There are no bleachers, chair rentals or even benches for spectators to get comfortable so grab your sand chair, milk crate or other mountable surface and head down to the courts at Seabreeze Park, at West 5th St and Surf Ave this Wednesday for the 8:00am start of the USHA 1-wall National Championships.
Thought to have been brought over to the United States in the 1880’s by Irish immigrants, the game of handball is said to have been around since the 15th century. A game may be played as single (1 player vs. 1 player), double (2 players vs. 2 players) or ‘triangles’ where one player rotates and plays against two receivers until put “out” - The triangles game continues like this until one of the 3 single serving players scores their 21 points and wins. A one-wall handball court, such as those over at SeaBreeze Park, has a wall 20’ wide by 16’ high. It’s estimated that in the parks of the five boroughs there are around 2000 of these courts making it a popular sport for NYers.
The vocabulary of the game is not quite as extensive as the set of rules but both are equally important to understand when spectating. And if history proves correct, spectators there will be. The handball tournaments at Coney Island regularly draw a crowd that is seemingly larger than it actually is. Due to a lack of viewer space it’s not at all uncommon to see folks set up in all forms of seating ranging from folding chairs to portable ladders while some opt to simply stand against the fence that borders the ramp onto the boardwalk.
This year’s talk on the courts is all about the likely championship match up of Cesar Sala and Satish Jagnandan. The fierce opponents have met in the finals for the past three years with the first two proving victorious for Jagnandan and last years win coming as redemption for Sala. They both play their first singles match of the 2009 tourney on Thursday; Sala at 11:00am and Jagnandan at 1:00pm. Barring a major upset, you can expect to see them play each other once again in the final matches which are scheduled for Sunday, August 9th. Start times have not yet been posted.
For More Info:
http://www.ushandball.org/
http://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=5616
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