Play Team Handball Athlete Project 2024-2032

The Play Team Handball mission is to break all barriers for female athletes to discover, train, and compete in the Olympic handball in the US. To help our Women's National Teams regain a competitive edge in our North American hemisphere by 2028, we strategically either began already or plan to launch four (4) local Dallas-Fort Worth initiatives:

New Athlete Ongoing Recruitment with a goal to establish a long-term residency style training hub in Dallas-Fort Worth for players to study-work-train-compete locally so that they can significantly raise their level of sport mastery and strengthen future USATH youth U18, Junior U20, and senior National Teams.

It is a very ambitious proposition which may take many years to successfully implement. However, based on my 35 years of efforts in various capacities within and outside the NGB, to finally establish both a logistically sustainable and financially plausible American born and raised handball powerhouse "factory", I strongly believe the best pathway to proceed is to concentrate all four mentioned above activities in one location. It will not solve a myriad of problems that our sport faces but at least on the women's side, such a concentrated approach shows promise to make a long-lasting positive impact on WNT composition, creates a healthy selection environment, and allows for progressive return to competition excellence. If we identify players willing to relocate to the DFW or they find us, we will welcome them with open arms, but I am convinced that there is enough human assets here in the heart of Texas to fill an entire new National and Olympic Team for the LA 2028 Games.

I acknowledge the challenge to recruit new athletes to the sport with decades long name recognition issues, very limited following, no meaningful tangible support from the NGB, scarce resources and training/competition infrastructure, bleak competitive record, and extremely competitive high school and collegiate athletic market dominated by well established US mainstream sports. Those are serious obstacles to overcome. Yet, my idea is not to focus on weaknesses or treats. To the contrary, at Play Team Handball, I would like to leverage strengths and opportunities that still exist. The population of Dallas-Fort Worth is close to 6 millions residents which is similar to the entire population of Denmark or Norway, both handball superpowers. We will find 60 to 80 talented female athletes in three age-categories to give handball a chance out of the DFW Metroplex. And, once we do, we will do what no other program has ever done in the US. We will nurture and grow their interest in handball. We will share with them our handball passion, knowledge, and expertise. We will deploy our unique local support system which will allow aspiring players to fit our innovative training/playing regimen into their educational, professional, and personal lives and pursue NT as well as Olympic Team Dreams. We will create a strong flexible athletic developmental pipeline from grassroots level to the top.

New Science-Based and Practice-Proven Long-Term Athlete Development Program to accelerate players' physical, technical, tactical, and mental capacities as well as their opportunities to make WNT for official NOR.CA, IHF, IOC events in the current 2024-2028 Olympic cycle.

Play Team Handball's athlete development program is like no other. It embraces a dedicated practice model combining physical preparation with technical-tactical skill refinement and mastering. In turn, those skills are constantly tested and improved in game-like and competition environments focused on enhancing players' decision making, understanding game dynamics, adaptability but fostering individuality of style and improvisation demanded by today's handball. Our American coaching staff, in collaboration with a team of distinguished European experts and top level EHF coaches, will deliver the most advanced handball instruction to PTH member players to ensure their continuous and rapid sport growth.

Annual local, regional, national, and international competition calendar to positively augment athletes' skill development by regular and intentionally scheduled level appropriate playing opportunities including participation in the USATH College Championships, Club Nationals, and PTH own marquee tournaments as well as invitational European tours.

This is another area where we think we can add value. Currently the USATH WNT does not have a calendar even for a single year, not to mention an Olympic Cycle. In January 2025 we will have a complete periodization calendar with tentative dates for our major programming blocks such as Premier camps and major competitions and will update/expand it as we grow and build our presence. Athletes and their families need to know what to expect from year to year to plan their lives around training and playing.

Support System for PTH USA WNT Pool Athletes encompassing assistance in the DFW HS/College/University, local sponsorship, employment, and European club placement.

"No money, no honey." To address the proverbial elephant in the room, I dare to face the truth and dare to say that for several decades now, our sport but foremost our dedicated athletes, have been plagued by the NGB and its Board of Directors' inability to raise any substantial amount of money to pay for the National Teams High Performance programs (i.e., training pre-competition camps, travel expenses) and enforcing a horrible "pay to play" mandate. Play Team Handball is just starting out but regardless if it will remain a for profit entity or at some point evolve into a non-profit organization, it must be run as for profit to pay for its programming. It must build sustainable streams of income. To do so, in the coming months, we will begin phase 1 of our business development consisting of creating an Advisory Board and implementing our marketing strategy to partner with like-minded public and private business as well as equity groups. Stay tuned...More to come on this as we step on the road from Nothing to Great!