it’s been been plagued with problems and challenges to include:
Lack of Support from Key Stakeholders (i.e. Top Clubs): While it’s relatively easy to come up with a new format for determining a National Champion getting consensus from all the top clubs in the U.S. is a far more challenging task. In particular, the last two national champions, the California Eagles (2024) and New York City (NYC) (2025) declined to participate. While one might simply write off the concerns of the Eagles as a manufactured team it’s pretty hard to do the same with perrenial contender, NYC, the largest club in the U.S. I do not know what coordination took place as the latest edition of the Competition Rulebook was developed, but there’s a fine art to ensuring all stakeholders are heard, compromised is reached and community buy-in is obtained. In short, dictating solutions is easy… building consensus is hard.
Flown in Players Bolstering Rosters to New Extremes: USA Clubs adding players who live nowhere near the location of the club to their rosters is nothing new. And, I have addressed this concern multiple times with increasing rancor. In theory, changing the format from one winner take all event tournament to three weekend tournaments should have made flying in players cost prohibited. But, the reality is that three clubs (LA THC, NYAC and ChicagoInter) to varying degrees, found the money and took roster boosting to new extremes. While this buzz was attention grabbing, particularly for foreign handball outlets, the overall look was concerning for Americans more focused on the development of stateside athletes.
Venue Shortcomings and an Unannounced Venue Change: I don’t think there were any issues with the first “tournament” in Chicago, but the second tournament in Denver was played on a narrow court. The third tournament was schedule to be played in conjunction with Army-West Point’s Annual Scott Pace Tournament, but instead it was quietly switched to the Velo Sports Center in Carson, CA (a suburb of Los Angeles). There was no announcement as to why the venue changed, but I’ve been told that West Point’s no stickum (resin) requirement and the lack of web streaming were the reasons behind this move. The Velo Sports Center was clearly a great venue, but the change meant that West Point couldn’t attend… It would have been pretty strange to not attend their own tournament. Coupled with the Denver Wolves not attending (purportedly due to injuries) this meant the final tournament had only 4 of the 6 participating clubs attending.
An Unnanounced Double Forfeit for Roster Violations: When LA THC played to a draw vs NYAC I had thougth they had won the overall title by virtue of their superior W-L-D record and that they needed that draw to win. According to multiple sources, however, the title had alreadly been decided due to roster violations by both NYAC and Chicago leading to them double forfeiting their first match. Further, I’ve been told that the Tournament Disciplinary Committee only made this ruling after both the USATH Handball Board President, Patrick Jalabert and CEO, Michael King, were removed from the Committee due to their conflict of interest. Jalabert has been the Chicago Inter President for years, but I’m not sure what Michael King’s conflict would be. He’s actually played for both NYAC and LA in the past, but I don’t think he’s ever been affiliated with Chicago.
Commentary: Bad Optics and a Competition with an Uncertain Future
Could this last incident be the reason why there has been no official USA Team Handball reporting on LA’s title? Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see a possible connection between the two. It was yet another case of “bad optics” for USA Team Handball’s Leadership team. But, was it so bad that world famous handball players celebrating a USA Championship had to be ignored?
With a competition limping to completion with a third of its teams absent and mired in controversy one wonders whether the National Cup will be a one and done experiment. Time will tell. Hopefully, there will be some lessons learned that can be evaluated by a reinvigorated Competition Committee. Perhaps a committee with all the top clubs empowered and committed to craft a more workable solution. One that can have a few Euros playing to provide some promotional benefits, but at the same time facilitate more state side Americans participating and growing the game.
(Handball at the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City? No longer just wishful speculation. I actually think it will happen now.)
Duncan Mackay, who has been covering Olympic Sports for more than 30 years recently posted an article on his Zeus substack (subscription required) that planning is well underway to dramatically reshape the Winter Olympics Programme.
While there have been many reports and commentaries discussing the merits of moving some Summer Olympics indoor sports to the Winter Olympics they have typically been pieces along the lines of that it’s something being floated for discussion.
Mackay’s article, however, makes it seem very much like a done deal, particularly with this sentence:
The article highlights that some expensive winter sports like bobsled could be gone and then specifically mentions volleyball and handball as sports that could be added. It then highlights that IOC officials are discussing the possibility of offering some sports “the opportunity” to switch from Summer to the Winter Olympics. And, that the offer might very much be one those sports really don’t want to refuse. As in, the alternative will be to no longer be in the Olympics, period.
Commentary
As has been discussed before, handball switching to the Winter Olympics would be an epic game changer for the sport, especially in countries like the U.S. Every four years Curling gets a real boost in popularity and it doesn’t take much to imagine handball very quickly getting an even bigger boost. Whereas, in the bloated Summer Olympics it’s tougher for handball to break through with all the competition from the other more well known sports.
And, this reporting is really big news because it very much sounds like Summer Olympic sports are moving to the Winter Olympics. That the “good idea” is becoming reality and much quicker than anticipated. Reporter Duncan Mackay has been around quite awhile and he surely was talking to people on the inside; to officials that wanted to get this message out.
Would it shock me if the International Handball Federation (IHF) is given “the opportunity” to switch to the Winter Olympics? No, not at all. And, given that, I would argue that the IHF should actually go proactive. That the next time they meet with IHF officials they should make it clear that they would very much welcome the opportunity to do so.
There would be repercussions. In particular, the IHF and Euroean Handball Federation (EHF) would need to sort out what would happen with their January big money maker events. They currently alternate the Men’s World Championships and Men’s European Championships every January. One organization would lose a monetary stream. But, the overall benefits would be enormous so I’d like to think something could be worked out.
There are also some real positives to such a switch. With the current setup athletes have a window every four years with 3 big tourneys (European Championships, Olympics, World Championships) in a 13 month span. The switch would eliminate that and would ensure that athletes have every summer off to recuperate.
And, from a U.S. biased perspective I can already see Team USA taking the court at the 2034 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. Instead of another Olympic boost for the sport necessitating beating both Argentina and Brazil at the PANAM Games to qualify we would have another hosted Olympics just six years out from Los Angeles.
(Carolina celebrates their victory over Treasure Coast: Link)
This past weekend the University of North Carolina (UNC) hosted it’s annual Carolina Blue Cup. The UNC alumni team, Carolina Blue, took the title with a 26-23 victory over Army’s 1st team, West Point- Black. Aaron Hamm had 8 goals for Carolina Blue and Owen Rodgers scored 6 for Army.
In the 3rd place match UNC’s 1st team, Carolina, defeated Army’s 2nd team, 26-23. The full results for the tournament are at the bottom of this post.
Treasure Coast Debut
But, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this annual tournament was the debut of a Men’s National Devolopment Team which was referred to as “Treasure Coast”. For the unitiated, the Treasure Coast is the regional name for the coastal area north of Ft Lauderdale, including the town of Fort Pierce, where Westwood Academy High School will serve as a training center for developing handball athletes. A handful of athletes are already currently training there and more may be identified at a tryout being held there this weekend. If you follow the USA Men’s National Handball Team social media pages (InstagramFacebook) you likely have seen some videos talking about the training taking place.
The team had a humbling debut against a field of 8 collegiate clubs and 4 at-large clubs. In Group play they narrowly defeated Air Force, 31-30 and easily defeated SUNY Cortland, 33-12, to win their Group. However in knockout play they lost to Carolina, 33-34 in the quarter finals and then tied a relatively new club team with just 9 players, Charlotte Flight, 32-32. Overall, they finished 7th in the field of 12 teams.
Video of the matches vs Air Force and Charlotte can be seen here:
Treasure Coast Roster (A Mix of Newcomers and Collegiate Veterans)
The Treasure Coast roster featured a lot of inexperienced newcomers to handball, but also included a core group that was actually more experienced than most of the teams participating in the tournament. In particular, I think the 3 West Point grads (Considine, Miller and Phillips) were each Collegiate National Championship MVPs. Pitt’s Greenstein spent the Fall semester in the Netherlands playing with a club team and Liden was on the Jr National Team. The rest of the roster included a few athletes with limited club handball experience and several who’ve only been playing a couple weeks. It’s a mixed group, but several have NCAA D1 experience in Football, Baseball or soccer.
Commentary: Closing the Gap to Collegiate Clubs and on to the National Team Level… not as Easy or Quick as one Might Think or Want it to be
The Freshman in question is Nate Wolfe. He’s a lefty and has only been playing handball since September. Similarily, Jack Tierney, a junior at AF sliced and diced the Treasure Coast defense for 14 goals in their narrow defeat.
Without a doubt, it’s bad optics for a USA Team Handball National Development Team to lose or just narrowly defeat a collegiate club. This past week the USA Men’s National Team social media channels featured plenty of weight training posts… but, none on its debut in competition. Yeah, I’m guessing the social media channels would have looked a little different if Treasure Coast had won the tournament.
And, having seen the team’s participating and some of the team rosters on USA Team Handball’s Sport 80 platform before the tournament, I figured Treasure Coast had a good chance of taking the title. They had enough quality experienced players and were facing relatively low level clubs. It didn’t work out that way and I think the team’s lack of playing together was a significant factor. And, for sure, the newcomers, despite some strong athletic backgrounds still have a long way to go. Yes, college club athletes who have only been playing a year or two have a significant experience advantage even against D1 athletes. These newcomers will close the gap and eventually have no problem against lower level USA clubs, but, as was demonstrated this past weekend, it will take longer than one might think.
There are multiple reasons why it will take awhile.
A raw talent gap… but not so wide: First, some of these collegiate teams have athletes that aren’t much of a step down in raw talent from their D1 counterparts. On average, solid collegiate clubs like West Point, Carolina and Air Force have at least 1 or 2 such athletes on their team.
Experience: If the raw talent gap is manageable, handball experience will trump that superior raw talent
Learning to play handball takes time. Even to learn the basics to play competently against lower level teams it takes a while. And, then to learn the fine points of the game it takes even longer. Finally, to master those fine points… we’re talking years.
And, if you are now thinking, “Hmmm, I wonder then how long it will take newcomers to close the gap with the athletes on our current Men’s National Team?” The best team we’ve had since the mid 1980s… Well, then you are asking the right question.
And, if you know the answer to that question it then leads you to a basic conclusion, which can best be summed up as… What in the hell does USA Team Handball think it’s doing in Fort Pierce, Florida?
Last Wednesday, USA National Team athlete, Isabela Da Cruz played the last 15 minutes in OGC Nice‘s French 1st Division match vs St Amand and made the most of her opportunity, scoring 3 goals with active play on both offense and defense. She was clearly OGC Nice’s bright spot in a 23-32 defeat and deserving of the club player of match award. This video shows the three goals she scored and the entire match can be seen at this link. (queued up to the last 15 minutes) (Side note: St Amand’s Head Coach is former USA Women’s National Team Coach, Edina Borsos)
OGC Nice’s 1st team is currently in 5th place in the Butagaz Energy League and Da Cruz plays behind the team’s leading scorer, French International player Marie-Helene Sajak. Da Cruz who is 19 years old and turns 20 later this month gets most of her current playing time with OGC Nice’s 2nd team which plays in NF1, the 3rd level of French Women’s handball. For the 2nd team she has 35 goals in 10 matches for a 3.5 goals/game average. (See Below)
Commentary: Unfair Expectations, Now on a Path to being Met
I first heard of Da Cruz back in 2021 and the bio of a 15 year old American, 5’9″ (176 cm), left handed, Right Back who had already played some handball in Brazil seemed too good to be true. And, my expectations further climbed when she made the leap to move to France to attend a French Handball Academy in Dijon. To put things into perspective, this was a remarkably unprecedented move for a U.S. Handball player. We have hardly anyone this age even knowing what handball is, let alone playing the sport and being deemed worthy of attending a French Handball Academy.
When I started to see her play for U.S. Youth and Jr National Teams my expectation was for a European trained player to tear through inexeperienced North American and Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) competition. So, I was disappointed to see a competent player, but one prone for mistakes and somewhat hesitant at times. Over the course of several competitions I saw improvement, but nothing to the level to match my expecations.
Fast forward to today and I’m rethinking those initial expecations and deeming them unfair. The trajectory of development is different for every player. And, looking back at my own skills development in different sports… I really should know better. Slow and steady development can lead to a moment when everything starts to come together and click.
Perhaps, one shouldn’t read too much into one 15 minute stretch in a match, but I now see a player where things are coming together. Isabela Da Cruz doesn’t have lightning 1v1 speed, but she’s starting to understand the game and is putting herself in position to score and/or be a threat to score so she can make that next pass for a great scoring opportunity. I’m not sure what the trajectory end point will be, but she’s just 19 years old… with plenty of time to further improve.
In a nod to Pablo Torre’s successful podcast I share some information I found regarding how Port St Lucie, Florida possibly got on USA Team Handball’s radar as a national team residency program location. Joining me to discuss is 1972 Olympian, 1976 Olympic Head Coach and former USA Team Handball Board President, Dennis Berkholtz.
Here are some links to topics and issues discussed in the podcast:
