Will the London Olympics inspire Great Britain into a handball frenzy?

With the London Olympics in 2012, handball could have found the springboard it’s been seeking to boost its popularity. The fast-paced, energetic game  is extremely popular in many other countries such as Germany, France, Sweden and Spain. But why hasn’t the UK been bitten by the bug?

Current Great Britain coach Paul McDermott has been heavily involved with the rejuvenation of handball over the past five years. He and current GB performance coach, Bill Baillie, restarted the national squad programme from scratch with no funds after it folded.  And McDermott insists: “We are doing all we can to raise the popularity of handball. I don’t think the problem is that handball is unpopular; I think it’s just that it’s not popular yet.”

The national squad recently received a budget from the English Handball Association with which they travelled to Luxembourg compete in the Handball Challenge Trophy. It's is the first time in three-and-a-half years of working with the national team that McDermott has seen this - but although handball may be on the up, it is still riddled with fundamental problems.

The sport doesn’t have the competition structure it needs. In London, for instance, handball is not part of the youth games, where each borough sends its young athletes to compete against other boroughs.

With Great Britain eager to make the 2012 Olympic Games a success, the government is putting money into sports that normally wouldn’t receive such a luxury – and, just as importantly, it will give handball a stage to shine.

“We must take full advantage of the 2012 Olympics in every way that we can – but this must be done at all levels” added McDermott. ''It’s not going to be easy and we need all the help we can get but we can make the game much more popular here. Schools love it when we can get the youngsters playing it. We are getting handball into schools but it won’t happen overnight.”

Guillaume Saez, who is currently taking a gap year in England, plays handball in his native France, where the participation levels and popularity of the sport are much higher than in the UK. While in England, he is playing for Manchester Handball Club and recently took part in a friendly against the potential GB Olympic team.

Back in France, Saez plays for SMID, which consists of a few semi-professionals, who are currently in the fifth highest of France's 20 leagues.  And although the standard in England is not as high as in France, he has been impressed from what he has seen.

“English handball is going the right way – the federation has the money and the facilities,'' he said.   “When I played the GB team I was very impressed with the facilities at the Sheffield gym we played in. The English federation are building a team of young, strong players and trying to teach them handball in time for the London Olympics.”

But can you simply teach an athlete ability and talent? ''The right way to make the sport successful, I think, is to look at a younger age – from maybe ten upwards,” added Guillaume. “I like the spirit of the federation, though, and I hope that the money and the team they are building isn’t just for the Olympics.

“As for the country's chances in London, I think it is a little too early for them. They need to get the game played in schools – you cannot teach someone to be good at handball.”

McDermott believes the way to success is converting players from other sports into playing handball. “I know people have become sceptical of what has become known as ‘talent transfer’,'' he says. ''But it does work and we must bring in players from other sports – there's no reason why they cannot convert.

“Huw Goodwin has only been playing handball since earlier this year and he has just returned from the Challenge Trophy as a success story. I recently spent the day at Aarhus academy in Denmark, where the GB lads are and I watched the talent identification training camp.

“The lads from other sports have made huge progress in a very short space of time and they are also big, strong athletes. They are learning fast.”

So as Great Britain search for physically endowed athletes to take part in their four-year training plan, it sparks the argument – can talent be taught by coaches and the right environment?

The whole of Britain will be behind the team come 2012. But can success be measured in a few good performances in London or should the real goal be to build a competition structure in handball - starting at grass-roots level?