{"id":964632,"date":"2026-05-16T16:10:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/964632\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T16:10:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:10:33","slug":"meet-the-women-training-to-represent-the-us-in-an-olympic-sport-theyd-never-heard-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/964632\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the women training to represent the US in an Olympic sport they\u2019d never heard of"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A viral TikTok video has sparked an unprecedented surge of interest in the U.S. Olympic women’s handball team, drawing hundreds of hopefuls with no prior experience. <\/p>\n

Among them is Rylee White, a 27-year-old screenwriter, who had never even heard of the fast-paced sport until her roommate showed her the clip advertising trials in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The call for athletes, explicitly stating “no experience necessary,” resonated widely. Over 150 women, significantly boosted by the viral video, attended the January trials \u2013 a five-fold increase on previous turnouts. <\/p>\n

Just five months later, White is one of a select few who have relocated to Florida to join USA Handball’s national residency programme. <\/p>\n

Their ultimate ambition is to represent the United States at the 2028 Summer Olympics<\/a>, set to be held in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\"DevynDevyn Holbrook takes a jump shot during a handball training session (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)<\/p>\n

Handball is popular overseas but not in the US <\/p>\n

As the host nation, the U.S. automatically qualifies for every sport. <\/p>\n

The last time the United States had a women\u2019s handball team at the Games was in 1996. Finding the money and resources needed to field a competitive U.S. team is a constant challenge. Athletes are often dual citizens from Europe<\/a> who play professionally overseas.<\/p>\n

While handball is little known in the U.S., it is popular in Germany, France, Norway and Denmark as well as Balkan nations in southeastern Europe. These countries usually dominate at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s handball was introduced in the 1936 Olympics, and women started participating at the 1976 Games. But while many Olympic athletes start training in childhood to compete for their country, handball athletes in the U.S. often pivot to the sport later in life.<\/p>\n

The game involves two teams of six players who use their hands to pass a ball \u2014 covered in a sticky resin \u2014 to get it into the other team\u2019s goal, protected by a goalkeeper. It\u2019s fast, full-contact and can draw tens of thousands of spectators overseas.<\/p>\n

Former athletes take a gamble <\/p>\n

Many female handball players were Division One athletes in college or are former professional basketball players. Most are in their 20s and 30s, but some play into their 40s.<\/p>\n

White had hoped to have a college athlete career playing basketball and lacrosse but was hindered by injuries and several surgeries on her knees. Handball felt like her chance to play competitive sports again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people would describe me as the most competitive person they\u2019d ever met,\u201d White said. \u201cI definitely was raised in a house where we had big, big dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DevynDevyn Holbrook, center, looks to pass during a handball training session (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)<\/p>\n

She told the coach after tryouts: \u201cI\u2019m ready to go do this and I will work as hard as you want me to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal of the residency is for players to improve enough to be paid to play professionally overseas.<\/p>\n

Many have left partners behind to pursue their dreams, including White.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him I\u2019m going to take him to Europe with me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As for the Olympic team roster, that won\u2019t be finalized until a few months ahead of the LA Games. While dozens of women are training in the residency, only about 14 to 18 can represent the country in a tournament. It\u2019s a big gamble.<\/p>\n

Multisport athletes tend to make the best handball players <\/p>\n

Sarah Gascon, who played on the women\u2019s national team for years, recently became its head coach. Her goal is to rebuild the team and the program in the U.S. after years of decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had great successes in my career and some really great moments but still didn\u2019t get an opportunity to play in the Olympic Games because we just weren\u2019t good enough,\u201d Gascon said.<\/p>\n

The best players, Gascon has found, are multisport athletes. Basketball teaches you how to dribble, volleyball teaches you how to block a ball when someone is shooting, and softball or rugby teaches you how to throw. Handball incorporates all of these skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about their athleticism,\u201d Gascon said. \u201cDo they have a good foundation that we could build upon? And how are they able to adapt with learning something new at 22 or 23 years old?\u201d<\/p>\n

A lack of funding is the biggest hurdle <\/p>\n

While Gascon has rounded up enthusiastic athletes in Florida, the biggest challenge they face is resources.<\/p>\n

USA Handball is the only national governing body for an Olympic sport that doesn\u2019t receive any funding from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, and the women\u2019s team is the only one that doesn\u2019t receive any support, such as access to elite athlete health insurance, Gascon said. The committee did not respond to an Associated Press email request for comment.<\/p>\n

Gascon and her staff are all volunteers, and the athletes have to work full-time while training.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our best athletes haven\u2019t been able to go to tournaments or go to events because they can\u2019t afford it,\u201d Gascon said.<\/p>\n

\"ManyMany of the women hadn\u2019t heard of the sport until the tryouts (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)<\/p>\n

Devyn Holbrook had also never heard of handball before the tryouts.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old self-proclaimed \u201cqueen of side quests\u201d grew up doing ballet, soccer, basketball, softball, and javelin for track and field. She quickly became obsessed with handball after playing for just a few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just loved it and then I couldn\u2019t stop watching videos online of past Olympic Games,\u201d Holbrook said. \u201cYou don\u2019t get a lot of chances to do like women\u2019s team sports later in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

She figured she had nothing to lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will never be a chance again that I could go to the Olympics in this capacity,\u201d Holbrook said. \u201cSo why not give it everything that I have? And if I don\u2019t make it, then I don\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":964633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-964632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116585132533896848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/964633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}