Ironically I’ve always loved playing sports but I’m usually not the best athlete on the pitch/court. I’ve tried more recently to engage in athletics more often as a fun way to workout so I’m always looking for new fun things to try.
Now I’m one of those girls who secretly follow The Bachelorette as my guilty pleasure. This past season (episode 5) Rachel had the guys participate in a handball game as group date activity and it looked pretty outrageous and fun. So just this past week I got the opportunity to play indoor handball through one of my friends. I had such a great time playing even though I wasn’t very good. I came out of the experience asking myself this question: Why isn’t handball more popular in America?
Now I’m talking about team handball or Olympic handball. There are two teams of 6 players plus a keeper. The game is extremely exciting and fast paced. It’s physical but also requires agility and finesse.
Basically it’s a combination of basketball, soccer, American football, and water polo. The main object is to throw the ball past the keeper into the net to score a goal. It’s enough like basketball so that a lot of Americans would feel pretty comfortable on the court. In addition to that it’s easily played on the streets as well. All you really need is two soccer style nets and a ball.
If you want to get a little more official you’ll need a court with handball lines, two goals 2m high and 3m wide, a couple handballs, and something to keep score with. Regular workout clothing and shoes can be worn but males should also wear a protective cup.
There ya go! Pretty simple stuff! All the strict rules and regulations can be found here.
TIPS
1. There are 3 different sizes of balls that can be used. One ball size each for men, women, and children. In addition to this a volleyball or another bouncy but soft(ish) ball can be substituted if a real handball can’t be found.
2. The game can get physical and dangerous so make sure you play with people your size and skill level. When I played we had mixed guys and girls into each team to try even things out. It still got pretty rough and both guys and girls had bruises and floor burn the following day. Wearing long sleeves or compression base-layers can help with this!
3. No matter how manly you think you are you still need to wear a protective cup. You don’t have to wear it on the outside of your kit as seen on the Bachelorette but you boys need to protect your plums when playing handball. Only one of the guys I played with didn’t wear his cup and guess what happened? His plums got a direct shot from a 70mph handball. Needless to say he sat out the rest of the game. Don’t be stupid, cup up.
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