US Team Handball Women's National Team

After more than a decade, and over 100 international matches, Dawn Allinger Lewis is announcing her official retirement as a player for the USA Team Handball Women’s National Team (WNT). “Handball has been a life changing experience,” explains Lewis. “I’ve traveled all over the world, became familiar with other cultures, met amazing people because of sport. Being apart of this team, I’ve made a lot of memories that will stay with me forever. That’s what I’m really going to miss, creating memories.”

Like so many athletes who find their way to the WNT from other sports, Lewis started out her athletic career as a star basketball player for Washington State University. In her four years at WSU, she was named three-time Defensive Most Valuable Player (1989-1991) and was selected three times to the Pac-10 All-Academic Team. In 1991, during her senior year at WSU, she led her team to the NCAA Tournament as Team Captain.

With a successful collegiate basketball career behind her, Lewis set off to pursue her love of sports as an assistant coach for Montana State University. Although she had always planned on pursuing a career in Division I basketball, the year she began her coaching career, Lewis encountered team handball for the first time. “It was a coincidence that I found the sport,” explains Lewis. “I was in Colorado Springs doing an internship for the US Olympic Committee at the Olympic Training Center to complete my degree, and it just so happened that the WNT was there training. I’d walk past them in the gym and see them playing. At some point my curiosity got to me and I started inquiring about the sport.” Eventually Lewis began to play with the WNT, going to a few tournaments, and playing in games when she had the opportunity. “I dabbled a bit, but at the time I had coaching obligations at Montana State.” So Lewis put handball on the back burner while she pursued a career in coaching and administration.

In 1993, while working on her Master’s Degree in Athletic Administration, Lewis was offered the opportunity to coach basketball at Oregon State. At the same time, Lewis was extended an invitation to join the WNT full-time training program at Lake Placid, New York. “I came to a crossroads. I always thought I wanted to coach, but then this incredible opportunity with handball presented itself, and in the end, I had to take it. I didn’t want to look back and say I wish I'd given handball a shot.” And with that, Lewis began her twelve-year career with the USATH, changing the course of her life, and the WNT, immeasurably.

From 1993 through 1995, Lewis trained with the WNT at Lake Placid, traveling overseas to compete in games and tournaments in preparation for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time, the WNT had a reputation for consistently out-performing every team at the Pan-American level. Lewis, and the WNT, did not disappoint. The team dominated at the 1993 and 1995 Pan-American Championships, qualifying them for competition in both the 1993 and 1995 World Championships. In 1995, the WNT took gold at the Pan-American Games, qualifying for Atlanta and ready to begin an intense year of training leading up to 1996 Olympic Games.

Throughout her years on the court, Dawn Allinger Lewis has been consistently recognized for her extraordinary talent and leadership. “She’s one of those standout players who brings intelligence, dedication, and leadership to everything she does,” says Mike Cavanaugh, Executive Director of the USA Team Handball Federation. “She talks the talk, and walks the walk. She’s got this drive- a desire to compete and win- that she never lets go of. She’s a player you want on the court at crunch time, she’s calm and collected, but she’s always got that ‘eye of the tiger’ mentality.”

After three years of intense training, and with the hype of the 1996 Olympics Games over, Lewis decided to pursue her handball career as a professional player in Norway. “Playing in Norway was one of the highlights of my time as a handball player,” reflects Lewis. “It allowed me to learn from and play against some of the best players in the world, competing at the highest level every weekend. Norwegians work hard and play hard, and just love life. It was a great handball experience, a great life experience.” After two years, Lewis returned to the US to begin her career in Sports Administration as a Youth Sports Program Coordinator for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Although the USATH Federation had begun to focus its efforts on growing team handball at the grassroots level, and the WNT stopped its full-time residency training, Lewis continued to represent the WNT during international events. In 1999 and 2003, Lewis again participated in the Pan-American Games. In 2005, during the Pan-American Championships in Sao Bernardo, Brazil, Lewis played her 100th international match against Argentina, finishing the tournament- and her career- with a record 101 international matches. “When I look back on my time with the WNT, I think about what it means to be part of a team. To meet everyday with a group of people to accomplish a goal, to push each other, to learn from one another, to have great experiences, to make memories. Good ones and bad ones, you learn from them and you grow from them- life is a journey, and every little piece is a part of that adventure.”

While her career as a WNT player has come to an end, her commitment to the team, and USA Team Handball Federation has not. Lewis, who has served on the USATH Board of Directors since 1996 (Vice President of the WNT from 2000-2004), is deeply dedicated to the success and development of team handball, and the WNT. “Handball has provided me with opportunities and experiences I wouldn’t have had, and I am thankful for those,” explains Lewis. “I want other people to have those chances too. If I don’t give back, I’m not doing my part. It’s my goal to impact a player, a coach, or the program as a whole, and to help make handball successful in the United States. Whether that means winning medals, seeing hundreds of thousands of kids playing in high school, hosting the Women’s World Championships- whatever it might be. We have grand ideas because we all believe that there is something special about this sport.”

At the same time, Lewis makes a plea to former players: “To me, the most disappointing aspect is that so many players who have been a part of handball have not given back to handball. There is no question they have worked extremely hard and made sacrifices for the sport, but when many of them are done with their career, they fall off the face of the earth. They don’t follow handball, they don’t continue with it in any way. I’m asking them- please, give something back to handball, because it gave you something great too. Come back at some point- come back in some way- if you can’t give your time, make a contribution, just continue to be involved. Handball still needs you to be successful.”

Although her retirement as a WNT player is official, Lewis doesn’t see this as the end of her career in handball. In September 2005, Lewis will head to Germany for several months to study the German language, while simultaneously playing for a high-level Division II team. “I guess I’m not completely ready to hang-up my handball shoes,” jokes Lewis. She will also continue to serve on the USATH Board of Directors, and her dedication to the WNT will live on through her work on the Board and her mentorship to current WNT athletes. “On a personal level I’m sad, in that I don’t get to play with her any more,” says WNT Captain Tomuke “T” Ebuwei. “At the same time, I believe that this role will be just as rewarding for the WNT. We know that she will be the same person in the meetings fighting for our team that she was on the court. It is people like her who are going to make our program work. She’s a great example of what we all strive to be like, to be someone who makes a difference on the court, and who gives back afterwards.”

Looking back on her twelve years as a WNT player, and all of the great and challenging moments that were a part of that, Dawn Allinger Lewis offers a few words of wisdom to the current and future members of the WNT: “You get out of something what you put into it. You might be training harder than somebody else- or you might be making a bigger sacrifice- but you become a better and stronger person. The benefits of working hard will present themselves. And at the end of the day, you need to have fun with it. It doesn’t last forever, so embrace it, enjoy it- every day.”