Chicago, IL - The USA Lady Condors of Altanta just completed a remarkable run at the US Olympic Handball National Championships in suburban Chicago on May 8-9-10, losing a closed contested game in the finals against Chicago Inter, 28-25 and going home with the silver medal. The surprise run started when the Lady Condors shocked tournament favorites Smurfs Team Handball, and went on to finish first in pool play. In the semifinal, they won a close game against the New England Freeze, and then fell short in the final against host team Chicago.

Outside of the Lady Condors Club, expectations were not very high as the team was assembled at the last minute by General Manager and Head Coach Ray René. However, the team integrated quickly in the first game, and was led throughout the tournament by Team Canada superstars Alexis Baltimore, Amber Smart and Kristen Kitagawa. These decorated players were supported by Germans Katharina Leichtfuss and Maike Wilhelm, and Hungarians Szabina Kiss and Ildiko Liker. After winning by a comfortable 8 goals against the California Smurfs in their first game, they lost a hard-fought match against the Houston Firehawks only to rebound in the last game of pool play by blowing out Army. The Lady Condors finished first in group play based on goal differential.

In the semifinal, the Lady Condors faced their first challenge against mostly European players in the New England Freeze. they clamped dowon on the Freeze using a tough 5-1 defense that resulted in many turnovers converted into fastbreak goals. This game saw the emergence of Lady Condor goalkeepers Sabrina Pogodzinski and Nicole Glaser, along with the return to defensive form of former Team USA Junior players and Atlanta natives Alicia Brown, Shannon Weldon, Mary Lane, Joy Manning, Latrice Lewis, Carol Garcia and Jaci Higgins. The USA players had not had any playing opportunities in over two year but still held their own next to their more accomplished international teammates. In fact, in the final game, Garcia, Weldon and Lane led a momentum-killing defense in the second half of the final game that saw the Lady Condors climb out of a 6-goal deficit to within 2-goals.

The Lady Condors were considered the darlings of this tournament, even in the eyes of handball dignitaries in attendance. International Handball President Dr. Hassan Mustafa, USA Team Handball Federation President Dieter Esch and the Polish Handball Federation President watched several Lady Condor matches. In fact, Dr. Mustafa met every single player personally and volunteered to pose in a team photo with Mr. Esch. The Lady Condors consider this tournament unfinished business and intend to keep the core of that team for one more year despite tremendous technical, logistical and financial challenges. Lady Condor Tri-Captains Smart, Leichtfuss and Kiss look forward to working with GM René to get another shot at US gold.

While the Lady Condors are entering a new era, the Condor Men are exiting one. The Condor Men will be looking at rebuilding and getting younger on the court, as the core of the team is now advanced in age and can no longer carry the team deep into the tournament. Once again, the Condor Men were led by Team USA superstar Gary Hines and US Olympians Darrick Heath and Derek Brown. After shockingly being seeded 16th out of 20 teams in bracket play, the Condors lost their first game against New York Athletic Club (NYAC), but rapidly gained their playing form after that with impressive wins over Victorious Secret Handball Club and host team Chicago Inter. The next day, the Condor Men lost all three of their games in pool play against NYAC, NYTHC and Cal Heat, therefore falling out of medal contention. They won their last game on Sunday against Army, finishing seventh.

All in all, both Condor Men and Lady Condors greatly exceeded the expectations of most, even though within the club players are generally unsatisfied. The Condors are excited about the prospects of the 2009-2010 campaign, which is expected to begin with an invitational tournament jointly hosted by the USA Condors and the Houston Handball Club. The official press USA Team Handball press release for the 2009 Olympic Handball Championships can be viewed here.

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