by Matt Hiber, MSHA President

The University of Minnesota was the team champion in the 1962 Intercollegiate Handball Championships. Minnesota has produced other handball champions over the decades: Terry Muck, Bill Yambrick, Gary Rohrer, Paul Schulz, Dan O’Connor, Tim Labey and Anna Christoff, among others. There were scores of other players that played at a very high level. In addition to the high level players, even more people played and loved handball for the competition, camaraderie, challenge, and overall exercise benefit of the sport. This was a time when handball was embedded in the athletic culture in the state of Minnesota. I have observed over the last two decades that these individuals have grown older with very few individuals taking their place.

I believe there are two main reasons for the decline of handball in the last two decades. The first is the USHA and state associations around the country have not been as active as they could have been promoting handball in YMCAs and on college campuses during this time period. Certainly the USHA has sponsored national collegiate tournaments and national YMCA tournaments over the years, but these events were held for competitors that were, for the most part, already involved in the sport of handball. The YMCA Championships no longer exist because of lack of participation.

Even though we have increasing numbers at the collegiate level, I believe we are in a very fragile state in collegiate handball. If we look at the programs that have had a strong history (Lake Forest College, Texas, Texas A&M, Southwest Missouri State), we see that one individual has devoted years (even decades!) to that program. What will happen to these programs when that person decides to retire? At Memphis, after having a program for almost twenty years, it vanished when Charlie Mazzone decided that it was his time after eight consecutive men’s championships and about 15 years of service. Honestly, how much can one man take?

The fact that the USHA has not been as active as they could have been in the YMCAs and on the college campuses during the last 20 years is not really their fault. They didn’t need to be active in promoting handball in YMCAs and on college campuses. Handball was always a part of the programming curriculum of YMCAs, and several handball classes were taught on a daily basis by tenured faculty members on college campuses throughout the country. I cannot speak on behalf of the YMCAs and their decision to discontinue the promotion of handball, but I can say something on behalf of handball in campus recreational programs. Approximately 25 years ago, there was a split between campus recreation departments and kinesiology departments on college campuses. When tenured professors taught handball classes on the courts prior to the split of the departments, thousands of students were exposed to handball every year in an academic setting in physical education classes. Fewer and fewer handball classes arebeing taught because handball courts have been under the recreational sports departments for the last 20 - 25 years. As a result, very few students were exposed to handball in comparison to previous years. For example, the University of Minnesota (45,000 students) only offers one handball class (maybe 20 students) in the fall semester and one handball class in the spring semester. Empty courts are considered to be wasted space by campus recreation directors. This space is then used for other activities because there is "no interest" for court sports (handball in our case). For anyone to be interested in any sport, they must be exposed to it and taught the fundamentals of the game.

Of course, I would like to see participation in handball grow. I do believe that promoting handball on collegiate campuses is important. However, if we focus only on collegiate campuses, we are missing a large population of potential handball players. By the time an individual reaches college, there are many distractions (or should I say many responsibilities) outside of learning the sport of handball. The positive characteristics often found in handball players (diligence, perfectionism, intelligence, and determination) are the very characteristics that may keep these individuals from pursuing handball while in college. These are the college students who have the determination to achieve high academic standing and this takes a significant amount of time.

I have been able to recruit several players from handball classes that I teach in the physical education program, and they all have told me the same thing. If it wasn’t for the class, they would not have continued playing handball even if they were introduced to the game because they would not have made the time for handball. Without the handball class that I teach, I would have great difficulty in recruiting new players.

After college, many new graduates dive into their professions working many hours trying to prove their worth to their employers and to themselves. Essentially, if handball has been in their lives for only a short period of time (during college), a deep connection may not really have been made. Most collegiate coaches could name at least five players that were recently involved in handball in their program who no longer play at all.

Exposing handball to youths (12-15 years old) is critical in creating a sport that is vibrant. Students of this age are impressionable and have the luxury of time at their fingertips. Additionally, if an individual stays with the sport, they will have the possibility of being a developed player five or six years down the road and still be in their teenage years. They can look at the "twenty-something" players and have a goal in mind. Players that don’t begin until they are in their college years may have a more difficult time setting goals for themselves because they may feel that they "started too late."

In the mid-1980’s when I began playing handball at age 15, it was exciting to know that there were players not that much older than me who were playing high-caliber handball. Each and every one of these players was a role model for me. In the last 15 years, however, fewer youth players have developed in the state of Minnesota. We are now in a situation that makes handball very difficult to promote. We are trying to sell handball as a sport that is for younger people and not just older people.

If a youngster has a few years of playing before college and has an opportunity to continue playing (not begin playing) throughout college, you most likely have a lifetime handball player. This individual is now a part of a group that the 12-15 year-olds look up to and admire. Today, the chain has been broken, and there are very few (if any) players in their mid-twenties that can serve as role models or goals for the youth in our sport. There is a significant amount of work ahead to re-create this chain.

We are at a critical time for our sport. There are already new athletic facilities (YMCAs, rec centers, community centers) being built without handball courts. If this trend continues into the next generation, there will be no courts left. There will be no more handball promotion. The fight will be over. We will be truly dead.