Jonathan Harmeling and Keith Fine, 2008 graduates of West Point, visited the Salt Lake City offices of USA Team Handball this week ad participated in two workouts with regional coach Marko Brezic.

Harmeling and Fine were scheduled to meet with commanders from the World Class Athlete Program, which allows graduates of West Point and the Air Force Academy to pursue Olympic dreams.  Each is one year into his five-year post-academy commitments to the U.S. Army, but were able to spend the first half of this year in Dormagen, Germany, where they trained and played with the reserve sides of Bundesliga club Bayer Dormagen.  

Fine, who returns to Dormagen next month, is a goalkeeper who says he has learned as much in one half-season at Dormagen as in his entire five-year handball career in the USA.  A field player in lacrosse and soccer before finding handball at Army, Fine has goalkeeper-specific training weekly with Dormagen's top four keepers, while also training 5-6 days per week with Dormagen's second team, which competes in the Regionaliga (German 3rd division).

Harmeling, a circle, also trained with Dormagen's second team and feels that he has made a quick adjustment to the speed and physicality of play in the high-pressure world of German handball.  Harmeling played one year of NCAA football at Army as a linebacker - and offered interesting insight as to how handball might be able to tap into football for physical players.

During a wide-ranging discussion with USATH chairman Dieter Esch, regional coach Marko Brezic and myself, Harmeling (24 years old) and Fine (22) offered a comprehensive overview of how Americans fare when competing in Europe; and how quickly we can develop our players and our national teams with more players in Europe.  Each has five years of handball experience, but agrees that a season in Germany is more valuable than all their time spent in the USA - even coming from the nation's most disciplined and consistent program at Army.

In the coming months, they will be joined at Dormagen by 2009 West Point graduates, Brian Walsh and Justin Key.  USA Team Handball expects that Mark Ortega and Jordan Fithian will each land playing contracts in Germany as well for the upcoming season, joining the Army quartet, Mark Ortega and Gary Hines, who remains under contract to DJK Waldubuttelbrun.  (Taking into consideration Adam El-Zoghby at Egypt's Al-Ahly, and one or two other possible moves, USA Team Handball could find 10 of its top young players under contract in Europe this fall.)

After the office visit, Fine and Harmeling then headed to the court where Marko Brezic ran them through 90 minutes of drills on both Monday and Tuesday, along with Colorado Springs U17 camp invitees Ahmet Jasarevic, Alen Delic and Dzordan Dervisevic (alternate).  Harmeling returns to Colorado Springs today where he is expected to assist and/or train during the U17 camp; Fine is on leave this weekend before returning to Germany in early August.  

All of us at USA Team Handball appreciate their global pursuit of excellence in handball, and we wish them continued good health and safe travels.