300 Goals, the Lions Roar, Partille Cup & EHF Final Four
by Steve Pastorino / May 18, 2010
We're about to convene America's largest annual gathering - USA Club National Championships - in Las Vegas, Nevada with hundreds of people descending upon the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa beginning Wednesday. Are you ready? We're looking forward to catching up with all of you! Special thanks to Bernhard Schneider, Jorg Radler, John Ryan and the Las Vegas Scorpions for all of their efforts to host what should be a fantastic Nationals!
Meantime, the last weeks of handball in Germany have yielded to very promising developments. Congratulations to Gary Hines who became one of the first players ever to score 300 goals in a season in the Bayernliga. Hines' 14 goals in the final game of the season, however, were not enough as the team was relegated to the 5th Division for next season. Named MVP of DJK Waldbuttelbrun, Hines is now considering various options to move to at least he 3rd Division in 2010-11.
Elsewhere, Brian Walsh made an impact in Longericher SC's final game - playing 50+ minutes, tallying 7 goals and being praised for both his offensive and defensive play. Next stop for Walsh is USATH Nationals, where he'll team with other WCAP players for Knight Air.
Closer to home, the Salt Lake Handball Club's women's team played their first official game, qualifying them for next week's nationals tournament. The Lions had a very successful coming out party in a competitive match up against the Salt Lake Futures team in Lindon at the Utah Futsal Arena. Jen South led the Lions with 11 goals in route to a 32-9 victory. Jen also had help from Angie Webb (8 goals), Jenn Pirente (5 goals), and Ashley Flash (5 goals) in the outstanding victory. With the victory the women's team qualified for the handball club national championships which will be taking place next week, on May 21-23, in Las Vegas at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa. The Futures head to Colorado Springs on Memorial Day weekend for the National HS Championships.
Bon Voyage to Mary Chapman and Jeremy Graney who departed for Europe this week. Chapman won a scholarship from Rice University to go attend the EHF Final Four next weekend in Koln, where the duo will provide stories and pictures for www.usateamhandball.org. Yep, college is paying them to go to the Final Four. I can't wait until you read more about this one!
And welcome home (almost!) to Pat Coggin. The USATH Midwest Director arrived in Italy on Monday on a circuitous route home after an Air Force Reserve deployment to Afghanistan.
Finally, let's hear it for 16 kids and 3 coaches from Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City who have booked tickets to Goteborg, Sweden for the Partille Cup in late June. The U14 players are traveling under the auspices of an IHF grant to attend a week-long camp, followed by competition in the tournament. As usual, more details to come!
Have a great week everyone. See you at the Technical Meeting Thursday night at South Point - or on court come Friday morning!
