Team Handball Clinic Held at George Washington University

On September 15th, the George Washington University Campus Recreation department, in conjuction with USA Team Hanbdall, organized a team handball workshop for students at the school located in the nation's capital, Washington D.C. The clinic was a great opportunity for students to get introduced to the world of handball and learn about the rules as well as play the actual sport, under the instructions of coaches and players from the DC Diplomats Team Handball Club.

Senior Recreational Sports Coordinator Giovonni Brooks saw the event as a great success. With more than 25 students participating, Brooks appreciated working with the DC players and learning Handball tricks and tips. He mentioned that there is already “interest from students on bringing another Handball clinic back to campus.”

Multiple students shared their experiences of the clinic and talked about what they took away from the workshop. Sebastian Zambrano, one of the students who participated, talked about how he learned the importance of teamwork in the sport of Handball. “Passing the ball rather than dribbling” seemed to be one of the main takeaways. Besides that, he was happy to participate in an actual handball practice environment where he and his friends could challenge each other.

Other students like Julie Castle were able to transfer things that they learned in other sports like field hockey, which is also known as a high-paced game. Even if most of the students had never played handball before they were able to follow the rules after a couple of instructions from the coaches. For Ramin Hanash Jr, the clinic was a full success and it “won’t be [his] last time playing handball”. He showed up without any previous knowledge about handball, but the clinic taught him enough about the sport to come back for more.

Matthew Collins, Collegiate Development Coordinator for USA Team Handball, talked about how the “Campus Recreation Department and USA Team Handball connected at the NIRSA conference earlier in the year” which made the whole event possible. USA Team Handball “hopes that this clinic will be a catalyst for an intramural league and team handball club to form and flourish” at the university. “USATH will continue to work with George Washington to assist in making that become a reality moving forward”, said Collins. Looking to the future, the clinic is supposed to serve as a foundation for other possible clinics. With a sport like Handball, “it is important to have visibility in front of students and putting on these events” to grow the sport at the collegiate level.