Another successful handball presentation took place at Robert Frost Middle School inGranada Hills, Calif. on Monday.
Even though Frost Middle School is only the third demonstration this year for the USATH Los Angeles staff, there is an interesting trend emerging among SouthernCalifornia middle school students and handball.
As soon as the students file into the gym at least one of them always asks, “What are we playing? Are we playing indoor soccer today?”
“Nope, we are playing handball,” USATH answers.
“Handball? What’s that? Why can’t we play soccer?” says the student.
“Handball? What’s that? Why can’t we play soccer?” says the student.
Before the series of questioning continues much further, all the students are settleddown on the gym floor, curious and waiting to find out about this unfamiliar sport.Students listen as a brief history and the rules of the game are carefully explained.
All attention is focused on the middle of the court as student volunteers make their wayto the 6-meter line and are shown how to form a defensive wall. It’s not until CoachJulio Sainz demonstrates how to do a jump shot over the defense, that the studentsreally get excited, expressing their enthusiasm with loud applause and hollering.
At this point, there is no more talk of wanting to play indoor soccer.
The rest of the class time is devoted to having fun playing handball. Frost Middle School, in particular, had several talented athletes, not to mention an unusually highnumber of southpaws, all of whom caught onto the sport quickly.
Positive feedback about handball from Southern California students and teachersis overwhelming and exciting for the future of the sport here on the west coast.
“I really like this sport,” said a student smiling as he left the gym on Monday.
The next demonstration will be at Rancho Pico Jr. High School in Stevenson Ranch,Calif, Monday Oct. 25.
Text source – www.usateamhandball.org
