Aug. 2, 2005

Often times, college athletes can't stop competing. Finding a place to compete, however, proves a great deal harder after college than ever before. Professional leagues are too exclusive or too demanding, while recreational leagues can be a joke. For Johns Hopkins track and basketball star Kathy Darling ('03), the answer was handball, a game completely new to her. Darling joined the USA Women's National Team (WNT) in February 2005 and has been a disciple ever since.

The sport, which combines elements of soccer and basketball, provides exactly what Darling and many other former college athletes desire - it is fast, physical, and fun. Darling trains full-time with the WNT, which plays in the Quebec League from October to April, and will travel to Europe for more competition next July. The team's ultimate goal is to win the 2007 Pan-American Games, a qualifier for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The USA Women's National Team has not attended the Olympics since 1996, when it placed eighth in Atlanta. Its highest finish was fourth place in the 1984 Los Angeles games.

Darling was coaching women's basketball at Potsdam when WNT coach Christian Latulippe first introduced her to handball. Darling finished her coaching duties and officially joined the WNT residency program less than a month later, just a few weeks before playing her first international games at the Pan-American Championships in Brazil.

Her exceptional athleticism helped Darling pick up the game and excel quickly. At Johns Hopkins, she was a four-time All-American discus and javelin thrower, as well as a standout basketball player. Darling holds the school record for career field goal percentage, shooting an astounding .640 over her four year career. In her senior year, the Blue Jays went 22-6 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships.

"Besides playing handball from childhood like some Europeans do, there is no better background for handball than playing basketball," Darling said. "The court movement and spacing is very similar."

"Track and field was actually a great background too," she added. "It has helped because throwing the javelin is an overhead movement, and that's the exact throw used in handball."

Darling graduated in 2003 with a degree in civil engineering and spent several months traveling through Southeast Asia before starting her coaching stint at Potsdam. In addition to playing for the WNT, she is the artistic and graphical force behind the team's marketing campaign. Darling designed two official logos and teamed with a fellow WNT member to build a new web site for the team.

"While at the Pan-American Championships in Brazil, we decided we needed a presence," Darling said. "We needed a logo, and needed a web site to get word out about our team and to help find sponsors."

Between playing and marketing, Darling has made handball her full-time job.

"It's great to have a goal and be oriented toward it, but I don't want to have this big over-reaching goal that is so over-reaching that I can't have fun," she said. "I just want to enjoy the moment, and see where it takes me."