Waking Up to Team Handball

A rush of energy disturbed the low-lying fog blanketing the Ventura coast on a cool Saturday last August. It was generated by a gathering of men and women, all team handball players from throughout Southern California, who had arrived for the annual tournament at a small park along the beach.

Once dubbed the “sleeper sport of the 1984 Summer Games,” team handball is still dozing in the minds of most Americans. But not for these players waiting to take up sides on a grassy field a little larger than a basketball court.

Normally played indoors, the essentially foreign (but American-looking) game combines the skills of running, jumping, throwing, catching and hurling. The idea is to land a melon-size ball into a net (at each end of the court) about six feet high and nine feet wide. A blend of other sports, team handball has been compared to water polo without water, ice hockey without sticks or ice, and indoor soccer without kicking. Fast breaks, picks and rolls and an equivalent number of players rekindle basketball memories.

Basketball?

An illusion, if you ask former Olympian and vice president of the U.S. Olympic Committee Mike Lenard. It’s what basketball would be like if there were a tiny person running around the rim of the basket knocking balls out, says Lenard, a Los Angeles attorney.

In this game, height isn’t a factor, he says, because the goal sits on the ground. The smaller players who play in the wings don’t really need to jump over anyone as much as fake out the goalie.

Above all, it takes teamwork. While defense is working to prevent a goal, offense is looking for the player with the best shot.

“There is a lot of finesse involved,” explains Sandra De La Riva, a two-time Olympian (’84 and ‘88). “You work with each other to create openings and to make it very easy for the next person.” De La Riva, 27, guided the L.A. Stars (men’s) team handball squad to a silver medal victory at the national championships on Long Island last January.

The collaborative power of the team becomes greater than the impact of individual players.

“It’s not like basketball where you see a lot of one-on-one match-ups, strength to strength and speed to speed,” says Karl Laundy, spokesman for the L.A. Stars, one of the competitive teams in the Southland.

“Someone my size who is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 165 pounds might be guarding someone who is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and 250 pounds. Everyone is shifting, and you all have to work together to fill in the gaps.”

A fast game offers cardiovascular benefits for the hale and hearty, some believe. Teams run continuously in 30-minute halves, with no timeouts.

Dribbling is allowed but not recommended. Passing is the accepted mode of moving the ball. As in baseball and tennis, left-handed players are at a premium. At the goal they can deceive the opposition by strategically--and unexpectedly--letting go with the left hand.

Another byproduct of playing is agility. Craig Cunningham, physical education supervisor at University Elementary School at UCLA, comments: “In baseball, you go to first base. In football, you’re generally going down the line. But in team handball, there is this side-to-side change of direction, which is such a positive thing for youngsters to work on (for greater agility).” Also a consultant, he has introduced the sport to a number of Southland schools.

Robert Sewell, goalie for the Ventura Condors, another Southern California team, belies the reputation goalies have for being a bit hyper. In a quiet, thoughtful voice, he describes the job of using his body to block shots traveling at speeds of more than 70 m.p.h.

Sewell, 31, who manages the USC Trojan Bookstore, began playing on a USC club team. While dreams of Olympic glory have faded, the rewards of competition are still being tasted.

“When someone comes up to you after a game and says, ‘Geez, you stopped three of our best 7-meter shooters,’ or asks for pointers . . . that’s kind of nice.”

Newcomers are amazed at the degree of physical contact. Men tend to like the roughness; women often have to adjust to it. This is especially true at the international level, where Lenard calls it “the roughest game of pickup basketball you ever saw.”

But in public school programs and at the Boys Club of America, where team handball is included in an Olympic sports program, its aggressive potential is eliminated.

Given the obscurity of the sport, the opportunities for being on an Olympic team are greater than in other sports, according to Robert Garcia of Los Angeles, a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Team Handball Federation in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Leaving for Colorado to try out for the national team, Kevin Withrow, 25, of Camarillo, personifies such ambition.

“Once you get through with high school and college, there is nothing really out there,” says Withrow, who became the Condors’ big shooter four years ago.

“I played league softball. Some guys are serious and some guys aren’t. I’m kind of competitive. The thing about being with the Condors is, we goof around but we’re serious about playing. It’s like high school sports all over again.”

Team handball is well known in Europe, considered second in popularity only to soccer. Originally the brainchild of a group of Danes who wanted to stay in shape during the winter, it has been around since the turn of the century.

But in the United States, it wasn’t until a team had to be put together for the 1972 Munich Games that anyone took note of its existence.

Nor did the performance of the two American teams at the Seoul Olympics do much to heighten public awareness of the game. The men finished 12th out of 12 teams. Taking seventh place among eight teams was a far greater disappointment for the women. At their peak earlier in the year, they had believed in the possibility of a gold medal. Instead, another dark horse--Korea--took the gold.

De La Riva observes: “I was a rare player. I started when I was 17. But players in Europe start when they are 7 or 8. I think the only way we’re going to get the rock up the hill is to get the youth involved. So when a player comes to the national team, he has had 15 years of experience already.”

Now a recruiter for the national team, she believes she can help make that happen.

“I love this sport,” she says. “I have this crazy passion. I really want to see it grow.”

For more information about team handball activities, contact:

Canoga Park: Darlene Brannigan, (818) 340-6362.

Los Angeles: Robert Garcia, (213) 458-2168.

Diamond Bar: Stephen Kirk, (714) 860-3919.

Camarillo: Renee Brum Powell, (805) 388-0923; Kurt Stone (805) 482-5069 or (818) 506-8033.

U.S. Team Handball Federation, 1750 E. Boulder St., Colorado Springs, Colo. 80909; telephone (719) 578-4582. Michael Cavanaugh, executive director.