Georgia Team Handball Club Wins Silver At USA Team Handball Championships

Online, May 25, 2011 (Newswire.com) - One of the most popular international sports is very well represented in Atlanta, Georgia. Olympic Team Handball was introduced as an Olympic sport for men at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, but dropped after that, only to be resumed at the 1972 Summer Olympics, again on German territory. The 1996 Olympic games brought team handball to Atlanta, several club teams were founded and initially flourished. However, the lack of funding limited the growth potential of the sport on American soil and Atlanta was left without an active club team in 2010.

The Georgia Handball Club was founded late in 2010 as a new team handball club accepted and supported by the USA Team Handball Association. The establishment of the club was possible by the dedication to the sport of Damir Hecimovic (Coach) who played professionally in Bosnia. With the help of the USA Team Handball Association Damir has recruited players that are new to the sport or have played the sport at various levels in other countries. The current make up of the Georgia Handball Club reflects the international popularity of the sport. Players on the roster originate from countries including Germany, France, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, Bosnia & the United States. "Atlanta is an international city, our club proves this. It wouldn't be possible to start a new team handball club without the international community" explained Damir.

The club practices at a church gym in Snellville on a court about half the official size and with only one goal that was built by team member Dusko Ladisic. One of the team members Stefan Bader lives in Greenville, SC and drives around 2 hours each way to be able to play the sport he missed playing since moving from Germany to the United States. This dedication to the sport allowed the team to travel to Salt Lake City and compete in the USA Team Handball Championship Open tournament. The team didn't have a lot of opportunity to get game fit. Currently there isn't an active Team Handball league in the South Eastern United States. However, all these obstacles just made the group of players more determined. With only one substitution player on the bench the team travelled to Salt Lake City. They beat Seattle, New York, Tuscan Raiders, Los Angeles and competed closely with the 10 time champions New York Athletic Club in the final. The lack of bench depth with only one bench player caught up with the bruised team after 5 hard hitting games. After initial disappointment the team reflected back and was very proud of the accomplishment. "Silver shines as gold to us; we weren't even sure if we would have enough players to register for the tournament, so winning a silver is an enormous achievement" reflected Damir Hecimovic.

Any athletes interested in Team Handball should contact the coach Damir Hecimovic. The team is currently sponsored by Gourmet Euro Foods and Vayu Media. If you would like to support the Georgia Handball Club please contact Damir Hecimovic at hecimovic6 (at) yahoo (dot) com.