Upcoming Events

SouthEast Team Handball Conference League Play

Atlanta,GA

September – March 2005

American Handball Association Collegiate League

Atlanta, GA

January – April 2006

Carolina Team Handball Club Blue Cup

Chapel Hill, NC

February 18-19, 2006

Atlanta Metro Classic

Atlanta, GA

March 2006

USA Team Handball Regional Qualifying Tournament

Location TBD

April 2006

USA Team Handball Collegiate National Championships

Cincinnati, OH

April 14-16 2006
 
 
 

College Program

Start a college program in your school!

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Volunteers

Build your resume: Join us!

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Referees

Become a certified US official and add to your income

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Development

Coming Fall 2006

Coaching

Coming Summer 2006

 
 

We thank you for your interest in considering becoming a United States Team Handball Referee. This is an exciting opportunity, with lots of weekend travel to destinations all over the US and abroad. Also, all of your referees officiate in their free time, so the commitment is minimal and will not interfere with any involvements that you already have!

Please fill out our sign-up form, so that we can get started! And remember that there is NO experience necessary whatsoever. We will show you the game, the rules, and you will earn your certification in 3 to 5 weeks!

Program Details

The program that you are about to embark on is intended to produce referees of the highest quality in a short amount of time. If this is your first time coming into contact with the sport of Team Handball, it is ok – this program is designed with you in mind. Once you have signed up for our program, you will spend 3 weeks learning the ins-andouts of the game.

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AHA Ref Program, Phase I

Phase I begins with basic learning and understanding of the fundamentals of the sport. USA Team Handball will provide a list of basic rules in video format. We ask that you review the rules carefully, noting any questions that come to mind. These will be answered at a later date, and will also help further in your grasp of the sport. Since it is necessary for referees to be familiar with their part in the game, you will also be assigned eight (8) different games to watch and learn from. These eight games are selected from the games played during the 2004 Olympics, and will consist of four (4) Men’s Olympic games and four (4) Women’s Olympic games.

Once the personal review is completed, you will sit in a 3-hour, Question and Answer session with an International Handball Federation (IHF) referee. The IHF is responsible for designing the rulebooks and making any changes to the way the game is played. This meeting will be supplemented with more in-game footage that will allow for you to ask questions and get explanations in real-time, and allow the instructor to give you his or her perspectives on refereeing. Meeting with a professional referee will also allow you to discover the opportunities available through refereeing. The full referee handbook will be issued on that day, and reviewed with the referee at hand. Again, questions are advised, as the referee will be very familiar with all the rules in the book.

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AHA Ref Program, Phase II

Phase II begins with an on-court session held by just the referees, to go over motions and positioning of the referees. These positions will be explained at length, and will also accompany what has been taught in the handbook. Afterwards, an actual game will be held – to which you will be assigned to referee. These games will be held with two full squads with local and international players playing to give you a more pragmatic approach to the context and content of the instructional video and book. In the following in-class session, the IHF Rule Book will be reviewed one more time, with another on-court session, and shortly thereafter you will take the USATH Certification Exam. It is imperative that the rules are well-known, so we encourage that the book be thouroughly reviewed alongside the videos provided.

There will be a Certification Exam review the day before the exam. It is suggested that you take noteson this day, if it will help you remember the material. We also strongly suggest that you ask questions about the format and requirements for the exam, as these questions will not be answered on the day of the USATH Certification exam. The exam will be followed by more court work, so we ask that you come prepared for both the exam and the referee work.

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AHA Ref Program, Phase III

In Phase III, you will be given additional opportunities to referee. The AHA referee program will also be assessing your ability during active games to parlay the referee skills you have learned during this week. Exhibition games will be held on different days, and each student will be assigned at least one or two games at which they can hone their own skills at the referee positions. The course instructor will also attend these games to give you more guidance and aid in proper referee technique.

Phase III will conclude will all recruits officiating in an official American Handball Association or USA Team Handball Tournament. During this time, all the referees in the program will attend and referee the games – under the supervision of the course instructor. Each referee will be evaluated individually as a final step into their certification as a referee. Following the tournament, referees who have passed will be awarded their USATH and AHA diplomas, their USATH pins, and their official referee gear – which consists of the Official Team Handball International shirt (embroidered with the USATH and AHA logos, your name,and rank), referee wallet, shorts, and black socks.

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