{"id":7840,"date":"2020-05-06T10:34:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T17:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calheat.com\/wp\/?p=7840"},"modified":"2020-07-23T09:46:25","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T16:46:25","slug":"the-us-handball-season-before-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/the-us-handball-season-before-covid-19","title":{"rendered":"The US handball season before COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

February 23. The sun shines through the desert. Arizona prepares to welcome a hot summer. The Valley of the Sun tournament concludes. Our men’s team is packing and heading to the airport, on their way back to the Bay Area. 3 weeks later, our lives suddenly changed…<\/p>\n

In many ways, the 2019\/20 season was anything but business as usual. Beyond the impact of COVID-19, all teams put a lot of effort into their preparation. In the women’s competition, many teams were eager to battle on even grounds against the reigning champion, NYC THC. Never underestimate the heart of the champion, true! However, Boston showed all the teams in the country how to beat the best. A win, even though by one goal, in the Northeast League gave us all the excitement we needed to watch some epic games at US Nationals. In fact, unlike many years in the past, the level seemed to be quite homogeneous and on the high side. Chicago, Calheat, Alberta and Team Rogue were also ready to challenge teams from the East Coast. This year’s California Cup showed that the level between those teams was quite close, though Alberta came up to be too strong for all the other contenders. Our ladies were training hard, so as the other teams probably, and who knows what could have happened in Detroit…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of Detroit… Motown was chosen to host the 2020 US Nationals on May 8-10. After years spent in the humidity of Myrtle Beach, SC – in a hell of a facility though – it was time to move onto something bigger. The newly formed Detroit Team Handball Club, led by Joey Williams, put together an ambitious proposal to rejuvenate our sport in a city experiencing a slow rebirth. We were all looking forward to it: athletes, coaches, team leaders, organizers, officials, everyone. But the event got postponed to a later date. Some rumors<\/a> say it could be happening in the summer. If the conditions allow, that would be great. Nonetheless, Detroit will get its chance sooner or later, and US Nationals will surely be a celebration of our community.<\/p>\n

Back to the competition. The men’s division was eagerly awaiting a season finale. Our men’s team, together with NYC and NYAC, had all their eyes on the trophy. Interestingly, these three teams didn’t face each other this season though they all competed at the M. Lipov Memorial Cup in Chicago (Oct 2019). Calheat lost by one to Alberta in the semifinal, and NYC got defeated by the host, Chicago Inter, in the round robin. NYAC claimed the trophy and many thought it was their time again, 5 years after they conquered the national title in York, PA. Hard to say… Calheat and NYC became stronger as the season unfolded. The Gotham Boys won an eleventh-consecutive Northeast League. Calheat won the Texas Cup and CalCup. In the meantime, Army West Point Gold delivered the upset of the season, beating NYAC at the Blue Cup and preventing them from holding a tenth-consecutive trophy in North Carolina. The momentum seemed to be on the side of NYC and Calheat, though anything could have happened. Our team was preparing, not only for the US Nationals, but also to participate to the 2020 North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Championship, a.k.a. the Super Globe Qualifier, in Lake Placid on June 16-21. As the 2019 National Champion, we were meant to face New York City THC, Club de Handball Celtique de Montr\u00e9al, Handball Levis and some other undesignated teams from the continent. Unfortunately, the event got cancelled due to the pandemic, so as our dream to qualify and potentially attend the IHF Super Globe. It is still unclear, and possibly unlikely, this competition will happen. Only the future will tell.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next couple weeks will be crucial to see if and when we can resume our season. Some European teams resumed practice last week, under strict medical rules. Many of those ‘to be finished’ competitions will conclude without spectators. Probably a big advantage for USA Team Handball as we don’t drive much crowds anyway. But, at the end of the day, we all want to get back to the court, see our teammates, face our opponents, compete and play the sport we love. There will be a time for that, too. Be safe out there and see you on the court…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 23. The sun shines through the desert. Arizona prepares to welcome a hot summer. The Valley of the Sun tournament concludes. Our men’s team is packing and heading to the airport, on their way back to the Bay Area. 3 weeks later, our lives suddenly changed… In many ways, the 2019\/20 season was anything […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22,33,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-carrousel","category-tournament"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/82980652_10157120846009353_3601656078598668288_o.jpg?fit=1944%2C1296&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7INHg-22s","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8027,"url":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/denmark-wins-it-again-the-2021-ihf-world-championship-comes-to-an-end","url_meta":{"origin":7840,"position":0},"title":"Denmark wins it again! 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