With that in mind, let's start this blog off with a short video:
France vs Denmark - 2011 World Championships Final
Teams consist of seven players each (6 outfield and 1 goalkeeper). The players are allowed to handle, throw and bounce the ball but they must not touch the ball with their feet. Handball is played in an indoor hall on a 40x20 meter court with the objective of the game being to score more goals than your opponents in a 60 minute match (30min per half).
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| Hitler: A big Handball fan. |
Handball has origins in 19th century Northern Europe. A variation of the sport, Field Handball, was played at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin at the insistence of Adolf Hitler. It was removed from the list of sports but returned as Team Handball in 1972 for the Summer Olympics in Munich.
Unlike basketball, body contact is permitted, in-fact Handball is a faily physical sport! It is played at a very high speed, by players who are generally all 6ft+, weigh more than many international rugby players and have a serious level of fitness to constantly cover the court, in attack and defense.
With the rules and history lesson out of the way lets check out my challenge.
I have joined Dublin International Handball Club (DI), the best handball team in Ireland and a side currently in their preparation for the European Handball Federation Challenge Cup in Malta - the first Irish Handball team to progress to European competition (the Shamrock Rovers of handball if you will).
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| Rule 1: With my Dublin International HC teammates |
As the name suggests the club really does have an international feel to it, my teammates include guys from Poland, Croatia, Ukraine, Brazil, India…and one Irishman, Kari Andresson, who plays for the Irish international team.
Generally they are all big men, and when I look at are opponents, Astra HC, it looks like men against boys, they are a young team with some players new to the sport. They are bricking it to be fair.
Our coach is Boris Selak, who's also filling the goalkeeper position today as we're missing the regular net minder. Once we have warmed up with passing and shooting drills (I can already tell I'm out of my dept!) we get into our pre-match team talk ...the majority of which goes right over my head. There’s talk of 6-0 and 5-1 defense, of rotating the pivot player and of playing 2-2 ...it really doesn't mean much to me at this stage. All I can think is Pivot, Pivot, PIVOT.
It would have been a good idea to prepare a bit more thoroughly for this one, my challenges so far had been in individual pursuits and consisted of coaching sessions, here I was being thrown in at the deep end with teammates actually relying on me.
So my lack of knowledge, the fact I had overindulged heavily the night before, my fear of letting down my oversized teammates ....these things are all playing on my mind.
Once on the court I can see the guys’ line up in their positions, which can be best explained in the picture below:
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| Handball positions, attack and defense. |
You cannot step inside the six meter line at any time; all six of the defensive players will hang on the edge of the semi-circle looking to deny space and a line of sight for a shot. Attackers will look to create and exploit space to get their shots off. Goals are frequent in this game.
For me the most interesting position is Pivot. This is where the physical stuff happens – as an attacker you are a disruptive force, you manhandle the opposition to try make space for your teammates to attack in. As the defender marking the pivot attacker you are in return pushing and pulling him to prevent him receiving the ball or taking the space you are defending.
In the match I played mainly as a Winger in attack and as Outside Defender when the opposition had the ball. I also had a spell as Inside Defender, up against their Pivot player. I'm still not sure where the boundaries lie in terms of just how physical you can be - at a high level of competition I am sure these guys really get stuck into each other. The lad I was marking knew I was there anyway.
Our best player on the day was Kari, he scored several goals and had the ability to break for counter attacks at speed and finish goals with great precision. Kari may have got a lot of the goals but I am glad to say I got on the scoresheet myself. I was only on the court two minutes when my chance arrived - a quick break involving Tomas and Kari saw me pick up the ball 15 meters from the opposition goal, two steps and a hop later and I was one on one with the goalkeeper. I aimed high to the top left corner and the keeper couldn't keep it out. As the ball hit the back of the net I was ready for an over-the-top celebration but quickly realized I needed to get back and take up my defensive position. End to end stuff.
I had one more chance to get on the scoresheet, a second half penalty saw me called from the bench like some kind of special teams player in the NFL. It was a nice gesture and an opportunity I didn't want to miss. I stood on the 7meter line, just me versus the goalkeeper. Me safe in the knowledge I had beaten him once before, him safe in the knowledge I had no clue what I was doing!
As soon as the ball left my hand I knew it was bound for the back of the net, this time I aimed low and the keeper never got near it. As I reeled away in celebration my delight was cut short, a whistle blew and the ref indicated I had moved my front foot when shooting - a foul, meaning the goal was disallowed. I choked back my tears of disappointment.
At the final whistle we were comfortable winners and I was left to reflect on my first experience of Handball.
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| The final score: A comprehensive win for DI. |
This has been my most enjoyable challenge so far, the team aspect, the physicality, the pure joy of sweating - this is what real sport feels like to me. Also, it's been my most difficult - going into the game I didn’t really understand the rules of what is an acceptable tackle and what is deemed a foul - after the game I'm still not 100% sure.
I am sure I wouldn't like some of the guys from DI tackling me though! There are definitely people in Ireland playing basketball, football and rugby who have never given this sport a try, but if they did they would find themselves very good players and perhaps competing on an international stage. Handball is a very good sport, it's a shame it doesn't get a wider exposure and more participation. If you are physically fit, have good hand-eye coordination and are a strong team player then this could be the sport for you.
Best of luck to all the guys in DI were preparing to go into European competition in Malta. Massive thanks to Bojan Kambic for arranging for me to join the team and to all my teammates on the day. On a personal level it’s nice to think I have played with and scored for the best handball team in Ireland.
For more information on Dublin International Handball Club see: http://dublininternationalhc.info/content/, for the Irish governing body go to: http://www.olympichandball.org/
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