USA team handball announced that the U.S. men’s senior national team will face Canada in a two-game qualifier series August 7th and 8th at the Long Lines family recreation center in Sioux City. The winner of the two-game series will advance to the 2027 Pan American games in Lima, Peru. Corey Westra, commissioner of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, says local interest began in may when he was invited to Briar Cliff University for a meeting with the president of USA team handball.
The Pan American games serve as the Olympic qualifying event for men’s handball across North and South America, making team USA against team Canada in Sioux City the official opening stage of 2028 Olympic qualification for the Los Angeles games. Michael King, president of USA team handball, says the sport is played in 211 countries and is one of the top draws in summer Olympic ticket sales. King knows many Americans are not familiar with the sport and described what you will see when team USA plays Canada.
Briar Cliff University is exploring adding varsity men’s and women’s handball, a move that would make it the first varsity collegiate handball program in the country. Dr. Matthew Draud, president of Briar Cliff, says the school athletic director asked if he might be interested in starting the sport here and showed him a video of a game.
He says the USA national program would help them in finding opponents to play until more schools add the sport.
Draud says they hope to start the team handball program at the school as early as the fall of 2027.
