Conference 7.286::sports_91

TEAM HANDBALL --> THE GAME

Well, I will try to explain what this game is all about. First of all
you'll have to excuse my poor english. Second, I don't really know how
to translate certain expressions, but like Mick Jagger says "I'll try".
I started to play Handball when I was 10 years old. Today I got a ruined 
back and my doctor told be to stop it. But I still love it. By now I'm 
in charge of the technical comission of a Swiss national ligue team. We 
have quite a good team (ranked 3) in the current championship. Handball 
isn't a full professional Sport in switzerland. Each team has one or two 
star-players which are payed a fair amount of money (up to 100k$). The 
other teammembers get somthing between 1k$ to 20k$.
Handball is an European sport. The south koreans are the only noneuropean 
team that can play along with the best teams. They got the silver medal at
the olympic games in south korea. The russians are the best team, but they 
lost the world championship to the swedish team. It was a huge surprise.
My ranking of the teams is: 1. russia
			    2. Jugoslavia
			    3. Sweden (world champion)
The swiss team can beat any other team and is ranked as #8-10.

The game:

There are seven players on the field for each team. 6 in the field and the
goalkeeper. The players can be exchanged during the game. Handball is a 
combination between basketball and soccer (and a litle bit of footall).
The ball is played with the hands. You can dribble. When you run with the 
ball you have to dip it after 3 steps. The goalkeeper is the only one that can
use his feet to stop the ball.
The field is 40 meters long and 20 meters wide. In front of each goal there are 
2 half circle lines. One with a radius of 6 meters (goalspaceline) and one with 
a radius of 9 meters (freethrowline). There is a penalty-line 7 meters away 
from the goal. Fieldplayers are not allowed to step inside the goalspaceline.
if they do on offense it is a foul and the ball goes to the defensiv team. If a
defensiv player steps inside to stop an offensiv player, the offense gets a 
penalty throw.
The goal is 3 meters wide and 2.08 meters high.
In order to make a goal the player must throw the ball into the goal.
The basic tactic is that the defense stands along the goalspaceline (making 
a "wall").The offense has usually 3 backfielders (Tall guys with a strong shot)
that stand in a line at about 12 meters from the goal, one guy in the center of
the defense, and one guy on each of the wings. The ball is played in front of 
the defense and the players run some kind of crossing patterns in order to get 
a player in a shooting position.
Now you can try to shoot over the defense by jumping up, or you can fake 
a defensiv player (they usually don't really apreciate that and if your 
not very fast it hurts).
You are allowed to block a defensif or offensiv guy with your body. Your not
allowed to hold him (but as long as the referes don't see it you can try).
Since both teams are playing in front of one goal, the defense can run counter-
attacks when offense looses the ball. Your not allowed to step into the 
goalspace, but you can jump before you overstep the line. This means that 
players end up a couple feet away from the goalkeeper before they take a shot.
(I was allways glad that I was no goalkeeper). 
I forgot to tell you about the ball : It is a leather ball a litle bit 
smaller then a volleyball. It weighs 450 gramms (a pound). When it hits your
face or your b?lls it hurts like hell.
Good backs can shoot the ball from about 10-12 meters away, and the goalkeeper
has not much of a chance to stop it.
Games last 60 minutes. The clock is only stopped if the referee decides it.
There are 2 referees. One interesting rule is that the referee can take the ball
away from offense if he feels that they don't attack enough. There is no time
limit for such a call.

It is very much a contact game. It is very fast and there are many goals. I just
love it. The US had a national team for the L.A. olympics. I don't know if it
is still played over there.

If you have any questions i'd be glad to answer.

		Hugo who?

That sounds like it might be fun to see. I'd never even heard of it. If
anyone hear about any televised games (like on ESPN or PSN) how about
posting it in here?

Mike JN

When I was out here I went and saw a team handball game at the Goodwill games.
The action was fast and furious but it kind of got boring. Since the goalies 
had almost no chance of making the save the game seamed too easy.

I watched the russians vs. the Yugoslavs...

The russians had the one guy about 7 feet tall who was a lefty that my wife
and I have nicknamed the designated Geek by the end of the night.

Whenever the russians were on offense this guy got the ball fed to him outside
the circle, then he'd jump about 10 feet into the air and hold the ball until 
the goalie made a move then he'd throw it at about 100 mph into the area the
goalie had vacated. The score was 29 -  26 or so and I think he scored 25 of
the russian goals. After he scored he'd go to the bench and sit down and they'd
substitue another player for defense.

The best guys were the long leapers from the corner who'd get a feed and leap 
into the key and somehow manage to deek the goalie and put the ball into the 
cage from almost no angle.

It's probably fun to play but it isn't that great to watch because it appears
so easy to score...


Metz
 

    Well, you see it partly right. In order to enjoy a handball game, you
    have to know a few things about the game. You should have played it.
    It's a bit like baseball. Many europeans can't understand what this
    game is all about, but once you understand it it's fun. 
    About the goalkeeper having no chance: If a player has the possibilty
    to shoot without being disturbed too much, then 90% of the shots are
    in. But this doesn't happen all the time and a good goalkeeper can
    decide games. I was in practize last night with the old men (our old
    star team) and there was this goalkeeper that played in the first team
    a few years back. It was a hell of a problem to get that ball passed
    him. If anybody ever comes to switzerland, then he/she should come by,
    and I'll take them to a real game and help them understand. It's a fast
    and hard game, but real fun.
    
    		Hugo who?

    I first saw team handball when the Olympics were here in Southern
    California and I was fascinated by it.  I've always been surprised that
    it never caught on in the U.S. and become popular.  It definitely looks
    fun to play and I think Americans would be good at it.
    
    Doug

    Well there are a few problems with Handball:
    - It is technically quite difficult to play. You have to be able to
    catch a ball and to throw it. This means that kids can't just play it
    like kicking a ball. The youngest kids we have in the club are around
    8-10 years old. If you don't start at this age, it is very difficult to
    become a good player. When you think of how many throws at a basket you
    take before you can play basketball.
    - To play handball you need a tactic. It takes a couple of years for a
    team before they really have a game going.
    - Handball needs it's own infrastructure (field, goals, marks on the
    field). Before all schools have Handballfields you will never have good
    teams. In northern europe we have Handballfields (Indoor and outdoor)
    in just any school and gym.
    
    I think that the americans would enjoy the game. If you would mix a
    team out of basketball and footballplayers and a yougoslavian coach... 
    what a team this would make....
    make. 
    
    Btw : our team lost last saturday 24-28. It was no big surprise since our
    keyplayer (he has a selection in the world all-star-team) ripped the
    ligaments in his right foot two weeks ago). The team tried very hard. 
    We're #4 now.
    
    Hugo who?  

�    - It is technically quite difficult to play. You have to be able to
�    catch a ball and to throw it. This means that kids can't just play it
�    like kicking a ball. The youngest kids we have in the club are around


Hugo, if there's one thing kids in the US are good at, it's catching
and throwing games.  From baseball to football to basketball, it all
involves that.

That I think is one reason why we suck at soccer.....

If the kids got started at an early age in school (I agree about the
early age) I'd bet we'd be good at it....

'Saw

    The reason why "we suck at soccer" is because it is not an "American"
    sport. Kids don't see the top players in the world on TV the way a
    young basketball fan can see Michael Jordan. With no one to emulate,
    kids won't even know the goal they're striving for. 
    
    I agree, a lot of aspects of handball seem like it would be well siuted
    to catch on in America. I've seen it on TV a few times and it looks
    like an exciting game.
    
    Tom

    
    re: 109.7
    
    Saw are you talking about NC State throwing games. :-)  Let's be
    very careful with our wording of notes in this conference.
    
    \pjb