Olympic Handball article

You could’ve passed any number of Olympians on campus and not even known it. 

In 2015, Auburn University became the home for the USA Olympic Training Facility and Men’s and Women’s Residency Programs for Handball. 

Handball is a growing sport, played indoor or outdoor. The olympic team primary focuses on indoor handball. 

Auburn receives students from all over the country and internationally who are interested in playing for the handball team. If they aren’t students, they are players who are living and working in the Auburn community. 

In the states, handball is played year round. Each year is an alternating year for the official men’s or women’s team. 2017 has been the women’s competition year and 2018 will be the men’s. 

Kristin Roberts, administrator of outreach programs, said that the women had their Nor.Ca., ‘North American and Caribbean Championships’, in March and placed second. They then qualified for the Pan-American Championships in June which were held in Argentina. The women’s team placed fifth, leaving them unable to advance to World’s in December for this year.

The men’s team will compete this upcoming year in 2018 and their goal is to place top three, or win Pan-American Championships in June so they can advance to Worlds. 

The last time the handball team competed in the Olympics was in 1996 when held in Atlanta. 

Auburn University and the School of Kinesiology have hosted Handball competitions in the past. In June, the men’s team hosted Canada through the Alabama Sports Festival Foundation. 

Handball events are open and free for students and the public. In addition, there is a club handball team for students if they are interested in playing. They school hopes to offer a handball class in the upcoming spring or fall, Roberts said. 

Currently the main goal of both the men’s and women’s team is to win the Pan-American Championships. However, they are already looking toward the 2024 and 2028 olympic games. 

In addition, the team is looking to build it’s Junior National League, Roberts said. 

“We’re always looking for players and there are opportunities to then try out for the national team,” Roberts said. 

There have been students in the past who have tried out for the club team only to find out they were good enough for the residency program. 

Olympic athlete, Sarah Gascon had been training for volleyball and baseball when she came across the handball team. The competition piqued her curiosity. Soon she was a part of the residency program. 

Gascon has now been a member of the team for 12 years, having joined in 2005. She has moved across the country and even to other parts of the world to train with the handball team. While home for her is in California, she’s lived in New York, Pennsylvania, Poland and now Auburn in order to compete in the sport.

She was appointed by coaches and later by teammates as team captain of the olympic team and has worked hard with the athletes. 

“To me, it’s about what have I wanted to do my whole life is be an olympic athlete…Nothing could beat my dreams and goals which is representing my country and being an olympic athlete,
Gascon said. 

Ian Pinson has been a member of the Men’s National Team for three years now, having been on the Junior National Team previously.

Both Gascon and Pinson remarked on how difficult it is to recruit new members for the team. 

“I think once people see the sport one time, they’ll end up being hooked on it,” Pinson said. 

Many eighteen year olds have never heard of handball before, and it can be difficult to get new members. In addition, the men’s team often receives players, but the women’s team is lacking. 

“We struggle with recruitment,” Gascon said. “So we don’t have necessarily a lot of athletes that come in and try out for our team.”

If you are interested in trying out for the team, there are auditions twice a year in Auburn, Roberts said .

“The reward at the end is that I get to stand up, listening to my national anthem and I get to play a sport that I love,” Gascon said.