How USA Handball plans to become competitive in time for 2028 Los Angeles Games

Julia Malysz of Orland Park helped the U.S. youth girls national team finish fifth in the International Handball Federation (IHF) Trophy tournament last month in Montreal. | Courtesy of Jerzy Malysz

USA Handball is in the process of establishing the infrastructure for a professional handball league, while also creating a pipeline for athletes to be exposed to handball.

Julia Malysz can see the raucous crowd waving flags. She can hear the “U-S-A! U-S-A!” chants as she stands in the goal, eager for her opponent’s next attack.

However, in this case, the crowd and chants are all in her imagination. And her opponent is her father, who’s helping train her in the driveway of her family’s Orland Park home.

Team handball is one of only three sports that the U.S. hasn’t medaled in at the Olympics. And 14-year-old Malysz is determined to change that by the time Los Angeles hosts the Summer Games in 2028.

“That’s the main goal,” said the eighth-grader at Century Junior High School in Orland Park.

But here’s the problem: Despite handball’s vast popularity in -Europe, there’s only a small group in the U.S. that plays it. With so little interest, there are few opportunities for athletes to play in competitive handball games.

Take Malysz, for example. Though she’d been playing handball for three years with a Palos Heights team called Tatra, she hadn’t competed in what she considered a legitimate game until last month in Montreal, where she helped the U.S. youth girls national team finish fifth in the International Handball Federation (IHF) Trophy tournament.

“Going to Montreal was my first real game against another team or country,” Malysz said. “And it was amazing because I got to feel what a real game was like. They didn’t hold back. We didn’t know each other, so we didn’t go easy.”

The lack of interest in handball is mind-boggling to IHF president Hassan Moustafa, who once called it a sport made for America.

“It’s athletic, it’s physical, it’s fast and it’s high-scoring,” USA Handball CEO Barry Siff said. “It has all the components made for U.S. success. Europe recognizes how important the United States and China are to any major sport. To be among the great sports in the world, the U.S. and China have to be big at it.”

That’s why USA Handball, with help from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the IHF, is in the process of establishing the infrastructure for a professional handball league, while also creating a pipeline for athletes to be exposed to handball.

“I want kids who are playing basketball in playgrounds in New York who aren’t getting the opportunity to maybe even go to college or to go to the NBA, I want them to see handball,” Siff said. “There’s a huge number of amazing athletes who don’t make the NBA, who don’t make our Olympic national water polo teams, our Olympic volleyball teams. These athletes all have the potential to be amazing handball players, but they don’t know it.”

USA Handball plans to hold public tryouts in major cities over the next few years. It also hired retired Swedish handball legend Staffan Olsson this year to be its high-performance director in hopes the three-time Olympic silver medalist will be able to take the program to the next level so the U.S. can compete against powerhouses such as Denmark, Germany and France.

“We are going to be competitive in 2028 and in the two years prior,” Siff said. “We will [be competitive] at the world championships.”

Seeing the dedication of USA Handball and the IHF to grow the game excites Malysz. She said she’s the only one in her school who plays handball, and she hopes that changes in the near future.

Three years ago, Malysz was like most Americans. She knew very little about team handball. To her, it was the sport her father, Jerzy, was obsessed with and has played nearly his entire life.

She got hooked when Jerzy, who immigrated from Poland to the Chicago area 25 years ago, took her to an open practice when she was 11.

“She was very tired, but she was happy,” Jerzy said. “And she said, ‘Daddy, I love this sport.’ ”

That’s all Jerzy needed to hear. Before long, he built an Olympic-sized handball goal out of 2-by-4s and soccer netting.

Nearly every day of the summer, neighbors can spot Jerzy and Julia practicing in their driveway. The dream is for them to be able to watch Julia on the international stage.

“I love this sport,” Julia said. “Being goalie is amazing. Obviously, you take some hard shots, but that didn’t bother me because it’s so fun.”

What is handball?

Team handball is a high-scoring, fast-paced sport that relies on ball movement between teammates. It’s a cross between basketball and soccer, with several current U.S. players saying it’s best described as water polo without water, or soccer with your hands.

The ball is the size of a dodgeball with the weight of a soccer ball.

Each team consists of six outfield players and one goalie, and they play two 30-minute halves. The person with the ball can take no more than three steps before having to pass or shoot behind the defending line. Each goal is worth one point.

While the sport is popular in Europe, USA Handball is hoping to become competitive in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Neither U.S. team has had much luck over the last three decades. The women haven’t outright qualified for the Olympics since 1992, and the men haven’t since 1988. Neither team has finished higher than fifth place.