Celebrating the International Handball Week between 12 and 18 July, the IHF.info website talked with several players regarding the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but also trying to find out what handball means for them and how they try to create a legacy in the sport.

From 27 to 29 July, the ‘IHF Beach Handball Showcase’ will take place on the fringes of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

Three men’s and three women’s All-star Teams, plus the French men’s and women’s national teams will play Beach Handball games across three days coached by six world-renowned, medal-laden coaches.

In total, 64 (32 men, 32 women) of the world’s best Beach Handball players from 18 countries will feature, including players from Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Islamic Republic of Iran, Netherlands, Norway, People’s Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Spain, United States of America and Uruguay. 

In a special series of question and answers, IHF.info hears from players and coaches selected for the showcase. This time, it is the USA’s Christine Mansour, top-scorer at the 2022 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship and one of the players at the event in Paris.

IHF.info: How do you feel to be selected for this event? 

Christine Mansour: It is a huge honour and, quite honestly, a dream come true. I've been an athlete ever since I was little. And, as an athlete, the dream is to go to the pinnacle event for athletics, which is the Olympics.

To go and play a sport that I just fell so deeply in love with as I did with Beach Handball, is an ultimate dream come true. It's also just so incredible to be on the ground floor of the sport and to be able to help it move forward and showcase it on the world's biggest stage. It’s an honour that is beyond words.

IHF.info: Tell us about your Beach Handball career and your highlights so far…

Christine Mansour: I started back in 2018. I had dabbled a bit in indoor handball. When I was doing my undergraduate degree at Harvard University, I actually started an indoor handball team there because I fell in love with the sport and I wanted to be able to play it on campus, that was my first real exposure to the indoor version.

When I graduated and moved out to San Diego, I was following USA Team Handball on Facebook and I saw them post something about playing Beach Handball. So, growing up on the beach down in Naples, Florida, a total beach bum all my life, I figured; why not play the sport on the sand?

Literally, the first moment I threw a ball, when my feet were in the sand, I fell in love. I then competed at the 2018 SoCal Southern California championships in Los Angeles and that was my first real taste of competition in the sport. Then I ended up making the US national team and the rest was history – I couldn’t stop playing.

I played my first international tournaments with the US and I loved it so much, but we didn’t have as many opportunities to compete in the sport as I wanted to so I actually started a Beach Handball team in the Netherlands.

I actually moved there during covid to play in their indoor club team, KRAS/Volendam, and after that indoor season, I just realised that I loved Beach Handball more, so I wanted to have an opportunity to play in Europe, which is pretty much the world's highest level. I created a team that was half-American, half-Dutch and we have had three summers competing around Europe, in 12 different countries and went to the ebt finals twice.

It's just been an incredible experience to play with Dutch Beach Handball players who kind of grow with the sport and so I've learned so much from my teammates and to also provide the opportunity for my American teammates to come over and play.

It's kind of become an American Beach Handball residency programme in Europe, it’s the only club that has brought over our elite American players to compete at the highest level.

It's been so exciting to see my improvement through the years starting back in 2018. I really relied heavily on my background where I played basketball at collegiate level. I played a lot of volleyball, flag football, surfing, spikeball. I've played so many different sports.

Coming from that sports background, Beach Handball is the perfect sport to combine all those skillsets. Through the years I've been really able to fine tune that skillset and become a Beach Handball-specific athlete.

It all cultivated into becoming top-scorer at the 2022 IHF World Championship. I just feel like I have been able to really sharpen my tools.

Typically, I play as a pivot. I've been able to play some wing as well. I’m just becoming a bit more of a versatile player and really just growing with the sport. I've seen so much growth in the last six years since I started playing. That's been exciting both on a personal and athletic level.

IHF.info: What do you love about Beach Handball? / How does Beach Handball make you feel?

Christine Mansour: One of the greatest things about Beach Handball is that it takes you all over the world and you get to learn so many different cultures. As a person I've definitely become more well-rounded and have been able to experience life on a deeper level. 

It’s the people that make it for me. Beach Handball has the most concentrated, cool group of humans that are so passionate about the sport, but who also live a diverse array of lives.

I've had teammates who are mechanical engineers, psychologists, Mums – everyone comes from different backgrounds and from all over the world to play this underground sport that we all love, but maybe not so underground anymore after the Paris Showcase. 

Playing a sport outside, in the sand, barefoot and ideally under the sun, is the best feeling in the world. I always feel so alive when I’m playing Beach Handball. There’s always what I call the ‘post-tournament blues’ after a tournament is over. 

Everyone competes hard on the sand, but the Fair Play aspect is in play and everyone is friends with everyone. Of course there's rivalries, but for the most part, everyone is super down-to-earth and just good people. I've met some of my closest friends through the sport and to be able to do that all-in-one and then spend a weekend away in a beautiful place, competing hard is fantastic.

I'm just so grateful to have the opportunity to have played all over the world in this sport.

IHF.info: What are your hopes for the future of Beach Handball and the Olympic Games?

Christine Mansour: On the surface, it's for Beach Handball to become an official part of the Olympic Games programme, but digging a little bit deeper, it's just so fulfilling that every single player, coach, referee, administrator and federation plays such a large role in raising and spreading awareness of the sport.

We all feel a big level of responsibility for the success and progression of Beach Handball and for that to all culminate and come to fruition through this showcase event is such an incredible outcome of a huge endeavour.

It's not easy to grow a sport globally when you're competing with so many different cultural sports and athletic aspects.

My hope is that the showcase is a main event in the timeline of the growth of Beach Handball. This is such a key, pivotal moment. I’m so grateful that the IHF has taken advantage of the Olympic Games to really create something really special and something I know that everyone involved with is so, so, so proud to be a part of. My hope is that we continue the momentum and get this into the official Olympic Games.

IHF.info: What would you say to anyone who has never played or watched Beach Handball and is thinking of getting involved with the sport?

Christine Mansour: Don't be afraid of failure. The game itself is so beautiful. It's athestically-pleasing. At the surface it looks a bit impossible with all the spin shots, alley-oops, passing, defence and diving. It's just looks so dynamic, but at the end of the day, we're just playing a sport in sand and we're all barefoot. We're all having a good time. Don’t let your fear of looking stupid inhibit you from trying the sport.

I did not come from a Handball background. I didn't come from a Beach Handball background. I came from a multi-sport background. Beach Handball is a sport that really is dynamic in that way that it does compile a few different skillsets that you've gained in previous sports, if you've played any other sports. 

It's really cool to see someone who tries it for the first time. Yes, they may not get that 360-degree fully down, but after a couple of times, you get exponentially better. To see when that light bulb comes on for people trying it is so exciting.

Beach Handball gives me a depth of life that I am so grateful for. It's taken me all over the world and I made my best friends through the sport. It is the best workout ever on the sand. It's really just a multifaceted, great aspect of my life. It's just been wonderful to be part of.

The IHF Beach Handball Showcase is a collaborative effort between the IHF, Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP2024), French Handball Federation (FFHB) and International Olympic Committee (IOC).