Auburn University has been the home for nationally recognized NCAA football, basketball and baseball, but Saturday night, Auburn held the USA Team Handball “Last Chance” Pan American Qualifier against Uruguay, bringing in USA fans from around the country.
The women’s team kicked off the competition at 5 pm in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum, falling to Uruguay by a mere five points, 30-25. The men’s team then followed at 8 pm, grabbing the win 25-21.
Auburn became the location for the USA team when the men’s head coach contacted the kinesiology department who immediately jumped on board, knowing the sport holds Olympic standing and can be used for further studies.
“We were looking to move our team’s residency program somewhere in the US,” said Christian Latulippe, head coach of the women’s handball team. “(The University) said, ‘Hey, we have this place in the Coliseum right now…maybe you can move here in Auburn.’”
The program currently holds this agreement until 2020.
Handball itself is fairly easy to pick up on as it blends together soccer, basketball, and rugby, but handball players have an unlimited amount of fouls and the physicality is more apparent.
Eric Finch, a junior at Auburn serving as a goalie for USA Team Handball, says handball is a lot more strategic than other well-known sports.
“You have a lot more people on the court. It’s a lot of constant movement, a lot of reading ahead, what’s your next move,” Finch said. “As a goalie, anytime the ball is in your half, you’re focused all the time.”
Goalies are used to being pegged by the ball and are not supplied with much padding either.
“It’s (the ball) not comfortable,” Finch said. “It really depends on the shot. If it’s a fast shot, yeah. We get a cup and you can wear knee pads for getting down.”
To help strengthen the player’s grasps, an adhesive similar to pine tar is applied to each ball.
Sara Gascon, an older player from Los Angeles, California, was awarded MVP for the women’s match and says that most handball players have previous experience with sports that give them an advantage on the court.
“We don’t grow up playing handball,” Gascon said. “The athletes that come in here played multiple sports…that’s what makes us really good handball players.”
Growing up, Gascon played college volleyball, softball and soccer at Southeastern Louisiana University, while Finch previously played catcher for baseball. The men’s team even has a former Alabama football player, Ty Reed.
Gascon moved to Auburn for her opportunity to join the team, as well as to earn her PhD in kinesiology.
“I really love Auburn,” Gascon said. “It’s such a great community, very sports oriented. I’ve been very fortunate in my career…I knew at a very early age that I wanted to be an Olympian… I love putting on my uniform, I get chills.”
One of the biggest benefits of playing on the USA team is the opportunity to interact with players not just from different states, but different countries.
“It was kind of surreal for me,” Finch said. “Being able to play teams from other countries is awesome…something you never get from playing a (normal) game.”
In the scope of things, Auburn is a tiny community on the map of the world.
“I hope it will bring different flavor,” Latulippe said. “We already saw Puerto Rico, and now we see Uruguay, so maybe there is a way to bring even more countries from all around the world to come and play team handball.”
Both teams will travel to Uruguay to face the teams once again next week in the second series of the “Last Chance” Pan American Games.
“We’re looking forward to introducing this exciting sport to the community,” Latulippe said. “Hopefully, they’ll fall in love with it.”
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