Sandpoint students enjoying handball class

SANDPOINT — Sneakers were squeaking, the ball was flying around at all kinds of crazy angles, players were diving to the floor, and most importantly, laughing and smiling, as a host of Sandpoint High School students participated in a free handball class Tuesday afternoon at the SWAC.

More than a dozen students, mostly football players, have attended the free month long course, the brainchild of Sandpoint handball player Jake Plummer. With the help of the Sandpoint West Athletic Club, which gave free one-month memberships to each participant, the program has been a rousing success.

“I asked some of the kids who weren’t playing winter sports to come out and try it,” said Plummer, who has played in a handful of national handball tournaments since hanging up his football cleats. “It couldn’t happen without Don Helander and his willingness to let the kids come out and try it.”

Handball is an athletically demanding game, requiring not just hand-eye coordination, quickness and footwork, but the use of both sides of the body, one of the only sports that requires ambidexterity to play.

As cross-training sports go, it’s a tough game to beat, and not surprisingly, many of the students are picking the game up quickly. The group plays every Tuesday and Thursday, but some of the kids are coming in on their own for extra games.

“It’s fun, it makes you work and you can see how it pertains to football,” said Luther Morgan, who plays both football and baseball at Sandpoint. “It’s fun judging the ball and how it’s going to react.”

Helander has been playing handball for more than 30 years, and enjoys seeing young kids pick up what he called life sports.

“You can play football for years, but you can play handball for decades,” said Helander, one of about 50 players in the Sandpoint area. “It satisfies the intensity index; I’ve gotten that feeling many times in handball.”

A group of kids in Spokane have also taken up the sport, and Plummer is hoping that the two can get together in the future for some friendly competition.

“It seems like they’re all having fun with the challenge of learning the game,” said Plummer, who teaches a few things but mostly just lets the kids play. “It’s fun seeing their enthusiasm.”