Sun Devil Women's Handball Club President Tia Foxx had never played handball before this year.
Handball is a fast-paced indoor game where opposing teams try to score by throwing a ball into a football-style goal with posts and a crossbar, according to the Olympics website.
"It's fun to watch. It's high energy, lots of action. It's physical. There's not too many sports where, especially with the women's teams, they're allowed to just be as aggressive as you can be in handball," Foxx said.
Foxx learned about handball when she met Viva Kreis while playing an intramural basketball game. Kreis is a senior studying mass communication and media studies and is also an athlete who plays for the USA Women's Indoor National Handball Team.
Foxx decided to attend a women's developmental handball training camp in Irvine, California. This camp offered opportunities to practice both indoor and beach handball and was open to all levels of experience. Foxx said while she was at this camp in Irvine, she had no clue what she was doing, but still had a blast.
"(I) came back from Irvine, and I was like, you know what? Since I'm really into this whole growing these niche sports, ASU could really benefit from having a handball club team," Foxx said.
So that's exactly what Foxx, a graduate student studying sports law and business, set out to do. After attending the handball camp in Irvine, Foxx made a LinkedIn post asking for support.
In eight weeks, while working alongside everyone, Foxx was able to form the Sun Devil Women's Handball Club.
The post caught the attention of Charli Brown and Izzie Ayer, both seniors studying sports business. After getting in contact with Foxx, Brown and Ayer offered their help with the formation of the club, becoming the vice president and team coordinator, respectively.
ASU alum Olivier Desplanques has been playing handball since he was 10 years old. Desplanques was a part of a local handball club that started in 2011 and disbanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. When he heard about the formation of the Sun Devil Women’s Handball Club, Desplanques volunteered to help out by taking on the head coach role.
The club held its first official informational meeting and practices in April. At these events, students had the opportunity to learn more about the sport, get some hands-on experience with team handball and beach handball, and meet the club's leadership team.
Club members Bella Merkel, a junior studying aerospace engineering, and Isabella Soriano, a junior studying biomedical engineering, are both a part of the Sun Devil Marching Band and watched handball in the Summer Olympics.
When Merkel received an ad for the Sun Devil Women's Handball Club on Instagram, Merkel asked Soriano if she wanted to join the club.
Next semester, Foxx is hoping to grow the club and apply to become a recognized sports club team to have access to more resources.
"We're not going to be pros or anything like that. It's just good vibes and fun," Foxx said. "(We're) recruiting more people and really building awareness throughout the sport and introducing it to ASU."
Edited by Senna James, Sophia Ramirez and Natalia Jarrett.
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Audrey is a junior studying journalism and mass communication. This is here third semester with The State Press.
