The season had started on top form with all 10 teams from the Youth Team Handball Bay Area League competing on a record number of games throughout the Bay Area reaching more than 30 games combined. Almost all of them played a home and away series between them.

Five teams competed on the High School league, the squads from Lycée Français de San Francisco, Sterne School, Bayhill High School, SF CalHeat Youth, and Compass played each other with Lycée finishing undefeated through it all. Click here for full schedule and results.

Five teams also competed on the Middle School league, Castillero, Lycée Français de San Francisco, Sterne School, Stanbridge Academy, and newcomers Bret Harte who proved a phenomenal foe going undefeated the entire run. Click here for full schedule and results.

The devastating fires that occurred on Northern California during November forced us to cancel the last couple of games on the season, and even thought at the beginning it didn’t seem to affect the Youth California Cup, it forced us to cancel it because of the very poor air quality experienced in the area during those days. This threw a wrench on our capabilities for rescheduling, and just like many other sports in California we had to make the hard decision of not having a High School tournament this season. That is why the Lycée Français de San Francisco was crowned Champion of the 2019 Youth California Cup based on their outstanding performance during the regular season.

Fortunately we were able to find a date to set the U14 tournament, albeit on a reduced fashion and with only 4 teams. Thanks to the offer from Bret Harte Middle School to host it at their place we were able to organize a Final Four type of tournament with the 4 highest seeded teams from the season. On December 9th Castillero and Lycée Français de San Francisco played the first semi final, re-editing the final from a year prior. Castillero got to lead during the first half of the game and it looked poised to make it into the final, but Lycée made adjustments to their defense and only conceded one goal the entire second half, while lining several counter attacks and good offensive plays finishing the upset of the tournament winning the game 11-7 and qualifying for the final for the second year in a row. On the second semi final it was the turn for the hosts to face Sterne, and just like the seeding of both teams predicted, Bret Harte won the game handily 30-3 and was ready to play for the title.

After the semifinals were decided it was time to put on a demonstration for all the girls that would like to join with teams the league next year, in an effort to promote the creation of all-girls teams for next season, 10 players from all the schools created two teams and played a scrimmage that saw some promising play from everyone involved.

The third place game saw Castillero taking an early lead and never relinquish it en route to their Bronze Medal finishing the game with a score of 24-7. The final match started slow with both defenses blocking most of the attacks and finishing the first half with the lowest scoring ever for Bret Harte. The second half proved to be business as usual for the Broncos who after a long and successful season finished obtaining the most precious recognition of all with a 15-8 win. They became the new Team Handball U14 California Cup Champions!

Click here for full schedule and results

Congratulations go out the the Youth team from Lycée Français de San Francisco and the U14 team from Bret Harte Middle School, new champions of the Youth California Cup!