Who?

• Began in 1890's when German gymnastics instructor, Konrad Koch, developed structure and rules of Team Handball.
• The Germans, Danish, and Csechs each developed their own rules.
• In 1919, Carl Schelenz of Germany combined two elements of two of the games to create the game of handball.
• Team Handball players are encouraged to be athletic, flamboyant, inventive, and above all, able to work together as a team.

What?

• Modern game grew out of three sports that were developed independently in Czechoslovakia(hazena), Denmark(handbold), and Germany(torball). All three were based on soccer, and essentially replaced the foot with the hands, so that the ball could be advanced by batting or throwing, rather than kicking.

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• Team Handball can be described as a combination of soccer, basketball, ice hockey, and water polo.^[2]
• Team Handball can be played both indoors and outdoors.

When?

• Rapidly began spreading in the 1920's.
• In 1928, the International Amateur Handball Federation (IAHF) was created.
• In the beginning it was played outdoors with 11 players. It was the Danish game that was played indoors with 7 players.
• Became a very popular recreational activity in many adademic instituions in Western Europe after World War II.

Where?

• First international match was played by Austria and Germany in 1925 in Halle, Germany between Germany and Belgium for Men and in 1930 between Germany and Austria for women.^[3]
• Field Version was introduced as an Olympic Sport in the 1936 Games in Berlin (upon the request of A. Hitler).
• In 1959, the US Team Handball Federation was form.
• The sport was removed from the 1940 Olympic Summer Games. However, during the next several decades, the game of handball flourished and evolved as an indoor sport in the Scandinavian countries. The sport re-emerged onto the world stage as team handball for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
• The court version of Team Handball was introduced in the Olympics in the 1972 Games in Munich.
• Women's team handball was added at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
• By July 2009, the IHF listed 166 member federations - approximately 795,000 teams and 19 million players.