Handball in the United States

Handball in the United States is a minor sport.^[1] The U.S. is represented in international competitions, such as the Summer Olympics and the Pan American Games, by the United States men's national handball team and the United States women's national handball team. The U.S. men's and women's teams have struggled in international competitions against nations where handball is more popular.^[2]

A common popular sport in European countries, handball is a minor sport in the United States with a low profile.^[3] All competitions in the U.S. are amateur. The sport is not sanctioned by the NCAA, but is played at a club level at several colleges and universities.^{[citation needed]}

In 2020, a former USA Team Handball CEO Barry Siff said that they are planning to create an American professional team handball league sponsored by Verizon.^[4] They are planning to have the owners until the end of 2020, and to launch the league in 2023 with 10 teams with each team initially worth $3 million to $5 million and want to cooperate with NBA or NHL owners in one-tenant arena situations.^[5]^[6]

The sport is governed by USA Team Handball, which is funded in part by the U.S. Olympic Committee.^[7] Previously, the governing body was the United States Team Handball Federation (USTHF), but it's status was revoked by the United States Olympic Committee in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

Amateur clubs are located in most major U.S. cities and due to the great distances between clubs they mostly compete in weekend tournaments. There is one established club league, the Northeast Team Handball League in the northeastern region of the U.S. A national championship tournament is held annually with matches being played over a three day weekend at one hosted location.

Handball is a club sport at a few notable universities, such as West Point, The Ohio State University, University of North Carolina (UNC), Air Force, University of Virginia and others. Those schools play other amatuer clubs and participate annually in the Collegiate National Championships, one for men and the other for women, with matches taking place over a 3 day period.^[8]^[9]

History

3km
2miles

New York

Kolping

Hoboken

Elizabeth

Newark

Union City

Brooklyn

Locations of the seven clubs in NY and NJ
Location of Union City and New York are not clear

John Jakobs was the founder of the first handball section (First German Sport Club of Brooklyn) in the USA. On 26 May 1926 he made a call in the New Yorker Herold to promote handball.

On 28 October 1926 the first field handball game was played between the Turnverein Union City and the First German Sport Club of Brooklyn. The game ended in a 9 to 9 draw. Newark TV joined the other two and they played some friendly games.

In 1927 the German American Athletic Union (GAAU) started to sponsor field handball. The first handball chairman was Gustav Ricke from First German Sport Club of Brooklyn. In the season 1927-28 only friendly games were played.

Professional leagues

In 1978, the National Teamball League was formed with six clubs: the Detroit Hawks, Chicago Chiefs, Boston Comets, New York Stags, Philadelphia Warriors and Pittsburgh Points. The NTL (described as an "Americanized" version of team handball, with faster play and higher scores) was bankrolled by Aben Johnson, Jr., owner of WXON-TV in Detroit, and WXON aired the league's first game, a 48-26 victory by Detroit over Chicago.^[10] The match, played in front of about 800 people at Macomb County Community College in Warren, Michigan, was taped in early December and aired on WXON on Friday, December 8, 1978, and again the next day.^[11]

The Hawks-Chiefs matchup was the only NTL match known to have been televised; in fact, it was one of the few known to have been played, as press coverage of the loop was almost nonexistent. A local Boston-area newspaper, the Charlestown Patriot and Somerville Chronicle, covered at least one of their matches, as the Comets played at Medford Street Gym in Charlestown, Massachusetts with several local players. After a win over Detroit (the Hawks' first loss of the season) on February 3, 1979, the Comets record was reported as 4-0, including two victories over Philadelphia in December. Whether the league's first season (scheduled to run through April 1979) was completed is unknown; most likely, the NTL died quickly and disappeared. ("National Teamball League, Inc." was incorporated by Johnson in August 1978 and dissolved in March 1980.)^[12]

In 2020, former USA Team Handball CEO Barry Siff stated that plans were in development to create an American professional team handball league.^[4] The new, unnamed league's launch is scheduled for 2023, with 10 teams initially worth three to five million dollars apiece. There are also plans to cooperate with NBA or NHL owners in one-tenant arena situations,^[5] and perhaps create multisports clubs like FC Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain.^[13]

Season	League	Cup	Teams
1929	Not held	German Sport Club of Elizabeth	7 teams First German Sport Club of Brooklyn (2 teams) Turnverein Hoboken Newark TV Kolping German Sport Club of Elizabeth First German Sport Club of New York
1929-30	First German Sport Club of Brooklyn	First German Sport Club of Brooklyn	?
1930-31	Newark TV	?	13 teams New York (7 teams) Philadelphia (6 teams)
1931-32	Newark TV	?	?
1932-33	Not held	?	?
1933-34	First German Sport Club of Brooklyn	?	?
1934-35	Newark TV	?	?
1935-36	Cake Baker's Sport Club^[14]	?	?
1936-37	?	?	?
1937-38	Cake Baker's Sport Club^[14]	?	?

Because handball was part of the 1936 Summer Olympics the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) started to sponsor field handball in 1934. Many of the handball leaders of the DAAV were chosen to lead the handball committee of the AAU.^[15]

In 1942 the Office of Alien Property Custodian seized all records of the German American Athletic Union.^[16]

After World War II, handball had no national body until 1959 as the United States Team Handball Federation was founded. In the same year, the United States Handball Federation League was founded. The Elizabeth S.C. won at least all season until 1967.^[17] In 1962, nine teams from New York and New Jersey played in the league as a winter conditioner for soccer.^[18] In 1963, 20 teams with 200 players competed in handball.^[19]

Middle school

San Francisco Bay Area

The Youth Team Handball Middle School League and Youth California Cup organized by San Francisco CalHeat THC are the only competitions accommodating middle school in the USA.

Year	Boys		Girls
Year	League	Cup	League	Cup
2017	Stanbridge^[20]	Lycée Français^[21]	No league or Cup for the Girls
2018	Bret Harte^[22]	Bret Harte^[23]
2019	Bret Harte	Castillero
2020	No championships due to Covid
2021	Bret Harte	Bret Harte	–	Bret Harte
2022	Bret Harte		Bret Harte	Bret Harte

Current members of the Youth Team Handball Middle School League:

Past members of the Youth Team Handball Middle School League:

Lycée Français de San Francisco
San Francisco CalHeat THC

High school

San Francisco Bay Area

The Youth Team Handball High School League and Youth California Cup organized by San Francisco CalHeat THC are the high school competitions in the SF Bay Area.

Year	League	Cup
2016	Sterne^[24]	Sterne^[25]
2017	Sterne^[20]	Sterne^[21]
2018	Lycée Français^[26]	Lycée Français ¹
2019	Leland	Leland
2020	No championship due to Covid
2021	Cali Kings Handball	Cali Kings Handball
2022	Pioneer

¹ Youth Cup was cancelled due to bad air quality because of the Camp Fire (2018). Lycée Français got the title because of their regular season record.^[23]

Current members of the Youth Team Handball High School League:

Past members of the Youth Team Handball High School League:

Bayhill High School
Leland High School
Compass High School
Lycée Français de San Francisco

Montgomery County, Maryland

The MCPS Athletics offers team handball as corollary sports.^[27]

Season	County^[28]	Division^[29]
2012-13	none	Clarksburg (West) Blair (East)
2013-14	Margruder	Magrunder (West) Blair (South)
2014-15	Blair	Wootton (South) Sherwood (East)
2015-16	Wootton	Sherwood (D-1) Wootton (D-2)
2016-17	Blair	Sherwood (D-1) Blair (D-2)
2017-18	Wootton	Sherwood (D-1) Wootton (D-2)
2018-19^[30]	Walt Whitman	Sherwood (D-1) Blair (D-2)
2019-20^[31]	Blair	Clarksburg (D-1) Sherwood (D-2)
2020–21	No championship due to Covid
2021-22^[32]	Walt Whitman	Walt Whitman (D-1)
2022–23	Wootton	Single Division

Current members of the MCPS handball:

Former members of the MCPS handball:

References

^ "How USA Team Handball Plans to Break Through – SportsTravel". 19 February 2020.
^ "Why isn’t handball popular in the US?", Boston Globe, Shira Springer, August 16, 2016.
^ Springer, Shira (August 16, 2016). "Why isn't handball popular in the US? – The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Professional handball League in USA with 10 teams to start in 2023? | Handball Planet". 28 January 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Verizon steps into Rings, sponsors Team Handball". Sports Business Journal. January 20, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
^ Lefton, Terry (January 22, 2020). "Verizon steps into the Olympic rings, sponsors Team Handball". New York Business Journal. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
^ "Team Handball: Why the U.S. Stinks", Wall Street Journal, Barry Newman, August 22, 2008.
^ http://usateamhandball.org/content/index/6497^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "2009 Men's Collegiate National Championship | Events | USA Team Handball". Archived from the original on 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
^ "Yes, folks, yet another pro sport".
^ "Sports on television, Detroit Free Press".
^ "NATIONAL TEAMBALL LEAGUE, INC".
^ Lefton, Terry (22 January 2020). "Verizon steps into the Olympic rings, sponsors Team Handball". New York Business Journal. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Zwölf Jahre Cake Baker's Sport Club" [Twelve years Cake Baker's Sport Club]. 15. Stiftungsfest Deutsch-Amerikanischer Athletik-Verband von Nordamerika Festschrift [15. anniversary celebration German American Athletic Union of North America commemorative] (in German). German American Athletic Union. 1941. p. 109.
^ "Vom Handball" [From handball]. Zehnjähriges Jubiläum 1925 - 1935 [Tenth anniversary 1925 - 1935] (in German). New York City: Deutsch-Amerikanischer Athletik-Verband von Nord-Amerika. 1935. OCLC 1070710652.
^ Seized Records of the German American Athletic Union, ca. 1942 - 1950. Record Group 131: Records of the Office of Alien Property, 1878 - 1966. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
^ "Team Handball Tourney Slated At Summit Gym". The Chatham Press. 9 November 1967. p. 8. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
^ "German Team to Play Rugged Sport of European Handball Here". New York Times: 37. 2 April 1962. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021. Played only sporadically here by foreign-born members of sports club as a winter conditioner for soccer, European handball has grown into a nine-team league in New York and New Jersey.
^ Feldhandball-Weltmeisterschaft (Program for the Field WC 1963) (in German). 1963. p. 29.
^ ^a ^b "Youth Team Handball League-2017". San Francisco CalHeat THC. 20 September 2017. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
^ ^a ^b "Youth California Cup 2017". San Francisco CalHeat THC. 19 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
^ "Youth Team Handball Middle School League". San Francisco CalHeat THC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
^ ^a ^b "Youth California Cup 2018". San Francisco CalHeat THC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
^ "Youth Team Handball League 2016". San Francisco CalHeat THC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
^ "Youth California Cup 2016". San Francisco CalHeat THC. 5 November 2016. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
^ "Youth Team Handball High School League". San Francisco CalHeat THC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
^ "Corollary Sports". Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland). Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
^ "Team Handball County Champions". Google Docs. Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
^ "Team Handball Division Champions". Google Docs. Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
^ @MCPSAthletics (November 7, 2018). "Congratulations to @WWHSAthletics Team Handball 2018 County Champions! #WeRAISE" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12 – via Twitter.
^ @MCPSAthletics (November 6, 2019). "Congratulations to @BlairAthletics for winning the 2019 @MCPS Team Handball Championship! Great season for @WarriorResults, who finish season as division champions! Congratulations to both teams on a well-played, exciting game! #WeRAISE" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2020-06-29 – via Twitter.
^ @MCPSAthletics (November 2, 2021). "Congratulations @WWHSAthletics 2021 Team Handball County Champions! #WeRAISE @mcpsAD" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2019-06-12 – via Twitter.

[urlHow_USA_Team_Handball_Plans_to_Break_Through_–_SportsTravel-1] "How USA Team Handball Plans to Break Through – SportsTravel". 19 February 2020.

[2] "Why isn’t handball popular in the US?", Boston Globe, Shira Springer, August 16, 2016.

[3] Springer, Shira (August 16, 2016). "Why isn't handball popular in the US? – The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 27, 2021.

[urlProfessional_handball_League_in_USA_with_10_teams_to_start_in_2023?_|_Handball_Planet-4] "Professional handball League in USA with 10 teams to start in 2023? | Handball Planet". 28 January 2020.

[urlVerizon_steps_into_Rings,_sponsors_Team_Handball-5] "Verizon steps into Rings, sponsors Team Handball". Sports Business Journal. January 20, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2023.

[6] Lefton, Terry (January 22, 2020). "Verizon steps into the Olympic rings, sponsors Team Handball". New York Business Journal. Retrieved January 23, 2020.

[7] "Team Handball: Why the U.S. Stinks", Wall Street Journal, Barry Newman, August 22, 2008.

[8] ttp://usateamhandball.org/content/index/6497^{[permanent dead link]}

[9] "2009 Men's Collegiate National Championship | Events | USA Team Handball". Archived from the original on 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2009-08-29.

[10] "Yes, folks, yet another pro sport".

[11] "Sports on television, Detroit Free Press".

[12] "NATIONAL TEAMBALL LEAGUE, INC".

[13] Lefton, Terry (22 January 2020). "Verizon steps into the Olympic rings, sponsors Team Handball". New York Business Journal. Retrieved 23 January 2020.

[Festschrift-14] "Zwölf Jahre Cake Baker's Sport Club" [Twelve years Cake Baker's Sport Club]. 15. Stiftungsfest Deutsch-Amerikanischer Athletik-Verband von Nordamerika Festschrift [15. anniversary celebration German American Athletic Union of North America commemorative] (in German). German American Athletic Union. 1941. p. 109.

[15] "Vom Handball" [From handball]. Zehnjähriges Jubiläum 1925 - 1935 [Tenth anniversary 1925 - 1935] (in German). New York City: Deutsch-Amerikanischer Athletik-Verband von Nord-Amerika. 1935. OCLC 1070710652.

[16] Seized Records of the German American Athletic Union, ca. 1942 - 1950. Record Group 131: Records of the Office of Alien Property, 1878 - 1966. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)

[CP_1967-11-09-17] "Team Handball Tourney Slated At Summit Gym". The Chatham Press. 9 November 1967. p. 8. Retrieved 5 January 2021.

[18] "German Team to Play Rugged Sport of European Handball Here". New York Times: 37. 2 April 1962. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021. Played only sporadically here by foreign-born members of sports club as a winter conditioner for soccer, European handball has grown into a nine-team league in New York and New Jersey.

[19] Feldhandball-Weltmeisterschaft (Program for the Field WC 1963) (in German). 1963. p. 29.

[YTHL-2017-20] "Youth Team Handball League-2017". San Francisco CalHeat THC. 20 September 2017. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

[YCC-2017-21] "Youth California Cup 2017". San Francisco CalHeat THC. 19 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

[22] "Youth Team Handball Middle School League". San Francisco CalHeat THC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

[YCC-2018-23] "Youth California Cup 2018". San Francisco CalHeat THC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

[24] "Youth Team Handball League 2016". San Francisco CalHeat THC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2016-06-12.

[25] "Youth California Cup 2016". San Francisco CalHeat THC. 5 November 2016. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

[26] "Youth Team Handball High School League". San Francisco CalHeat THC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

[27] "Corollary Sports". Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland). Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

[28] "Team Handball County Champions". Google Docs. Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2021.

[29] "Team Handball Division Champions". Google Docs. Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2021.

[30] @MCPSAthletics (November 7, 2018). "Congratulations to @WWHSAthletics Team Handball 2018 County Champions! #WeRAISE" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12 – via Twitter.

[31] @MCPSAthletics (November 6, 2019). "Congratulations to @BlairAthletics for winning the 2019 @MCPS Team Handball Championship! Great season for @WarriorResults, who finish season as division champions! Congratulations to both teams on a well-played, exciting game! #WeRAISE" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2020-06-29 – via Twitter.

[32] @MCPSAthletics (November 2, 2021). "Congratulations @WWHSAthletics 2021 Team Handball County Champions! #WeRAISE @mcpsAD" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2019-06-12 – via Twitter.

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Handball in the United States

History

Professional leagues

Middle school

San Francisco Bay Area

High school

San Francisco Bay Area

Montgomery County, Maryland

See also

References

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