“We hope to build this sport at every level (youth, collegiate, club, national) in America leading up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. As the host country, we hope to show the handball world how much potential American handball has in seven years’ time.”
An exhilarating, fast-paced, high-scoring game, combining familiar elements of basketball, hockey, and soccer - the sport of handball seems tailor-made for American sports fans. Yet although it’s wildly popular in many other countries, this sport has never gained a foothold in the United States. USA Team Handball is on a mission to change that.
A small organization with big dreams, USA Team Handball faces many of the same difficulties as other National Governing Bodies, like limited staff, nation-wide programs, and complex financial reporting. But USATH has the added challenge of growing their sport from the ground up. In recent years, the organization has been aggressively building community-based networks across the U.S. and introducing youth to the sport through partnerships with schools and colleges, recreational clubs, and other youth-oriented nonprofits.
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased the challenge of attracting new athletes and members to this fledgling sport. With the National Championships and Collegiate National Championships cancelled, team handball lost valuable media exposure in the United States. And on the global stage, while the U.S. teams qualified for several world championships, they were unable to participate due to cancellations and COVID-19 restrictions. In the midst of these setbacks, USA Team Handball worked with Altruic Advisors to create a stronger, more efficient organization capable of quickly scaling up operations when their hard work and dedication to the sport begins to pay off in the United States.
On The Court
Before engaging Altruic Advisors, USA Team Handball lacked a standardized system of financial record-keeping. And with such a small team, the staff at USATH had difficulty juggling their bookkeeping and reporting obligations. With CFO Solutions, Altruic Advisors immediately established a secure document storage system to organize USATH’s financial records and provide remote access from anywhere in the world. Altruic also implemented an automated accounts payable platform to formally authorize payments and sync transaction data to their accounting system. These improvements helped USA Team Handball get up to speed with other NBGs and sports organizations, while the quarterly financial statements issued by Altruic Advisors helped the organization plan for future growth.
Playing to Win
With their accounting procedures streamlined and financial reporting standardized, USA Team Handball was able to operate in a more professionalized manner, despite their small size. By solving their bookkeeping burden, the organization also gained the time and space to launch new virtual programs for members and athletes, including referee and coaching education, Facebook Live conversations with current and former athletes, and more.
As USA Team Handball works to continue their momentum and establish a competitive infrastructure for the sport in the United States, they are preparing the organization for growth. While no one can predict the future, USA Team Handball is hopeful that their sustained grassroots efforts will ultimately help capture America’s interest in the sport - and when that happens, they’ll be ready.
“The Altruic Advisors team has dramatically helped streamline and improve our process...they have ensured that we will be set up for success in future years as well! ”
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Did you know?
Team handball was the second-most ticketed sport at the 2016 Rio Olympics, a popularity level only exceeded by soccer. It’s also one of the few Olympic sports in which the United States has never won a medal.