Boys Handball Tops Brooklyn Tech

Boys handball practices for their game against Brooklyn Tech. Photo Credit: Sarah Shoichet

By SARAH SHOICHET and TOMMY MA

With the handball season just starting, Midwood’s Boys Handball team is currently 3-0 after their win against their biggest rival, Brooklyn Tech, on April 4 at Midwood Field.

Brooklyn Tech and Midwood have been rivals for a long time. Mostly, it has been in Tech’s favor, but this win boosted Midwood’s morale for their future games.

Edward Li ’20, one of Midwood’s handball players, said, “Midwood and Tech have been ongoing rivals since the beginning, and we were always fighting to be Division I Champions. Tech has been the champs for two years in a row, and with our first win against them, we have high confidence that we will win this year.”

The game against Brooklyn Tech was intense. It was tied 2-2, so things were heating up going into the tiebreaker match.

“For the tiebreaker game, I was shaking and sweating because it was alternating serves at 20-20 for like five minutes,” explained Li. “It was pretty intense. The second Tech messed up, I was so happy. We ran to our first doubles players to hug them and were in complete awe.”

Jimmy Lam ’20, another Midwood handball player, said, “Tech played very consistently and gave us an extremely hard time, but in the end, we pulled out a win from three amazing shots from our first doubles player Haoxuan to end the series.”

With every game, the team gains a learning experience. The team has been practicing non-stop since October and is now putting all their best skills out on the field.

Coach Kimberly Lau’s goal is to “get them to love the sport enough for them to play on their own,” as well as to become city champions, she said.

Through hard work and dedication, the handball team is striving to be the best in the city.

Mr. Eric Li, the other coach, said, “The team is very self-driven. They are motivated and have the same end goal: to be Division 1 Champions.”

The team has improved dramatically since last year. Ms. Lau explained, “The new starters have stepped up a lot. Our aim, teamwork, and communication have gotten a lot better.”

Mr. Li added, “Every practice, we do drills, talk about our mental game, lockout instructions, and focus on one thing to improve on at a time.” 

With future matches coming up, the team is ready to take on any challenge.

“We are pretty confident in our future games,” Li said. “We never underestimate our opponents, and we play our best.” 

Kevin Liang ’20, another team member, said, “I believe that we are capable of beating Brooklyn Tech this year because everyone on our team is working hard. Not only that, everybody on the team wants to beat them, and it shows by how we play.”

Mr. Li said, “We are 100% more confident this year. We will zip every player out.”