I played on a team handball club at the University of Houston in 2003 for about 4 months. We need had a match because there was no one else to play. By the end of the semester I was getting emails from the federation about training for the national team. Any American that was interested was included. That version of the federation folded and I lost contact with the sport. I eventually played in one actual handball match in Austin years later. Great game, zero notoriety.
I play the small ball game of handball your mention in your post. When I tell people I play handball, they think of team handball! It really is the greatest game to play but doesn't translate well to TV and will likely never have much of a following. The heyday was in the 50s and 60s when the YMCA was the main gym to go workout. They all had handball courts. Those of us that play today are smug about how much better and harder our game it to play. You have to use your offhand; try throwing a ball, much less hitting it with any accuracy.
Back to team handball: you've gotten me motivated to watch a lot more of the sport when the olympics start.
A million years ago I had a cup of coffee with the Canadian national team. Played the US a few times, were pretty evenly matched. As players, we could never figure out why it didn’t catch on either. Highlights from international tournaments would routinely show up on SportsCentre, then we’d disappear for another four years.
I played on a team handball club at the University of Houston in 2003 for about 4 months. We need had a match because there was no one else to play. By the end of the semester I was getting emails from the federation about training for the national team. Any American that was interested was included. That version of the federation folded and I lost contact with the sport. I eventually played in one actual handball match in Austin years later. Great game, zero notoriety.
So you’re saying my Olympic dream is still alive….
This reminded me of when ESPN hired a random athlete to try to make the Olympics in a bunch of different sports, including handball.
https://www.espn.com/espn/eticket/story?page=olympianpart2&redirected=true
I play the small ball game of handball your mention in your post. When I tell people I play handball, they think of team handball! It really is the greatest game to play but doesn't translate well to TV and will likely never have much of a following. The heyday was in the 50s and 60s when the YMCA was the main gym to go workout. They all had handball courts. Those of us that play today are smug about how much better and harder our game it to play. You have to use your offhand; try throwing a ball, much less hitting it with any accuracy.
Back to team handball: you've gotten me motivated to watch a lot more of the sport when the olympics start.
A million years ago I had a cup of coffee with the Canadian national team. Played the US a few times, were pretty evenly matched. As players, we could never figure out why it didn’t catch on either. Highlights from international tournaments would routinely show up on SportsCentre, then we’d disappear for another four years.