Structure of Team Handball in the US

The "Handball Manual" tailers US students and others who are interested in handball. Therefore, I wanted to share the following information as it has helped me in starting and running the club.

Looking at the popularity and the structure, Team Handball is a rising sport with a high potential in the US. It is an Olympic sport since 1972 for men and 1976 for women (https://olympics.com/en/sports/handball/). Nevertheless, the US has never won an Olympic medal in team handball. In fact, the USA Team Handball has struggled to qualify for the Olympic Games in recent years. In 1996 was the last time where they participated in the olympics. Efforts in the country are made to improve the Team Handball performance on a national level by increasing the number of clubs and youth programs. However, it is difficult to find people with the commitment to promote the sport and clubs. The sport comes from Europe and is after Soccer one of the most popular sports there, which is the reason why European countries are usually better. You can already see that by the number of handball courts in the US. The US has round about 6-8 in the whole country, whereas in Germany for example every bigger town has more than one. I had the chance to be at one of those courts in a high school in San Francisco - impressive. What athletes and teams usually do in the US is taping the lines. It is easy to adapt the gameplay and practice to a smaller sized court. For example, we practice on a basketball-sized court and taped the 6-meter line so we had the important lines on the court. What adds to the point I mentioned above is that handball is not as popular because it is not a NCAA listed sport compared to basketball, soccer, and football. Now that you have heard some of the reasons why team handball is less popular than other sports in the US and that the requirements (handball court) are difficult, why should you still start playing? Due to the fact that handball is not very popular and is played by only a few people, it is comparatively easy to reach a top level and experience the sport on a national level. You can find further reasons in my last article "Why Handball?" (https://seippdeborah.wixsite.com/thehandballmanual/post/how-it-all-started-why-handball). Based on my experience, I recommend every interested woman to look for opportunities. The women's national team holds training camps a couple of times a year, and any woman can sign up, no previous experience necessary (see quote from Instagram post below). In general, there are many experts from other countries playing in the (community) clubs. The same can be seen in the national teams. Only a few players actually play in the US, which is why USA Team Handball wants to increase the number of players from US clubs. From my experience at college nationals, the men already have a better structure and more teams across the US, which leads to a generally higher level of performance compared to women.

Quote 1: "There will be group, as well as individualized training at the camp - come as often as you are available. US passport holders ages 17 and older who have played other sports competitively are encouraged to attend." (Instagram: USA women's Team Handball , 2023, Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqT6wuTOvxQ/?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg%3D%3D)

Team handball is played at the college club level and in (community) clubs throughout the USA. We have a total of 6 women's and 16 men's collegiate clubs and 21 women's and 27 men's clubs which are part of/ have a membership at USA Team Handball (source: USA Team Handball Club Directory https://www.usateamhandball.org/clubs). This means there can be more clubs who don't have a membership with USATH and were not counted. In a collegiate club, only active students of the respective college are allowed to play, while in a normal club, everyone is allowed to join. The Cortland Handball Club, which I started, is one of the collegiate clubs. Because of the imbalance between expert players and local players, especially collegiate and school team handball clubs are important to increase the number of players in the USA. The main organization for team handball in the USA is called USA Team Handball (https://www.usateamhandball.org/) and organizes and runs the leagues in which the clubs compete against each other. The leagues are area specific, the North Eastern Handball League covers the northeastern part for example. These leagues are mostly club based. The collegiate clubs participate in a specific conference called the Trailblazer Conference. All of these leagues are under the umbrella of USA Team Handball. By purchasing an individual (and club) membership with USA Team Handball, you are eligible to participate in any USATH sanctioned event and you are covered by health insurance for these events.

My most valuable contacts were Matthew Collins, Martin Branick, and Bryan Cothorn. Matthew Collins is the Collegiate Development Coordinator for USA Team Handball. He can provide you with all the information/support you need if you are interested in Team Handball at the collegiate level or if you have questions/requests in general or for equipment. Martin Branick is the interim CEO and the Event & Membership Manager for USA Team Handball. He and Matthew Collins are one of the most important contacts/resources as he manages the membership and events. He was able to answer every single question I had - incredible. Last but not least is Bryan Cothorn. He is in charge of the Northeast Team Handball League ( https://www.northeasthandball.com/). If you have questions about the Trailblaizer conference contact me directly or USA Team Handball.

My advice for you in the beginning is to try to connect with other people who are doing the things you want to do or have experience in the area. For me, this meant contacting and talking to other club presidents and coaches. The conversations with the coaches and USA Team Handball were the most important for me in retrospect. In this case the internet did not help every time :D.

Feel free to send me an email using the contact form if you want more information or just want to talk about Team Handball in the US.