Team Handball

1
Team Handball

• By Adam Garcia

2
Table of Contents

• History
• Rules
• Court layout
• Modifications
• Comments/recommendations on the game, rules and
  modifications

3
History

• Team handball is the second most popular sport in
  Europe (behind soccer), but is little known in
  North America. Its very name is confusing even to
  an American who knows quite a bit about sports.
• The modern game actually grew out of three sports
  that were developed, independently, in three
  different European countries The Czech hazena,
  the Danish handbold, and the German Torball.
• All three were based on soccer, but essentially
  replaced the foot with the hand, so that the ball
  could be advanced by batting or throwing, rather
  than by kicking.
• Hazena was being played by Slovak peoples as
  early as 1892
• By 1925, the game had become fairly popular in
  other European countries. The International
  Amateur Handball Federation (IAHF) was
  established in 1928 handball was a demonstration
  sport at the Olympics that year and again in
  1932.
• Olympic sport at the 1936 Berlin Games
• Team Handball wasnt played again in the Olympics
  until 1972
• Competition for women's teams in the Olympics
  began in 1976

4
Rules

• Two teams, composed of six players and one goalie
  each
• Players manually dribble, pass and shoot a ball
  into what looks like a Soccer Goal.
• Men's and women's handballs are 56-58 centimeters
  and 54-56 centimeters in circumference,
  respectively easily gripped in one hand, it is
  built comparably to a soccer ball.
• Half circles on both ends of the court mark the
  "goal area," a zone that extends six meters in
  front of the 6'7" tall and 10' wide goal. The 12
  court players are not allowed to literally step
  foot in this area, which results in NBA-style
  leaps over the line to shoot while in the air.
  Successful scoring attempts result in a single
  point.
• Defensive play is fierce, however, and allows
  aggressive person-to-person full body contact to
  prevent the offense from shooting.
• A regulation game is played in two 30-minute
  halves with one team timeout per half. The clock
  stops only for team timeouts, injuries are at the
  referee's discretion.

5
Court Layout

• Handball is played on a court 40 meters long by
  20 meters wide (40 m x 20 m), with a goal in the
  center of each end. The goals are surrounded by a
  near-semicircular area, called the zone or the
  crease, defined by a line six meters from the
  goal. A dashed near-semicircular line nine meters
  from the goal marks the free-throw line. Each
  line on the court is part of the area it
  encompasses. This implies that the middle line
  belongs to both halves at the same time.

6
Modifications

• Play the game using the dimensions of a
  basketball court
• Play two 15 minute halves instead of 30 minute
• Seven players without a goalie
• No physical contact allowed. Observe basketball
  style fouls
• Females get double the points when they score