Newspaper Page Text
FEBRUARY 1990 ■ Student Body
- ■ - mt iymiiuinhl
Team handball gains popularity in U.S.
By Diane Lantto
, The North Wind
Northern Michigan U.
Twelve players leap and run across a large court.
They check each other and
sometimes roll to the floor as
they try to bomb a cantaloupe
sized ball past a goalie in a mini
soccer-style net.
A fast-paced court game with
S-fr elements of basketball, softball
ir =: volleyball and water polo, team
f handball ranks as the second
■ most popular team sport world-
Wide, according to the U.S. Team
i-'-'' Handball Federation.
— “It’s a good sport for pec.ph
with no niche," said Mary Phyl
Dwight, Northern Michigan U.’s team handball coach.
I he former Olympic team member was involved in a
number of the sports team handball is based on, includ
ing basketball. But at 5 feet, 7 inches tall, she said she
didn t have the speed and aggressiveness to make up
for her lack of height.
However, she found her court skills and strong softball
throwing arm made her a good team handball player.
The sport is just beginning to take off in the United
States despite its popularity in other countries. The
International Handball Federation has 4.2 million
members in 88 countries.
Twenty-Five men and women practice together as
NMU s handball club, but compete separately against
teams from across the country.
NMU’s club members have been nurturing the sport
at the grass roots level — the Marquette area public
schools are the only ones in the United States Dwight
knows of that have permanent team handball mark
ings on gym floors.
The average final score
in team handball is in the
low 20s. Most of the action
occurs near a six-meter
semicircle surrounding
the goal.
Only the goalie may
stand inside the circle specialtou.
while in possession of the
ball, but players do have air rights. Like acrobats, they
leap into the air over the circle to shoot the ball, which
must be released before they land.
Players can dribble the ball across the court, but it’s
essentially a fast passing game with a zone defense.
“There are no time outs, and the referee rarely han
dles the ball,” Dwight said. “There’s no room to argue
with the referee, because the game would go on without
you.”
Baseball
Continued trom page 22
the summer.
Some coaches, including Brock, also
said they have a problem playing when
the student body is gone for the sum
mer. “I don’t think you should have any
kind of college athletics while school is
not in session,” Brock said. “It just
doesn’t make much sense.”
Finally, some coaches and adminis
trators are not convinced the extended
season would create additional rev
enue. as the proposal intends. The addi
tional travel and boarding costs would
outweigh the turnstile gains, they say.
T think it would price a lot of schools
right out of baseball,” Brock said.
But Baseball America Editor Allan
Simpson said an extended college sea
son would allow pro scouts more time
to look at players.
He said the extended season is the
next logical step for college baseball.
“There are real limitations with 60
games.” he said. “Baseball is now the
No. 3 college sport. If it ever wants to
make realistic gains and gain accep
tance nationwide, it is going to have to
be played in the summer.”
NCAA
Continued from page 22
But Schultz believes with some work
this contract is a blessing to the NCAA,
and not just from a money standpoint.
“We plan to challenge the membership
to come up with creative ways to dis
tribute these funds,” he said. “We want
to eliminate the comment about the
WOO,000 free throw.”
Hopefully he means it, and won’t let
the“big” schools bully the NCAA into let-
tingthem reap all the rewards, using the
argument that they’ve kept college ath
letics running with their names.
Reward schools who make it into the
64-team tournament, but place a cap on
4e amount of money to be divided up
between tournament teams, he said.
The rest of the money generated
should be distributed on an equal level
to the rest of the NCAA institutions,
except for those schools on probation.
Install bonus programs for schools
who graduate their athletes on a high
catio based on real figures.
If the NCAA does this or something
similar, they will need only ankle boots
instead of hip boots to clean up. Because
whenever money is involved, there
ways will be some mess to clean up.
TOYOTA FINANCING
YOUR COLLEGE DEGREE
HAS JUST OPENED ANOTHER DOOR.
No money down.'
If you’re a four-year college graduate, grad student,
or a senior, you’re eligible for Toyota’s special student
finance program.
The plan lets you apply up to six months before,
or up to a year after you earn your degree. You don’t
even need a proven credit history to qualify, and you
can take up to 90 days” to begin your payments.
So what’ll it be? The all-new value-rich Celica ST,
or any other Toyota car or truck?
We’ve got your choice.
With your degree at hand you’ve proven you can
do something good for yourself. Now, let Toyota do
something good for you.
Call 1-800-5-COLLEGE for an informative bro
chure and the location of your nearest dealer.
CREDIT
CORPORATION
Have what you do forme?