US Team Handball Women's National Team

Saturday October 23rd at 7pm, the USA Team Handball Women’s National Team (USATH-WNT) will play a historic game against the United States Military Academy (West-Point) at SUNY Cortland in the Lusk Field House. It will be the first official tournament of the newly created Northeast Team Handball Conference (NETHC) and also the first official game of the USA team since they began their new residency program at SUNY Cortland. Six games will be contested during October 23-24 weekend.

The Northeast Team Handball Conference is comprised of 5 women’s teams: USA, West-Point 1, West-Point 2, Champlain (Canada) and CNYTHC (Central New York Team Handball Club).

The timing for the NETHC tournament to be held at Cortland is perfect, because it occurs at the same time as GIRLS DAY OUT. Christian Latulippe, the head coach of the Women’s National Team has confirmed that, during that day, players from the USATH-WNT will conduct introductory skill sessions and discuss their career path with the young girls and women from the greater Cortland region. The official opening ceremony of the NETHC will be held at 7pm before the West-Point 1 – USA game.

The following weeks (October 30 and November 6-7), the USATH-WNT will be back in action at Lusk Field House to play their first four games in the Quebec League, against the last year finalist LAVAL, Quebec League champion CHAMPLAIN and Montréal.

The Circuit Québécois or, if you prefer, the Quebec League, is the oldest team handball league in North America. It has existed since 1986 and has coordinated the handball activities of over 45 teams located mainly in the Quebec Province into three different categories (Senior, Junior and Juvenile) for men and women. The regular season goes from October to March with playoffs being held in April. This is the second time that the USA national team will participate in this league as a regular competitive member. In 2002-2003, the USA Team finished 4th in the league and was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

“This league will give the players of the National Team an opportunity to play several highly competitive and challenging games and help to increase their experience”, stated Coach Latulippe. Moreover, since most of the teams in the Quebec League have played against each other for many years, all the members of the league seem pretty open and exited about the idea of the USA-WNT returning to action in the Quebec League. In Senior Women, the Québec League will have 8 teams: Montréal (Celtic), Québec (Chaudière-Appalâche), Drummondville, Granby, Sherbrooke, Laval (Spectrum), Laprairie (Champlain, located on the south shore of Montréal) and USA.

The schedule for the season 2004-2005 will be 21 games. Therefore, the National Team will play 3 games against each team. The 21 league season games will determine the Quebec League Champion of the regular season. After that, the top 4 teams will participate in a playoff to determine the Champion of the Circuit Québécois. The format seeds the Champion against the fourth seed, while the second and third seeds square off in a single elimination match to determine the final and eventual Champion.

This year, few teams are real contenders for the Quebec League Championship. At the beginning of the season, Laprairie (Champlain) remains the favorite team to win the Championship having won the playoffs last year. Pressing them will be the team from Laval who will try to beat Laprairie after losing in last year`s semi-final. The young teams from Granby, Québec, Montreal and Drummondville could also potentially move up into the top 4 after being in the second group this past season. The USA National Team is expected to constantly improve as the season goes on. If the inexperience of the players doesn’t cost too many games at the beginning of the season, the National Team should be contenders for a playoff spot and maybe better….

The USATH and the USA-WNT would like to invite you all to come and watch the excitement of this Olympic team sport which can be described as lacrosse without a stick, water polo on the ground, or soccer with your hands. The Olympic sport of Team Handball is a fast-paced game that combines elements of basketball, lacrosse, soccer and water polo, and is played on a court slightly larger than a basketball court with goals at each end. Two teams, each with six court players and a goalie, try to score by throwing the ball into the goal. A match consists of two 30-minute halves with a 10-minute halftime. Played in more than 150 countries, it is one of the most developed and popular team sports for men and women in Europe. Come cheer for us.