Flying for Fun

With rare exceptions the goalies of the world--whatever their sport--are men of taut nerves and queasy stomachs who must live with the knowledge that their every mistake means an enemy score. A special place in this international fraternity of frustration is reserved for the men who guard the goals of a game that is Europe's winter substitute for soccer. The Europeans call it "indoor handball," though to American eyes it is a particularly violent combination of basketball, soccer and hockey.

Grimly anxious, the handball goalie patrols a soccerlike goal that has an intimidatingly large area--6 ft. 7 in. high, 10 ft. wide. He watches his six teammates battle the attackers in a scrimmage that resembles basketball played before a lenient referee. The players not only dribble and pass what looks like a volleyball, but they can also tuck it under their arm and run for three steps.

In this swirling action, the goalie's best friend is a semicircle drawn on the floor at a distance of 20 ft. from the goal. An attacker is not allowed to touch this line or the goal zone it bounds. But this fact bothers the literal-minded Europeans not a whit: they simply take a running leap over the line and get off their shots while flying through the air at the goalie. A good shotmaker, usually a trained gymnast, can be 6 ft. across the line when he finally shoots, and so long as he is still in the air, the shot is legal. Goalies, in turn, spend so much time flying through space to block shots that some wear sweat suits to ease their landings on the wooden floor. Belly-flopping goalies have been known to slide 10 ft. after making a save.

Derived from a game said to have been invented in the U.S. around 1870, indoor handball is now fancied by the hardy of 27 nations, including converts in Japan and Korea. In the game's stronghold of West Germany, where the world championship tournament will be held next March, some 1,500 league games were played last week alone. Current West German champions are a bunch of youngsters who play for the Turnverein Frischauf of Goeppingen and who spend their leisure hours working out on parallel bars to develop the agility that will send them hurtling at goalies for a Fallwurf (falling shot). Explains one player: "All the hard falls on the court are worth the look on the goalie's face as you come flying at him. It's real fun."

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