Team Handball, or the Olympic sport of handball, has now made its way to the United States. For a long time, handball has been buried under a ton of other sports that the American society has historically cherished or became excited with lately. The sport is finally here, on our TV screens – at least the professional version of it (the European Champion’s League, IHF World Championships), but make no mistake, handball is still a niche sport that needs many more years (and maybe decades) of promotion and advertising.

However, it’s a sport made for Americans. It combines athleticism, tactics, team play and many more other exciting aspects of a collective sport. Some would say it’s waterpolo without the water, or futsal with the hands. Regardless, we should start treating handball like its own sport with its unique characteristics. In an interview conducted last year, Dragan Djukic, a renowned handball lecturer who coached some of the most prestigious clubs and national teams in Europe, defined the sport as the perfect product for the American people. The interest in handball comes through across many age groups: youth, college and adults.

Giovanni Vornoli, current player of San Francisco CalHeat II, was the first member of our youth league to join our adult teams. Recognized as one of the best players in the league, and proudly competing for years at the Sterne School Dolphins Athletic Program, Giovanni enjoyed the mix of skills the sport was able to offer. “It was an intriguing sport at first, but not easy to grasp. There’s a set of movements that you have to learn and practice consistently before fully enjoying the sport, but, once you get there, it’s very rewarding.” After months of work, Giovanni finally made his way to our teams, slowly contributing on the right wing position and scoring his first goal at the 2019 California Cup. He then went on to make his debut at the USATH Club Nationals in Myrtle Beach, SC. “US Club Nationals is a fantastic event and the perfect way to close the season. I remember my first time competing among all these athletes who flew from all over the country. It was quite impressive!”. In his latest season, Giovanni gained more confidence into his skills and became a regular scorer. His coach remembers very well his last tournament participation in Phoenix. “He (Giovanni) literally scored at every game, I was quite surprised. True, he’s probably not there yet to be  successful in a 60 minutes game against the best teams in the country, but he’s no longer a beginner. He’s better positioned on the field, he starts to look at his opponent’s moves and he thinks where and how to shoot. I can’t wait to see where he’ll land in the next 2-3 years”. ‘Gio’ will definitely be a player to watch for the years to come!

Unlike Giovanni, some players have made their way to handball transitioning from another sport. Athena Del Rosario, former NCAA soccer goalie at UC Santa Cruz and now goalie for our women’s team, joined us during our summer beach handball in 2017. “I had been playing beach handball with SF CalHeat over the summer and it was really fun, so handball did have me interested”. Practice after practice, Athena improved, leveraging on her soccer goalkeeping experience and building in the handball fundamentals. “At the beginning, it was hard to adjust. As a soccer goalkeeper, there are similar principles that you can bring to handball, but there are also a lot of very unique elements to goalkeeping in handball that you will not find in any other sport. Since the beginning of my journey, my understanding of handball has come a long way in just a short time span. That being said, there is still much to learn”. Since then, Athena has developed into quite a phenomenal athlete, earning multiple individual rewards at sanctioned events and at the USATH Club Nationals (2019). She’s also an active member of the US Women’s Beach National Team and recently joined the USA Team Handball Athlete’s Advisor Council to represent and vouch for the athletes. The 2028 Summer Olympics are also around the corner and there’s still a lot to be done to popularize the sport. “Americans need to see it on TV. You need to drive a demand for the sport and most don’t know handball even exists, so marketing is going to be super important in creating that demand and going viral. Once people see the sport, they will be interested because it’s very exciting and fast paced”.

Both Giovanni and Athena have unique stories to tell. But some Americans don’t need to be sold the handball product. Anthony Scott Knox joined us this past season and brought a lot of enthusiasm and energy to our practices and games. Graduate from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Scott played his entire career for Carolina Blue (2010-2019) and has even had the privilege to be part of the US Men’s National Team Pool (2010-2014). He still remembers his handball debut – “my first semester playing handball was during Fall of 2006 and, just like any first-time player, I literally had everything to learn about a game I had never seen or heard of in my entire life. With handball, as with any new skill, asking the right questions and humbling oneself to constructive criticism and feedback proved to be essential to grasping this new, fast paced, and physical yet intellectually challenging game”. Scott became one of the first rookie players to make the move from the Tar Heel (Junior Varsity) team to the Carolina (Varsity) team, and was part of the team who won the club’s first Carolina Blue Cup, the Carolina Blue signature home tournament. Those memories surely remain unforgettable but still incomparable to wearing the US National Team jersey. “The experience I acquired abroad with USA Team Handball had a tremendous impact on the ways in which I perceived and played the sport. Seeing how our teams stacked up against competition from Germany, Argentina, Greenland, Chile, and others throughout my time showed me how much I still needed to learn about how the game was to be played at its highest level”. This background, and his exceptional physical abilities, definitely helped Scott shape his own playing style. His arrival at SF CalHeat opened up even more doors than he thought, beyond simply competing on the court: “Similarly to how I felt when I joined Carolina for the first time in 2006, I wanted nothing more than to make a positive impact on the club in any way possible. Besides earning the first ever medal with our second team at the California Cup (SF CalHeat II finished in the 3rd place), I also began refereeing for the youth league supporting schools all around the Bay Area. I was extremely impressed by the magnitude of this initiative when I first moved to the Bay Area, and was thrilled to see American children enjoying competing in handball”. Today, he proudly wears the orange and blue jersey, and is eager to go back to the competition when it is deemed safe to do so. “I believe that the club from top to bottom is awesome and stands a chance to share multiple podiums at tournaments across the country”.

Handball is indeed an awesome sport, and regardless if you gave it a try or not in the past, it will trigger your curiosity. Its uniqueness is undeniable and it’s hard to not see elements from other sports within handball. Waterpolo, lacrosse, basketball and even soccer players will find a way to transition into it even though it might take some time to get the fundamentals right. Handball remains a dynamic, attractive, yet complex sport to grasp for many. It is our role, players, coaches and experts who got exposed to it at the highest levels in Europe, Asia, the Middle East or South America to mentor the next Giovanni, Athena and Scott. For the love of the game and all the way to the 2028 Summer Olympics, and beyond.