News Articles of 2012
NTHL Weekend: Surprising D1, Close DW and Competitive D2
The first weekend of the US Northeast Team Handball League (NTHL) kicked off this past weekend and had all the elements of a good handball competition: close games, competitive attitudes and surprises in results. A total of 18 games were held over the course of two days in three divisions: Men's D1, Men's D2 and Women's DW. All the DW and D1 games were played on Saturday, with some of the D2 games spilling over to Sunday.
On the women's side, New York City Team Handball Club (NYC THC) grasped a valuable victory from Boston Team Handball (BTH) in the first match-up between the two rivals, this season. The game was close and Boston lead for most of it, but NYC came back to win the game at the end of the second half 14:13. Later Boston redeemed themselves in their match against West Point Black (WPB), one of the better teams in the league, in which they won also by 1 goal - another close game.
Division 2, on the men's side, was equally as competitive and some games were as close as the women's games. While the D2 teams tend to be a little lacking on experience, they certainly make up for that with their amazing enthusiasm, commitment and determination to win.
Forth NTHL Season Kicks Off with 16 Teams
The 4th consecutive season of the US Northeast Team Handball League kicks off this weekend with a record number of club and team participation , thanks to the introduction of a women's division and the reintroduction of a Men's Division 2 into it. The first leg of the season is hosted at the US Military Academy in West Point, NY.
Last season, the league consisted of a single Men's division of four (4) teams, which served as the official qualifying stage for the National Championships. The teams were NYC THC, Boston TH, West Point Blk, and DC Diplomats. Those four teams will compete again this year in the Men's D1, but they will be joined byt 6 division 2 (D2) teams and 6 women's division teams (DW).
Below is a list of the clubs participating in the various divisions and the detailed schedule of the weekend.
Boston places 2nd at the West Point Women's Fall Invitational
Seven teams took part in this year's annual fall invitational handball tournament that West Point's women's handball team hosted. The teams were split into two groups for the first round with Group A consisting of Boston, Carolina, and Army Gold. Group B consisted of Army Black, Levis, Carolina 2 and Ocean NJ.
At the end of the round robin games, Carolina led Group A while Boston settled for second place. In Group B, West Point Black ranked first and Levis was second in the group. The four teams moved on to the semi-final round playing the cross-over games: Boston vs Army Black and Carolina vs Levis.
Boston takes 3rd place and shares 2nd at the annual Sportsfest
The Swim and Sports Club in Flanders, NJ, held their annual sportsfest outdoor handball tournament this weekend. Five men's teams and 3 women's teams took part in the event.
| Men's Teams | Women's Teams |
|---|---|
| New York Athletic Club | Carolina |
| Carolina | Boston/DC |
| Boston Team Handball | New York City THC |
| DC Diplomats | |
| SSC |
On the women's side, all teams played each other in pool games at the end of which Carolina ranked first, the Boston/DC team combo ranked
Handball at the London 2012 Olympics
Twelve (12) teams are competing in each of the men's and women's competitions at the London 2012 Olympics. The London 2012 website lists the full handball games' schedule for both genders.
In the US, you can watch the games on NBCOlympics.com, assuming you have a cable provider package that includes MSNBC and CNBC. You can log in using your cable provider's account at http://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/help/index.html and watch all the games online by clicking on the "Click Here to get Started" red button and following the instructions.
(picture courtesy of http://London2012.com)
Beach Handball in full swing at Revere Beach
For the 7th consecutive weekend this summer, players of the Boston Team Handball club will enjoy the sunny warm summer weather of the Boston area while playing their favorite sport. We do that by taking Handball to Revere Beach! Join us if you are interested (or if you're curious)!
Beach Handball is a variation of the Olympic sport of Handball, analogous to Beach Volleyball's variation from the indoor Volleyball. The Fifth World Championships were held last week in Oman where Brazil claimed gold medals in both Men's and Women's disciplines with Ukraine and Croatia taking silver and bronze in the Men's and Denmark and Norway claiming those in the women's championship.
Boston TH puts handball on TV in the US
Starting in the first week of May, residents of Cambridge, MA, have had the opportunity to watch handball on TV; something that not many communities in the US can claim to be able to do. Thanks to audio/video equipment from the Cambridge local access television, Cambridge Community Television (CCTV), members of the Boston Team Handball club filmed the games of the second Northeast Team Handball League tournament. The tournament was hosted at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center on Cape Cod.
Second place finish for Boston TH at LWM
This weekend, West Point hosted their annual women's Laura Walker Memorial team handball torunament. Nine teams participated in the event and were split into 3 groups of 3 teams for the first round.
| Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Team Handball (1) | Chicago Inter | Carolina |
| Ocean NJ | West Point Black (WPB) | Levis |
| New York City THC | Boston Team Handball (2) | West Point Gold (WPG) |
After the first round, the teams were seeded based on the total points earned and the total goals scored. Boston and Chicago ranked first and second, so they automatically qualified to the semi-finals round. Carolina played Levis and took the third spot, while West Point Black beat New York City for the last of the 4 semi-finalists' spots.
Boston sweeps the third tournament of the Northeast League
The third and final leg of the 2012 Northeast Team Handball League was hosted by the DC Diplomats in Rockville, MD, this past Saturday. Going into the tournament, New York City Team Handball Club (NYCTHC) had won all their games and led the standings with 12 points from 6 wins with a 4-point lead over Boston Team Handball (BTH), in second place. West Point Black (WPB) and DC Diplomats (DCD) were in 3rd and 4th places, with 4 points and 0 points, respectively.
Boston secures a spot at the Elite Team Handball National Championships
At the end of the second leg of the Northeast League, New York City Team Handball Club (NYCTHC) leads the standings with 12 points from 6 wins followed by Boston Team Handball with 8 points from 4 wins. West Point Black and DC rank 3rd and 4th, respectively. With one tournament remaining in the league, Boston Team Handball secured a spot at the Elite National Championships held in Minnesota this May. New York City are automatically qualified as the 2011 US Champions.
This weekend's tournament was hosted by Boston Team Handball (BTH) at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center in Hyannis, MA. The four participating teams played each other in 6 consecutive games that ran from 11:30AM to 7:30PM, on Saturday. The event was broadcasted live on UStream.tv and will be broadcast on Cambridge Community Television in the coming weeks.
The first game of the day pitted Boston against the US military academy's team from West Point. The hosts took command of the game from its onset and finished the game with a comfortable 6-point lead 26-20. West Point later gave the US Champions a run for their money in the third game of the day; however, New York's players' experience had the final say in the match, which they won 31-26 after being down 10-13 at half time.
The highlight of the tournament was yet to come, in the 5th game of the day, which pitted the long-term rival cities of Boston and New York. The game was a spectacular show of handball at its highest level in the US. The game kicked off with both teams taking turns in scoring until NYC took a slight lead that got to 3 goals at the end of the first half (13-10). In the second half, the hosts looked determined to snatch a precious victory from the champions. New York's lead was slowly brought down to a single goal, with 3 minutes left in the second half; however, the US champions managed to hold on to the lead and regain their edge, finishing the game with the 3-goal margin they had at half-time 24-21.
The long handball day concluded with a game between West Point and the DC Diplomats. DC, exhausted by their long travel, were no match to the fitness of the cadets from the Military Academy. West Point went on to defeat DC 29-15.
| League Standings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Name | W | L | D | Pts |
| New York City THC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Boston TH | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| West Point (B) | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| DC Diplomats | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Tournament Results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston TH | 26 | - | 20 | West Point |
| New York City THC | 36 | - | 20 | DC Diplomats |
| West Point | 26 | - | 31 | New York City THC |
| DC Diplomats | 19 | - | 25 | Boston TH |
| Boston TH | 21 | - | 24 | New York City THC |
| West Point | 29 | - | 15 | DC Diplomats |