The United States of America is bad at team handball. They didn’t even qualify for the Olympics. For a country that is always among the medal leaders, this is a disappointment, even though most people in America probably couldn’t tell you how the sport is played. However, this naturally leads to the question of how quickly could the United States be good at team handball? So, a question was asked: How long would it take for LeBron James, the best basketball player in the world, to become the best handball player in the world? The answer, at least according to one coach, is six months.
The coach in question is U.S. coach Javier García Cuesta. “Maybe six months,” he said when asked about LeBron’s team handball potential, “This is just a hypothetical. He has everything. When you see him playing, your mouth drops.” Now, García Cuesta might be a bit biased, but a couple of Danish handball players, including perhaps the world’s best handball player Mikkel Hansen, also see the potential. Here is what Hansen had to say about LeBron: “It’s difficult to talk about that. I admire LeBron James very much. I’m a big basketball fan. The way he sees the court, his vision for the game, is very impressive. There you would have a good start. And physically, he is amazing. But you also need to throw the ball. So, yeah. Maybe.”
Hansen’s Danish teammate Morten Olsen added, ““We always talk about it: If the Americans really wanted to play handball, they would be amazing. They have so many good athletes, and really big, strong athletes. It would be a big problem. Playing against LeBron James, that would be hard.”
Of course, LeBron isn’t going to quit playing basketball to help the U.S. turn their team handball fortunes around. Nobody who has any chance to play NBA basketball, or even basketball in Europe, is going to consider handball over hoops, but maybe if some of America’s better athletes consider taking on team handball on a whim, they can at least qualify for the Olympics.
(Via Washington Post)
