Olympic Handball Introduction

Handball is a combination of Basketball, Soccer and Netball.
  It is played indoors on a court about the size of two basketball
courts.  At the each end of the court is a net which is 9 feet wide by 6
1/2 feet high.  The objective of the game is simply to score more goals
than the other team.

The ball is generally moved around the court by passing to each other.  However, the ball can be bounce, but like in
basketball you cannot double- bounce. You can bounce for as long as you want .You
can only take at most three steps after catching a pass.  You cannot keep the ball for more than three
seconds without passing it.  If a player
is fouled he is allowed a free zone 9 feet wide to restart play.  Each team has 12 members, two of which are
goalkeepers.  7 team members’ play and
substitutions can be made at any time.
There is a halfway line on the court.
There is also a safety area that extends about 20 feet around the goal.  A player is not allowed to be in this
area.  Shooters may leap into this area if
they shoot before they land.<></br>

If there is a penalty a player is warned.
The next two penalties are two-minute suspensions.  After that players can be ineligible (which
means they are detached, but can be replaced after two minutes).  They can also be excluded, which means they
cannot be replaced and the team will have one less player on the court.

Each goal counts as 1 point.
Usually 20 goals are scored in a game.
The games consists of two 30 minute halves with a 10 minute rest period
in between the halves.  The handball
weighs 16 ounces (13 ounces for women) and is about the size of a cantaloupe.

The handball game of today was shaped by the end of the 19th
century in northern Europe, mainly Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The
first written set of team handball rules was published in 1906 by the Danish
gym teacher. The modern set of rules was available on 29 October 1917 by Max Heiser,
Karl Schelenz, and Erich Konigh from Germany. After 1919 these rules were
improved by Karl Schelenz. The first international games were played under
these rules, between Germany and Belgium for men in 1925 and between Germany
and Austria for women in 1930. Therefore modern handball is generally seen as a
game of German origins.

Men's field handball was played at the 1936 Summer Olympics
in Berlin. Women's team handball was added at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

London 2012 Olympic will see Handball being contested in Copper
Box– Olympic Park Basketball Arena from Saturday 28 July – Sunday 12 August. Handball
fans can get their Olympic Handball Tickets from Global Ticket Market. Handball
Tickets are now available for reservation at Global Ticket Market at affordable
price. Olympic Games fans should be active fast to guarantee their London
Olympic Tickets from Global Ticket Market.