USA Team Handball fighting USOC for more funding

A lack of funding by the U.S. Olympic Committee might prevent the U.S. men’s national team handball squad from traveling to Guatemala next year for a 2012 Olympic qualifier.

USA Team Handball has appealed its 2011 resource allocation from the USOC, in hopes of receiving additional money to send 16 players to Guatemala City for a second-chance qualifying tournament for the Pan American Games in October in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Grant amounts for 38 summer national governing bodies haven’t been made public by the USOC, which approved stipends this month at a board meeting in Redwood City, Calif. Summer NGBs are expected to take home more than they did in 2007, when total NGB funding amounted to $54.5 million, and their payouts are “relatively comparable” to this year’s undisclosed grants, USOC chief executive officer Scott Blackmun said.

However, Blackmun noted the USOC will “continue to try to invest our dollars where it can have the greatest impact.” USA Team Handball grabbed $238,268 from the USOC in 2009, its first full year as an NGB. By comparison, in 2008, USA Swimming netted $3.4 million, USA Track & Field nabbed $3.2 million and USA Gymnastics got $2.4 million.

The American men, in pursuit of their first berth in the Pan American Games since 2003, when they won a bronze medal, split a home-and-home, two-game qualifying series last week with Canada but lost a trip to Guadalajara on a goal-differential tiebreaker. Joining Canada in Guadalajara are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela. Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Uruguay are in the second-chance tournament.

If the U.S. goes to Guatemala City, coach Darrick Heath will direct a team that includes Air Force graduates Carsen Chun and Danny Kimmich, as well as veteran Derek Brown, a 1996 Olympian; goalkeepers Danny Caparelli and David Thompson, who played at the 2003 Pan American Games; and left back Gary Hines, who had 14 goals against Canada. Star right back Adam El Zoghby is out after undergoing surgery this week on his knee.

Finances aren’t a problem for the U.S. women, who prevailed on a road-goals tiebreaker after a split with Canada, with contributions from Colorado Springs residents Stephanie Hesser, Taylor Proctor and Anca Stephens. Heading to the Pan American Games with the U.S. are Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Uruguay.

The U.S. men deserve an opportunity to compete for a ticket to the London Games since the team owns “the best possible mix of talent, experience and attitudes,” said USA Team Handball technical director Mariusz Wartalowicz, whose NGB closed 2009 with $28,522 in net assets. “We selected players based on team needs and overall merit,” he said. “We balanced measurable and intangible qualities in hopes that we created the ideal team.”

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