Handball

I will attempt to explain a few things about handball in this next post.  If you are completely confused on why I am posting about handball, it is because I am on two different handball teams here in Vejen.  I play on a community team filled with great players, mostly above the age of 20. I also play on the school team.  This just started for me and it seems like I am playing a lot now.  I hope to improve soon because so far I have not been very good at shooting or passing... making me... worthless.

I will begin by explaining the ball.  The ball looks like a soccer ball, but is much smaller, maybe the size of a kids soccer ball.  It also is sewn together the same way.  It is filled until hard with air but stays very light.  The key difference between this ball and all other balls is the sap. Before you play, you apply sticky sap to your fingers and palm,  this makes it so that when the ball hits your hand, it sticks.  It does have some issues though.  The sap tends to make the ball difficult to pass accurately.  It sticks to your hand and makes it release towards the ground.  The sap also is so strong that it pulls up your skin and creates blisters.  All mine have healed now!

Each team has one goalie, a center person (who plays at the 7m line) , and 5 other players(who pass around the 9m line).   The team on defense stays around the 7m line and usually play man to man defense while the offensive team tries to throw the ball into the net.  The limit it the dark 6m line.  You can not touch the ball within that area, thus when shooting you jump over the line and throw it before you touch the ground.  Sounds easy eh, well... it's not.  The defense is basically allowed to tackle you if you have the ball.  Typically the offense pass the ball around and cross over while the center picks people to open a hole for the shot.  This is the basic set up.

That was a very basic set up for explaining handball.  To tell the truth, there are not many rules. Just run and pass and find an opening in the defense to run in and shoot.  It is a lot like basketball though.  You have to dribble, but can not double dribble.  If somebody is running at you, you have to keep your feet planted and are not allowed to tie them up.  Other then that, jump high and throw hard.  It is fun, and will keep me in very good shape.  Practice is once a week for the school for a few hours.  It is also twice a week at night for the community team.  I hope you could understand my explanation.

Ses, Kyle