About the American Handball Association

The American Handball Association, Inc. (AHA) was founded in 2002 by Mr. Mike Hurdle. Mr. Hurdle ran for the presidency of the sport’s National Governing Body (NGB), the US Team Handball Federation (USTHF) in 2004 and at that time, he named Mr. Ray Rene as his successor as President of the AHA. In 2005, USTHF and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) quarreled over the direction of the sport while USTHF underwent a power struggle between President Hurdle and the USTHF Board of Directors. This resulted in two votes that questioned the legality of the leadership of USTHF. The first vote, taken by the USTHF Board of Directors, removed Mr. Hurdle as the President; the second, taken by the USTHF General Membership, amended the By-Laws to keep the President – in this case, Mr. Hurdle – as the sole custodian of USTHF. Faced with this continued pattern of dysfunction, the USOC dismissed USTHF as the National Governing Body in early January 2006.

The American Handball Association has been completely restructured as of March 2006. The AHA was legally dissolved while a new entity, HANDBALL AMERICA, INC., was created and will use the AHA as a business name. The AHA will also be operating under new by-laws and a new Board of Governors. The mission of the AHA shall be to bring the United States of America to international prominence and competitive excellence in the Olympic sport of team handball. To achieve this ambitious objective, Handball America will promote and develop team handball in the United States at all age levels, focusing primarily in the southeast region of the country, by:

1. Developing local youth programs particularly for athletically gifted and minority youth (30% of resources).
2. Implementing collegiate programs at both two-year and four-year universities (20%).
3. Creating an Elite Program by recruiting and training men and women between the ages of 15 and 25, thus supplementing the USA National Teams that qualify for and compete at the Handball World Championships and the Olympic Games (20%).
4. Organizing and managing leagues and tournaments in the US at the local, regional, national and international levels (15%).
5. Disseminating information about the sport through informational packets, newsletters and its website www.handballamerica.com (10%).