Hurdle-o-gram 09-09-2002
By Mike Hurdle
Monday, September 09, 2002
The first USATH sanctioned Beach National Championships took place July 27-28, 2002 at Jacksonville Beach, Florida. As usual, Condor domination prevailed. But this recap is about more than Condor domination, it is about public awareness. Even though this is the first beach national championship sanctioned by USATH, it is not the first beach national championship hosted in this country. The CHO has hosted the beach national championships the previous two years: 2000 – Atlanta, GA; 2001 – Destin, FL. Unlike the CHO national championships, the USATH sanctioned events are not handicapped. So the team which recruits the best players would most likely have a decided advantage in winning the tournament.
Six teams attended the tournament; four from Atlanta and two from Jacksonville. Only four clubs were represented at the first USATH beach national championship: Condors, Rock Handball, Georgia Tech, and Jax Knights. For a national championship – a rather dismal turnout. Where were the country’s other elite clubs, such as Garden City or Knight Air? Or the so-called powerhouse of the south: ATH? Well, for a first time event without much marketing, I guess one should not expect much. It is interesting to note that the Condors are the only elite level club that showed support for the USATH’s version of beach handball by attending. Odd that the USATH would not support the Condor Handball Organization’s national championship last year. President Djokavich, in a conversation with former Condor President Mike Hurdle, claimed it was because they had numerous partnerships becoming available the next year with Beach Volleyball. Hmmmm, I must have missed that tour when I blinked.
Before I digress any further into commentary about the current dismal performance of our national governing body, let’s get back to recapping the tournament action. The Condors were led by a strong international contingent again this year consisting of Mike Hurdle (USA), Fabian Hippe (Germany), Björn Brembs (Germany), Papa Lambdau (sp??) (Senegal), & Boyan ???? (Bosnia). Even through the extremely suspect officiating, the Condors were never challenged. Well….they were challenged twice, but with the talent and experience on this team, who could ever question the eventual outcome of a Condor victory.
There was an interesting situation that occurred. Lighting was striking near the beach, but that didn’t stop the organizers from pressing the competitors to continue on. The lifeguards actually came by and closed the beach, yet there was no relief from the USATH sanctioned event. Thank goodness nothing happened. Could you imagine the financial liability that USATH would have had to incur if someone was injured due the lack a consideration for safety? Especially something so obvious as lighting. It was clear the Condors wanted play suspended until the lightning passed, but the USATH sanctioned organizers would have nothing to do with that. They were on a schedule to keep, especially since they had just returned from the 3 hour lunch break.
Jax Knights did a fabulous job a beach handball tournament. I would like to congratulate them for it. It was a fun and exciting time and I am sure the Condors will venture down whenever Jax decides to host another tournament. However, was this tournament the quality and caliber that should be expected from a “National Championship”? If you compare it to the current court national championship sanctioned by USATH, then it was right in line. it was difficult to determine which teams players were competing for. 66% of the teams had players that played for another team in the same competition. Where as this is perfectly acceptable in a “fun” tournament, I do not think that is acceptable for a “National Championship”. The only two teams not to violate this rule were Georgia Tech and the Condors. Also, at this tournament, rules seemed to be selectively enforced. Players were allowed to play for more than one team. Juniors, women and men were all combined into one division. Some people had to pay their membership prior to competition (and were checked diligently), while other teams were let off on a promise to pay. I would have thought that the USATH representative, Jim Thome, would not have allowed this to happen. He certainly has enough experience establishing guidelines and initiating rule changes to events that prevent and limit the number and caliber of participants. Is it because that team had a representative on the USATH board of directors?
Maybe I am over-reacting. But I would think that an organization that sponsored this tournament for $2000 should at least present a tacit level of pride in the tournament. There was absolutely no advertising at all! The Condors had someone stop by who wanted to play until she found out it was handball; she thought it was beach soccer! Not a single sign, banner, or pamphlet for the public. I thought that was one of the complaints against the 2000 National Championships in Tampa (court). Oh…no….that was a side issue to foreign player involvement. Odd that the quality of handball has been diminishing in this country ever since that tournament – and not just at the club level. Our Sr. & Jr. National teams are an embarrassment to the game of handball. Oh, damn, I digress again. I suppose that is another article for another time.
The 3rd Annual U.S. Beach Handball National Championships, which is sanctioned by the American Handball Association (AHA), will be hosted by the Condor Handball Organization (CHO) on October 12-13 in Snellville, Georgia. C.W. Briscoe Park in Snellville will be the venue for this event. Taking in to account the biggest complaint of all three beach tournaments (too hot!) is why we decided to host it later in the year and at a venue that has shade. For more information regarding this tournament, other events, how join a club, or the AHA – contact your local CHO representative or check online @ www.condorhandball.com
The sun never sets on the Condor Empire!
