Handball a surprise warm-up for soccer
By Andrew Howard
Oct. 10, 2007 10:54 p.m.
There are some days when the UCLA women’s soccer team just likes to relax, release the pressures that come with being the No. 1 team in the country, and have fun.
After a long week of practice, there is nothing else they would rather do than play a game of … handball?
Yes, handball. On occasion, the team warms up and gets the competitive juices flowing not by running sprints or doing dribbling exercises, but by playing a “friendly” little game.
In the game, players are broken up into two teams. The teams then proceed to throw the soccer ball around, make runs into open space, and give the occasional hard tackle and foul.
Some say it is strictly for fun. Others say it helps with the preparation for actual games, although, obviously, the use of hands would constitute a violation of soccer rules.
Coach Jill Ellis is one who believes that the objective of the game is solely to enjoy the competition that comes with the game.
“Honestly it’s just to get warmed up,” Ellis said with a slight chuckle. “Honestly it doesn’t translate. We just do it for fun. If we do it ““ and we’ve only done it like twice ““ we do it on a Thursday when we have a lighter practice.”
But there are others who like to think that the fundamentals of the drill ““ moving into open space without the ball, spacing out the defense, manning up defensively ““ translate into game situations.
“(The game) just helps with movement and opening up for people,” defender Lauren Wilmoth said. “Just more shape and giving support for people. Just to work on when you have the ball to sit there and give an option.”
Senior goalkeeper Valerie Henderson added that defensively, the game works on the fundamentals of matching up with your defender and making sure that players are not left wide open.
Asked on when and how the game originated, Ellis was unsure.
“It’s pretty common in soccer sometimes to play handball,” Ellis said. “Sometimes it’s just a fun warm-up just to get them moving and get them thinking about passing the ball. So it’s nothing more than just a fun warm-up.”
So, the natural question would be, who is the best player? Which player strikes the most intimidating pose?
The answer was unanimous.
“Val and (Lauren) Cheney,” Wilmoth said. “They’re pretty good at it. Cheney played basketball so she is good. And Val because she is the keeper and she is just intense.”
“Probably Val is the most intimidating,” Ellis said. “She gets put in the “˜sin bin’ a lot. For fouling.”
When asked what she thought about being the one who the players think is the best at the game, Henderson could only laugh and smile.
“That’s just another chance for us to compete against each other and we are all so competitive and excited for that game because you kind of get to knock each other over and be aggressive,” Henderson said. “I just get really riled up for it. I actually got put on time-out last time (and) had to go to the penalty box.”
