Team handball gains popularity in U.S. By Diane Lantto ■ The North Wind Northern Michigan U. Twelve players leap and run across a large court They check each other and 9 sometimes roll to the floor as 1 they try to bomb a cantaloupe sized ball past a goalie in a mini soccer-style net. A fast-paced court game with elements of basketball, softball, - volleyball and water polo, team handball ranks as the second most popular team sport world wide, according to the U S . Team Handball Federation. “It’s a good sport for people . with no niche,” said Mary Phyl Dwight, Northern Michigan I’.'s team handball coach The former Olympic team member was involved in a number of the sports team handball is based on. includ ing basketball But at 5 feet, 7 inches tall, she said she didn’t have the speed and aggressiveness to make up for her lack of height However, she found her court skills and strong soft ball throwing arm made her a good team handball player The sport is just beginning to take off m the I’nited States despite its popularity in other countries The International Handball Federation has 4.2 million members in 88 countries. Twenty-five men and women practice together as NMD’s handball club, but compete separately against teams from across the country NMU’s club members have been nurturing the sport at the grass roots level the Marquette area public schools are the only ones in the United States Dwight knows of that have permanent, team handball mark ings on gym floors The average final score m team handball is m the low 21 Is Most of the action occurs near a six-meter semicircle surrounding the goal. Only the goalie may stand inside the circle while m possession of the SPECIAL TO U ball, but players do have air rights lake acrobats, they leap into the air over the circle to shoot the ball, which must be released before they land Players can dribble the ball across the court, but it's essentially a fast passing game with a zone defense "There are no tune outs, and the referee rarely hnn dies the ball,” Dwight said "There’s no room to argue with the referee, because the game would goon without you ” Baseball Continued from page 22 the summer. Some coaches, including Brock, also said they have a problem playing when the student body is gone for the sum mer. "1 don’t think you should have any kind of college athletics while school is not m session,” Block said. “It just doesn’t make much sense.” Finally, some coaches and adminis trators are not convinced the extended season would create additional rev enue, as the proposal intends. The addi tional travel and boarding costs would outweigh the turnstile gains, they say. "1 think it would price a lot of schools right out of baseball," Brock said. But Baseball America Editor Allan Simpson said an extended college sea son would allow pro scouts more time to look at players. He said the extended season is the next logical step for college baseball “There are real limitations with 60 games,” he said. “Baseball is now the No. 3 college sport. If it ever wants to make realistic gains and gain accep tance nationwide, it is going to have to be played in the summer." NCAA Continued from page 22 But Schultz believes with some work this contract is a blessing to the NCAA, and not just from a money standpoint “We plan to challenge the membership g to come up with creative ways to dis- | tribute these funds,” he said. “We want a to eliminate the comment about the I $400,000 free throw.” Hopefully he means it, and won’t let the “big” schools bully the NCAA into let ting them reap all the rewards, using the argument that they've kept college ath letics running with their names. Reward schools who make it into the 64-team tournament, but place a cap on the amount of money to be divided up between tournament teams, he said The rest of the money generated should be distributed on an equal level to the rest of the NCAA institutions, except for those schools on probation. 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