20/12 Spotlight - Handball
With a little over two years to go until the world’s biggest sporting event graces our shores, Sportworks takes a look at the sports that will be looking to make the most of home advantage and win gold for Team GB in 2012. The 20/12 Spotlight will give you 20 facts and 12 questions (2012 get it!?) on one of the 26 Olympic sports each month, starting this month with Handball.
20 Facts on Handball:
1. Handball is one of the most popular sports in the world. The 2008 Men’s European Handball Championship attracted a TV audience of more than 1.2 billion.
2. The final of the 2007 Men’s World Handball Championship was the seventh most-watched live sporting event that year with an average audience of 23 million – beating the final day of the US Open golf tournament and the men’s singles final at the Wimbledon Tennis Championship.
3. An Olympic discipline since 1972, handball was voted best sport at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
4. Handball was the first sport to sell out at both the Beijing and Athens Olympics Games in 2008 and 2004.
5. France are the reigning Olympic and World Men’s champions, while Russia are the Women’s World Champions and Norway the Women’s Olympic champions.
6. London 2012 will be the first time GB has been represented in an Olympic Games at handball. But GB women’s captain Lynn McCafferty was part of the GB squad which took part in the Youth Olympics in Bath in 1995, and the Commonwealth Championships in Bangladesh the same year.
7. The current GB teams began forming after London won the right to hold the 2012 games five years ago. British Handball took part in the Sporting Giants campaign in a bid to find tall athletes, and also staged separate Talent ID events which helped them find potential handball talent. More than 4,000 applied, but only 11 made it all the way into the team.
8. Each team has seven players, with one goalkeeper and six outfield players on a court 40 x 20 metres. Apart from the goalkeeper, nobody is allowed in the goal area, which is a six metre line from the goalposts. A player can jump over the area, but must shoot or pass the ball before touching the floor. A player cannot take more than three steps without bouncing the ball and cannot hold the ball for more than three seconds.
9. Handball is a contact sport. Unlike in basketball where players are allowed to commit only five fouls, handball players are allowed an unlimited number and it is considered good defence and disruptive to the attacking team's rhythm.
10. There are 166 countries which are part of the International Handball Federation, with an estimated 19 million people playing the sport in 795,000 teams.
11. The balls used in handball are different sizes. Men use a size three ball with a circumference of 58-60cm, whereas women use a size two at 54-56cm. Youth players use a size one or two ball, depending on their age. For comparison, a standard football is size five.
12. Players use a sticky resin (called tacky, or dip n grip) to make it easier to catch the ball, but also so they can perform trick shots, like spinning the ball around an opponent. However, some indoor venues ban the use of resin since some can leave sticky marks on the floor.
13. Six members of the GB Men’s handball squad played for German side TUSSEM Essen during the 2008/09 season, competing against Olympic and World champions in the German Bundesliga.
14. While at TUSSEM Essen, Sebastian Prieto, 23, became the first British player ever to score in the Bundesliga when he netted against TV Grosswallstadt on February 7 2009; two years earlier he worked in insurance in London.
15. Prieto went on to be the top-scorer of the Brits at TUSSEN Essen, scoring 15 times in 14 games, while GB team-mate Chris Mohr scored 14 in 12 games. Other GB players at the club included captain Ciaran Williams, Chris McDermott, Dan McMillan and Merlin Braithwaite.
16. Prieto now plays domestic handball in Hungary as his development into a world class athlete continues. Other members of the British teams play across the world in Norway, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Egypt and Britain.
17. Unlike many Olympic sports, you need little special equipment to play handball, which makes it a big hit among children. In many European countries is it second only to football, and you’re just as likely to see children throwing a handball on the streets as kicking a football.
18. Handball is one of the fastest growing sports in Britain at the moment. The England Handball and Scottish Handball Associations are working hard to promote the game in schools, universities and beyond and Handball Development Officers are being appointed to cope with the growing demand for the sport.
19. There are handball clubs across the country with new ones springing up all the time - to find out where your nearest team is go to www.englandhandball.com or www.scottishhandball.com.
20. London-based Great Dane are the reigning English League champions, and as a result played in the 2009 European Challenge Cup, as did runners-up Manchester and Olympia, who are also based in London. Ruislip Eagles are the current English Women’s League champions, while Gracemount are Scottish League champions.
12 questions with GB left wing, Mark Hawkins:
1. How did you get into handball?
A: I came through the ‘Sporting Giants’ Talent ID programme two years ago.
2. What characteristics do you need to be a good handball player?
A: It’s pretty much an all-round sport. Speed, power, strength and fitness are pretty good assets to have, the ability to throw a ball hard certainly helps and from what I’ve seen being tall and left-handed is pretty useful.
3. Do you admire anybody outside of your own sport?
A: Plenty of people, lots of other sportsmen, Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan amongst others.
4. Do you have any pre-match rituals or superstitions?
A: I listen to music, put on my kit in a certain order, but nothing special.
5. Tell us about your training schedule? What does it involve and how does it change, for example, before a match or tournament?
A: I live in Denmark and train seven times a week, normally have one match and will go to the gym three times a week as well.
6. What is the most memorable moment in your career to date?
A: My first International cap and goal were pretty special.
7. What do you want to achieve next in your sport? What are your goals?
A: Gain promotion with my club team and longer term is to compete in the Olympic Games in London 2012
8. Do you think handball has what it takes to be big in the UK in the future?
A: Yes, I think it could be a great indoor sport during the winter for a country that has cold winters and not many indoor sports. I think it is also something that the public would watch once they see it.
9. What are your targets at the Olympic Games?
A: Win as many games as possible and see how far we can go.
10. Do you listen to music when training?
A: Yes, all sorts, normally something quite lively.
11. What do you do in your spare time?
A: I’m often doing my university work at the moment, but I like playing poker and watching films, if I get some free time.
12. What is the funniest thing you’ve read/heard about yourself in the media?
A: “It's often said the British invent sports, spread them around the world, then get beaten by the rest of the world in short order. The British Men's handball team have taken a shortcut to the third stage.”
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