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-   -   Handball.... what IS that? (http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=336)

Dien Rice September 29, 2000 11:47 AM

Handball.... what IS that?
 
Hi Gordon,

Thanks for sharing that info.... I can't wait to hear more.... :)

> Give us an update on your Olympic
> experiences...

Okay.... Actually, I'm going to write it up in a nice story.... Here's a brief version.... :)

I went to the Olympics again today, and saw Handball....

"Handball, what's that?" I hear some of you say.

That's okay, I had no idea either.... :)

Handball, it turns out, is a kind of combination between basketball and soccer.... The players dribble and pass the ball like in basketball, but there are goals, and a goal-keeper, like in soccer. So it's sort of like soccer, but where you use your hands, and you're NOT allowed to use your feet!

It turned out to be quite an exciting game.... I saw two matches, the exciting one was Germany vs. Egypt. But....

What was MOST interesting was the crowd.... The antics some crowd-members got up to.... and what it all means....

I can't say much now, but I'll write more about it later.... Stay tuned.... :)

Dien

Rick Smith September 29, 2000 03:13 PM

Re: Handball.... what IS that?
 
Dien wrote -

> I went to the Olympics again today, and saw
> Handball....

> "Handball, what's that?" I hear
> some of you say.

> That's okay, I had no idea either.... :)

Team handball, as I've seen it called before, is a very fast game. My Scouts loved it when we introduced it to them. Team handball is *nothing* like regular handball which is played with a small, hard, rubber ball and where the players smack the ball against the walls. In this form, the players use their hands to strike the ball. The concept is similar to racketball.

I had no idea team handball had become an Olympic sport. Was it a medal sport?

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"

Michael Ross September 29, 2000 06:53 PM

Seven Blind Men
 
I've always though Handball, the one at the Olympics, to be like soccer, basketball and water-polo (water-polo without the water).

As for a "medal" sport. YES. It's been a medal sport probably for at least 20 years.

The first time I heard of it was a brief mention during a games years and years ago. It was during the medal count. I saw that someone had won a medal for Handball and couldn't believe the game we played at school was an Olympic event.

Of course, the game we played at school was not an Olympic event. Like you Rick, we used our hands and a tennis ball.

Although, what you described is probably what we would have called Wall Ball. Handball, as we played it, being similar to Table Tennis, though each hit like a Table Tennis Serve and played in the playground.

Michael Ross.

Dien Rice September 29, 2000 07:40 PM

Olympic Handball.... and more coming soon.... :)
 
Hi Rick!

> Team handball, as I've seen it called
> before, is a very fast game. My Scouts loved
> it when we introduced it to them. Team
> handball is *nothing* like regular handball
> which is played with a small, hard, rubber
> ball and where the players smack the ball
> against the walls. In this form, the players
> use their hands to strike the ball. The
> concept is similar to racketball.

Haha, yes, you and Michael have brought back memories.... I think I used to play the *other* form of handball (smacking a tennis ball against the wall) at school, informally. Though we called it "downball" -- I'm not precisely sure if it's the same game..... I was pretty good in our local group, but there was one other guy who kept beating me....! I guess that maybe I could have gotten the 8th grade silver medal. ;)

But yes, what I saw yesterday was what you call "team handball," and yes, it's a medal sport. I saw two games, France vs. Slovenia and Germany vs. Egypt, but these were playoffs for the 5th-8th positions..... But they were exciting nevertheless! Especially Germany vs. Egypt, because it was very close throughout the whole game and there were a LOT of both German supporters ("Deutscheland! Deutscheland!") and Egypt supporters too ("Egypt! Egypt!").... :)

I have to dash.... I'm seeing one more Olympic event today, then that'll be it for me.... Then I'll write down my current thoughts.... ESPECIALLY about the crowd, for me a lot of the fun when going to these kind of sports is seeing the crowd.... I think I'll also try to squeeze in there some of my impressions when I once went to a soccer match in Brazil.... (Do you like Brazilian drums? Then go to a Brazilian soccer match!)..... :)

Okay, gotta run.... Back soon with some more impressions of the Games.... :)

Cheers,

Dien

Julie Jordan Scott September 30, 2000 11:44 AM

Racquetball, California Style
 
Hey Sports-fans-hand-ball-of-many-types!

> Haha, yes, you and Michael have brought back
> memories.... I think I used to play the
> *other* form of handball (smacking a tennis
> ball against the wall) at school,
> informally. Though we called it
> "downball" -- I'm not precisely
> sure if it's the same game

***Moving from New Jersey to California when I was 15 brought culture shock and sports shock into my life. Living in a beach community, I soon found volleyball was revered, and no "monkey ball" was allowed...the game was about strategy, strategy, strategy! To this day, I can still remember when I mastered "The Dig"...what a great feeling that was!

I also remember learning Racquetball, which was a new sport for me. I have this challenge with spacial/distance stuff, so I always chose racquetball over tennis (our options in high school PE). Our outdoor courts were really beautiful...you could smell the salty ocean water less than a mile away....and one day I was slated to play with a macho surfer dude. YOUCH! It was the first time one of those little monsters disguised as racquetballs made a huge impact on my thigh! Talk about black and blue.....

Sure helped my speed, though. Only happened to me once!

Memories.............

JULIE
PS-I really enjoy watching people cheer on their teams. In another "team sport" presenting an oral report on a class when I was in college I had a favorite internationally flavored experience. It was an International Economics course, and I was paired with a couple guys I had taken another course with taught in Spanish. We often would converse with them speaking to me in Spanish and me responding in English. Made for interesting looks from the people around us anyway!

As we practiced one morning, I remember Cesar from Peru clapping for me as I warmed up (I was the Introductory Speaker in our group) chanting, "Yulie! Yulie! Yulie!" That "J" sound is a tough one to make. In classes where Spanish is the language of choice, I am always the Spanish "Julia"....even so many years later I remember Cesar cheering for me.

By the way, we got a B+ on our report on the Mexican economy, which was raised to an A- when our professor read the Wall Street Journal the day after we delivered our report. I thought we should have gotten very high marks as we were the sole completely international team...a Peruviano, a Mexicano, and a Norteamericana!

Dien Rice September 30, 2000 05:41 PM

Having fun in the sun, with your legs on the wall....
 
Hi Julie!

Ah, beach culture is pretty big here too in much of Australia.... Surf, sun, and fun, it's a nice lifestyle... :) Because the Australian interior is mostly desert, most Aussies live on the coast.....

I also really enjoy watching the crowd at festivals and huge events like the Olympics.... I took a lot of photos yesterday, especially of the crowd, people draped in flags of their country and "getting in the spirit".... :)

I've been so exhausted.... I had a full day yesterday. I saw some basketball, then in the evening (Aussie time) at my brother's suggestion I caught some of the free entertainment which was associated with the Olympics....

The highlight was -- how do I describe this.... An abseiling acrobatic group, called "Legs on the Wall," which in the evening "walked" down one of the buildings in Sydney (the AMP building near Circular Quay). They "stood" parallel to the ground, as if they were "standing" on the wall.... Then they would "jump" off the wall, and do somersaults in the air and so on.... It's hard to describe, but being held by their cables, their bodies parallel to the ground, gave the illusion that they were in a low-gravity environment, like they were on the moon, jumping high and doing aerial spins.... It was fantastic!

Thank you Julie for sharing your experiences.... I'm very much an "internationalist" at heart too! I LOVE different cultures.... I find them fascinating. I get a real buzz from going to a completely different environment, even if I don't speak the language.... I ought to do more of it.... :)

Okay.... Sydney is partying and we're heading towards the Olympics closing ceremony, but it's time for me to get back to getting things done.... :) (I'll be writing an article on some of my experiences from handball and basketball.... it's already partly written, and soon to be unleashed! :)

Dien


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