USA Beach Handball is pleased to announce the United States has been selected to host the 2018 Pan American Beach Handball Championships.  The competition will take place March 8 – 11, 2018 in Oceanside, CA, north of San Diego.  The tournament is open to men’s and women’s senior National Teams from North, Central, and South America as well as Caribbean countries. A total of 20 teams will compete, 12 men and 8 women, with the top four teams in each gender advancing to the World Beach Handball Championships in Kazan, Russia, July 2018. The tournament is free to attend to all spectators!

Featured teams of the tournament are the 2017 World Game Gold Medalists Brazil men and women World Games Silver Medalist Argentina women and the USA Men’s Team, the current Pan American Champions. USA Beach Handball is looking forward to the debut of the USA Women’s Team at these games. Dennis Berkholtz, National Director of USA Beach Handball says, “We are honored that PATH and the international beach handball community has recognized Beach Handball as a serious sport in the United States, and has given us the opportunity to host the Pan American community here in our home.”

The Championships will be the headline event featured in a long weekend of sports, music and food, representing various countries in attendance.  There will be four days of tournament play with the medal matches played on Saturday and Sunday in the famous Amphitheater next to the Oceanside Pier.  USA Beach Handball looks forward to hosting the event on the beaches of Oceanside, CA, recognizing the experience the city has in hosting high profile beach events.  The Pan American Beach Handball Championships will be managed through a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and will work closely with strategic partner and supporter in the area. 

Beach Handball is one of the quickest growing beach sports in the world with its fast paced, high scoring, spectator friendly games. The game is the “sand” version of the Olympic sport of Team Handball, played with teams of four and two action packed sets of 10 minute each. Games are often decided by a shoot-out.  USA Men’s Coach Michael Hinson likes the format, “Regardless of a team’s talent level in a shoot-out format anyone can win.  At the highest level, it’s easy to lose and hard to win!”

The USA Beach Handball Program was founded in Southern California in late 2015 with the Men’s Team, who went on to become the Pan American Champions only six month later.  The Women’s team relocated to the Hermosa Beach training site a year later, and the Jr. Men’s team soon joined the ranks.  USA Beach Handball is a discipline of USA Team Handball located in Colorado Springs, CO. 

Stay tuned for a detailed schedule of events that we’ll post here as the event approaches!