JD and John discuss the USA Men’s roster for the upcoming NORCA Championships, the College Women’s results and whether the College Handball Championships should change formats to an Elite Eight knockout format. results of last weekend’s Collegiate Handball Championships.
Here’s a summary with links to some of the items we discussed:
John’s proposed new format for College Nationals: Link
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This is part of an ongoing series, “Charting a way forward for USA Team Handball” which is a series of commentaries exploring different initiatives to help move the sport forward in this country.
One initiative that hasn’t been addressed, however, was an initiative to “Upgrade the Collegiate National Championship and Promote it as USA Team Handball’s Premier Event.” Having attended the past two college nationals and a couple more prior to the pandemic I’m now even more convinced that we should take steps to make it happen.
Step one towards upgrading our collegiate championships would be doing away with the Weekend Tournament. Here’s why I think we need to move to a new format and why I think an Elite Eight would be a good alternative.
The Weekend Tourney… A Problematic Format
Because the U.S. is a big country and teams have to travel great distances to compete, the “Weekend Tournament” has become our primary format for handball competitions. Typically, this involves playing 4-5 matches over the course of weekend. Matches are often shorter (either 2×25 or 2×20 minute periods), but it’s still way too much handball in too short of time. Crimeny! The world’s best, full time professional handball athletes complain about two matches on back to back days. In the U.S. we have weekend warriors, who maybe even shouldn’t still be playing the sport, cramming 5 matches in 2.5 days. It’s silly, crazy or <insert your adjective here> with predictable consequences.
Those consequences are tired players. Tired players that can’t play as well as they are capable of and tired players who are more susceptible to injury. College age kids are younger and for the most part better able to handle such a demanding schedule, but I’ve seen enough Sunday morning handball that I can tell that it just looks and feels different than the matches played Friday night and Saturday morning. By Sunday many of the matches become more about a battle of endurance and attrition than anything else. And, I can tell… some players are just ready to go home especially if they are playing a consolation match with little on the line.
Proposed New Format: An Elite Eight with Consolation (3 matches/team)
The obvious solution from an aesthetic and player health standpoint would be to play a Final Four similar to a club final played in Europe. Four teams, two semifinals on Saturday and a Final/3rd place match on Sunday. But, while I really like the simplicity and marketing aspects of a Final Four I’m not sure it’s the right solution. After all, the collegiate championshps are a “collegial” event and it’s a great opportunity for athletes to interact with one another. Some colleges even tie club funding support to attending a National Championship. While limiting the final tournament to four teams would greatly simplify things it would also deny too many teams the opportunity to play in a final event.
So, if 2 matches over 2 days is too little and 4/5 matches over 3 days is too much I think the Goldilocks solution would be an Elite Eight (with consolation) played over 3 days. This would still have the simplicity/clarity of a Final Four while making sure each team gets 3 full length matches. Here’s how the 1st Division would have looked if we took the 5 D1 teams and the top 3 D2 from the 2024 Championships and seeded them 1 to 8.
While an Elite Eight knockout is simple and would require fewer match there are some drawbacks to this format. The biggest one, as anyone who follows NCAA March Madness knows is that there are no second chances. With group play you can recover from an earlier loss. With a knockout tourney your title chances could be over after your first match. While the inclusion of consolation matches means you can keep playing it’s still a bummer.
Match Timing
Another drawback would be some possible complications with the timing of the matches. Ideally, each team would play 1 match/day, but this would necessitate matches being played earlier on Friday and all teams taking another day off from school. Or alternatively, some teams would play two matches on Saturday. This could be a negative, though, in Sunday matches with one side (having played on Friday night and Saturday) being more rested than their opponent (having played two matches on Saturday).
Seeding
Finally, with no second chances it would be imperative that teams were properly and fairly seeded. After all, nobody wants to see the two best teams playing each other in the first game. Currently, the seeding process is limited by a lack of regular season structure in terms of college teams playing each other on a regular basis. It’s not that teams don’t want to play each other. It’s just that geography and a lack of coordination sometimes limits those opportunities. This could be addressed with the clear designation of some in-season collegiate tournaments or collegiate conferences as competitions that that will be used for seeding determination. Regional qualification matches could even be scheduled to help determine seeding.
Multiple Divisions and Size Limitations
The US Handball Union organized the 2024 Championship and decided to go with 2 Divisions. With two clear groupings of quality this was a decision that made sense and it was validated with fewer blowouts and as far as I know, no complaints from any of the teams. If there are enough teams an Elite 8 format could also work for D2. That said, in future seasons it may not be as clear cut where to draw the line between two divisions. And, how that line should be drawn. After all, if one looks at NCAA or high school sports divisions those divisions aren’t determined by the quality of the teams, but by other factors such as whether scholarships are awarded, stadium size and school enrollment. And, due to graduation and/or the arrival of key athletes the quality of collegiate handball teams can vary significantly from year to year.
Finally, at some point there is a breaking point of too many teams. (Or, there should be a breaking point.). At which point it will be necessary to reevaluate the concept of an “all comers” final tournament. The logical solution would probably be then to have regional qualifiers akin to what some NCAA sports like basketball have.
Too many collegiate teams would sure be a good problem to have. In the next installment I’ll discuss better promotion and presentation of the collegiate handball championships and how that could help fuel collegiate club growth.
[MVP Gary Phillips led West Point Black to yet another title (photo: Rod Apfelbeck)]
JD and John discuss the results of last weekend’s Collegiate Handball Championships. Here’s a summary with links to some of the items we discussed:
The ongoing North American Beach Handball Championships:
The Ground Hog Day reference is from the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray: Link (One might think referencing such a classic movie wouldn’t be necessary, but you’d be surprised)
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Based on records and result the team were split into two divisions. Five teams were identified for D1, but all D2 teams were given the option of playing an opening match vs a D1 team to “play in” to D1. Pittsburgh and San Jose St elected to play in, but lost their opening matches and were assigned to D2
Video Streaming
Matches were streamed on multiple platforms. For matches that were recorded on YouTube I have placed a direct link (see match results throughout) queued up to the start of the match. Matches recorded on Instagram, however, cannot be queued up and are generally only searchable (fast forward/rewind) on mobile devices.
Note: Due to scheduling/time constraints a full round robin was not played. A draw determined that Air Force would be the one team to play all four teams and it was decided that West Point (Black) and West Point (Gold) would not play an intra-club match. With this alternate format match losses (instead of points) were used to rank the teams with the tie breakers being head to head results and the goal differential vs common opponents.
Standings
Note: Air Force beat both Ohio St (Scarlet) and West Point (Gold) to finish 3rd in the standings. Ohio St (Scarlet) Beat West Point (Gold) to finish 4th.
Matches to Determine Final Ranking
4th vs 5th: Ohio St (Scarlet) 24, West Point (Gold) 31
3rd Place: Air Force 32, West Point (Gold) 35
1st Place: West Point (Black) 23, North Carolina (Carolina) 20
Final Ranking
1) West Point (Black)
2) North Carolina (Carolina)
3) West Point (Gold)
4) Air Force
5) Ohio St (Scarlet)
All Star Team
Gary Phillips, West Point (Black) (MVP
Jonathan Nwokeji, North Carolina (Carolina) (MVG)
Dominic Orsini, Ohio St (Scarlet) (Leading Scorer)
Jack Tierny, Air Force
Jackson Tumbarello, North Carolina (Carolina)
Sam Proctor, West Point (Black)
Ethan Flege, West Point (Black)
Men’s D2 Competition
Format
Division 2 played a modified knockout tournament with some matches eliminating the loser from the tournament and some matches keeping the loser in the tournament, but sending them to a more challenging match than the winner. The solid lines show where the match winners progress and the dotted lines show where the match losers progress. Matches where there is no dotted line are elimination matches. Depending on the stage of the tournament teams that were eliminated played additional consolation matches vs other eliminated teams.
Match Results (Main Bracket)
Match #1: North Carolina (Tar Heels) 27, SUNY Cortland 14
Match #2: Ohio St (Gray) 26, Olin 21
Match #3: Case Western Reserve 28, Auburn 19 Video
Match #4: James Madison 27, Miami (OH) 26
Match #5: Pittsburgh 17, North Carolina (Tar Heels) 18
Note: Due to scheduling/time constraints a full round robin was not played. Ohio St played a full round robin and it was decided that both West Point and North Carolina would not play intra-club matches. With this alternate format match losses (instead of points) were used to rank the teams with the tie breakers being head to head results and the goal differential vs common opponents.
Note: North Carolina (Carolina) placed 2nd due to their superior goal differential in their common matches with Ohio St.
Matches to Determine Final Ranking
4th vs 5th: West Point (Gold) 14, North Carolina (Tar Heels) 7
3rd Place: West Point (Gold) 16, Ohio St 14
1st Place: West Point (Black) 25, North Carolina (Carolina) 9 Video
US Handball Union Executive Director, Michael King joins the podcast to discuss this weekend’s College National Championships. Here’s a summary with links to some of the items we discussed:
Current News Items
The ongoing North American Beach Handball Championships:
A new podcast, Red, White and Glue is now available for handball fans (see links at the bottom). It’s a production of the US Women’s National Team and it’s co-hosted by USA Women’s National Team Assistant Coach, Hendrik Schultze and national team left wing, Viva Kreis. Here’s my perspective on the new podcast.
A Rising Tide Lifts all Boats
Folks might not realize it, but Team Handball News had the first ever handball focused podcast. Yes, off and on, I’ve been doing podcasts since 2006. And, during that time I’ve seen other handball podcasts come and go. I suspect there are a couple of reasons for this. First off, it can be quite a bit of work. It especially was in the early days, but technology improvements have sure made it easier and easier to get an episode out. The second reason is that there’s not a very big market for English related handball content. There’s a market… it’s just a very niche market. My latest iteration with Ohio St coach, JD Orr, USA Handball Talk currently gets around 100 combined YouTube views/mp3 downloads. The Handball Hour currently has around 150 Patreon subscribers, but surely has a lot more listeners for its free podcasts. So, there’s an audience. It’s just not a huge audience.
So more often than not handball podcasters do podcasts because they like to talk about handball and share their views with others. Certainly that’s the main reason I do it. While some see “competition” as a negative I just see a great opportunity to hear views from others. And, I’m also a big believer in the saying that “A rising tide lifts all boats.” The more people talking about handball… the better it is for anyone doing a podcast,
An Opportunity to Refresh Old Content (e.g. Wall Handball)
When you’ve been running a handball website for 17 years you can often get the sense that just about every topic has been addressed multiple times and from multiple different angles. Case in point: The first podcast addresses the long standing semantic problem handball unfortunately has to deal with the U.S. Over the years I’ve addressed the handball semantic problem multiple times. Here’s a sampling:
FAQ: Most of the world identifies handball as handball, so why does the U.S. call it team handball?: Link
FAQ: What impact has the name confusion for handball/team handball had on the sport’s development in the U.S.?: Link
So, while I might get annoyed with newcomers covering well trod upon ground… it’s just a little annoyed. After all, newcomers are coming into the sport all the time. They may not be aware that I’ve addressed something in the past, so it’s an opportunity to update the Handball FAQ and refresh old content.
A Catalyst for New Commentaries
Probably, of greater interest, though, for me and many readers will be any discussion on USA Team Handball plans. I’ll go out on a short limb and state that no one has thought as long and hard about USA Team Handball planning as much as I have. That could mean that I’m just some old guy who thinks he know everything. Could be… Although, over the years, I think my track record assessing different initiatives and what will likely happen is pretty solid.
Most recently, I’ve started some commentaries on the U.S. Women’s Team and the need to refocus the program as soon as possible on both expanding and improving the quaility of our very, very small talent pool.
Part 2: The Looming Decision Can’t Wait any Longer: Link
And, now there is an Official USA Women’s National Team podcast that surely will be discussing some of the same issues and concerns I have. This is an awesome development and I Iook forward to hearing what’s planned. I suspect the new podcast will tend to have a “positive, can do” approach to the many challenges USA Team Handball faces so it will provide a nice contrast to my more measured (OK… some would say critical) approach that we simply can’t do everything we might want to and that we really need to prioritize what we should do first.
It’s all good. Different perspectives are welcome. And, hearing some different perspectives will surely serve as a catalyst for me to write some new commentaries. Even better it might help serve as a catalyst for the USA Team Handball Board of Directors to start making some important resource decisions that are long overdue.
So welcome aboard fellow handball podcasters. The more, the merrier.
Red, White, and Glue: The U.S. Women’s National Team Handball Podcast
We cover a couple or recent news items and then discuss the Ohio State Handball Club’s Spring Break trip to Hungary. Here’s a summary with links to some of the items we discussed:
Travel Company that advertised in the early days of the Team Handball News Website that ripped off some handball travellers: Link
Finally, a big shout out to USA Women’s Coach, Edina Borsos, for her help with arranging the logistics for the trip.
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The USA Men’s national team held a training camp in Spain last week and played a friendly match vs Spain’s Jr Team. Spain’s Jr Team won the match 27-23 and the match video is available on YouTube: Link
Here is an unofficial roster with goals scored for the USA
We chat about professional indoor lacrosse, the upcoming Ohio State spring break trip to Hungary and some more discussion on scholarship sports and what the talent level of the U.S. men is compared to collegiate basketball
Here are some topics and links to what was discussed:
According to this National League LacrosseStatistics website the attendance for the Saskatchewan Rush – Colorado Mammoth match was 10,449. I think the only pro handball club in the world that regularly beats that match attendance is Kiel. And, indoor lacrosses is a pretty minor sport in the U.S….
Moneyball Handball: Commentary and analysis regarding how USA Team Handball should apply “Money Ball” like tactics to identify and recruit athletes for its National Teams (November – December 2013)
Part 1: Broad Categories for Athlete Identification: Link
Part 2: Pushing the Outside of the Recruiting Envelope: Link
Part 3: USA Team Handball Recruiting (Past, Present and Future): Time for a Change in Mindset: Link
Commentary with USA Team Handball quote to start focus on former NCAA athlete recruitment: Link
If the current U.S. Men’s handball played basketball as their chosen sport where would they land on the NCAA talent scale.
And, sorry for the technical difficulties…
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Pat Spencer, was the top Collegiate lacrosse player in 2019. He then used his 5th year of eligibility to play college basketball, played basketball professionally in Europe and now has signed a 2 way contract which allows him to play in the NBA and the NBA’s G League. He was a good high school basketball player (so not entirely new to the sport), but this is still a remarkable talent transfer story and was our entry point for a broader discussion on talent transfer and NCAA scholarships.
Here are some topics and links to what was discussed:
Article on USA GK, Sophie Fasold signing with Buxtehuder SV Link
The challenges of a 3 GK and 2 GK tandem
Andreas Wolff with the greatest “caught” save of all time: Link
Key point 1: Some sports have more scholarships available
Key point 2: Some sports are “Head Count” (all full ride scholarships) and some sports are “Equivalency” (scholarship awards can (and, usually are) split into partial scholarships)
Why, on average “Head Count” sports are more likely to have more talented athletes
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Tom Brady: How good of a handball player would the American Football GOAT have been? Wikipedia
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Team Handball is a great sport and virtually everyone introduced to the sport has wondered why this most American of sports hasn’t caught on in the U.S. As someone who has followed handball development (or the lack thereof) in the U.S. for over 35 years I have been continuously frustrated with the overall lack of planning to move the sport forward. Our small community is very committed and has been willing to work hard, but without a plan… we’ve mostly been spinning our wheels in place or worse, regressing backwards as other niche sports have passed us by.
Retrospective
While I’ve been having the typical after match, barstool discussions on these topics since the late 1980s I didn’t start to document those opinions until I started this website. In 2014, I first systematically addressed planning with the identification of several alternative initiatives for consideration. These options included strategies for improving out national teams, placing more emphasis on collegiate handball, on women’s handball and the adopting a regional (instead of nationwide) development strategy. Links to these initiatives and others from the original series are at the end of this post.
In 2018, USA Team Handball developed and approved a Strategic Plan. While not a perfect document the organization now had a documented starting point to guide efforts to move the sport forward in this country. In 2019, with new leadership in place I took the opportunity to reboot the original series and to first assess where USA Handball stood as an organization and how that might fit in with the goals and objectives of the strategic plan.
I covered what “What We Have” and “What We Want to Be” pretty thoroughly and those links are at the end of this post in the First Reboot (2019) section. Surprisingly… or not surprisingly the What We Have section is still pretty accurate 5 years later.
The New Reboot
The 2019 Reboot ended, however, with my just barely having started the hard task of assessing “How We Get There” and the necessary changing of “What We Want to Be” to “What We Actually Can Be.” This incomplete effort was partly due to the COVID Pandemic and partly due to my actually working for USA Team Handball for a brief time.
Now in 2024, with the COVID pandemic clearly behind us and Olympic qualification guaranteed for 2028 it’s high time to move forward. The next four years present a lot of challenges, but also a lot of opportunities the sport in this country has not had since the 1990s. Honestly, the opportunities are so great we could basically muddle through the next four years haphazardly and still make progress. We could… but, we don’t do that. Instead we need to maximize these four years as much as possible with a constant eye towards actions and initiatives that can help lead to sustainable growth after 2028.
Bottom Lines… Up Front
While I generally prefer a methodical process without pre-ordained answers there’s not a whole lot of time to waste. Honestly, this sort of effort should have started in the midst of the pandemic when all we could do was plan for the future. That said, I’m alreadly leaning towards several bottom lines that could inform a Strategic Plan update as well as follow on actions that should be implemented. I’ve even already written some commentaries addressing one of the topics. Here are some bottom lines… up front:
National Teams
The U.S. Men’s Sr national team is already sufficiently competitive for the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games. The team should continue to be supported at roughly the same level
The U.S. Women’s Sr national team is currently not on a path to be sufficiently competitive at the 2028 Olympics. A plan to effectively broaden the existing talent pool and train newcomers should be developed and implemented as soon as possible.
The level of support to Jr and Youth national team competitions and training should be reassessed based on our expected Return on Investment (ROI)
Domestic Competitions
Collegiate handball is the “sweet spot” for development in the U.S. The bulk of available resources should primarily be focused on establishing/sustaining new collegiate clubs, improving the overall level of play, and promoting collegiate handball
Support to adult, recreational handball competitions should be limited to basic organizational support. These competitions, while important to existing members have very limited prospects for growth and/or promotional benefit,
Support to any professional league efforts should not be provided or encouraged. The current sporting landscape in the U.S. makes it all but certain that such an effort will be unsuccessful.
Support to youth, recreational activities should be focused towards the establishment of sustainable local competitions or some other follow on target.
Marketing and Promotional Activities
Team Handball currently has a very small footprint with major sports entities with a linear TV, streaming and social media presence. A plan should be developed and significant resources should be applied to improving this footprint for international national team, professional and collegiate competitions
Based on the current TV landscape a strong case can be made for a documentary/reality show focused on the development of the U.S. Women’s National Team. A plan should be developed and significant resources should be applied towards making this happen.
Fundraising/Revenue Generation
Sponsorship opportunities should increase as we approach the 2028 Olympics. A plan should be developed to maximize those opportunities. This may or may not necessitate a contractual arrangement with an agency.
Membership dues provide other sport NGBs with a significant portion of their overal revenue. USA Team Handball should fully assess whether that model can also apply for handball and, if so, develop a plan to facilitate membership growth.
Beach Handball
As long as beach handball is not on a path for inclusion in the Olympic Games, resources applied to support beach handball should be minimized. This is because there are simply not enough resources and manpower to be applied towards one discipline… let alone two disciplines.
I’ll be putting some more “meat on the bones” on these bottom lines and you can already see two posts that I’ve written on the challenges facing the U.S. Women below
Picking Winners and Losers
It goes without saying that these proposed bottom lines are going to make some people unhappy. The good news for everyone is that I’m just some guy with a website. I’ve got some influence, but the reality is that this is a Board Member/CEO driven process. The bad news is that these things take time and USA Team Handball has historically been a risk averse, keep as many people happy as possible organization. One that has often avoided picking winners and losers. And, the really bad news is that indecision is essentially just a decsion to maintain the status quo.
I’ll go on record that my intent here is to hopefully be read and to stir discussion towards decision making. Preferably, adopting what I’m proposing, but I’ll take actually making a decision as a little victory too. Because, the reality is that there isn’t always one clearly right answer, but multiple possibilities to choose from… Pick one and move out.
Subject to Revision
I’ll also go on record that I’m more than open to having my mind changed. To be introduced to new data that makes me rethink my bottom lines. One thing that I’ve learned is that when one starts to go beyond yakking over a beer and puts their thoughts down on paper… what was once certain can become a bit fuzzy. Can even lead to a full 180 degrees change of view. That’s happened more than once and that’s a good thing. We’ll be discussing many of these topics in upcoming podcasts, sometimes with guests that are sure to have contrary views. So don’t be surprised if over time this post get revised.
Part 2) The Looming Decision Can’t Wait any Longer: Link
The Original Series (2014)
In 2014, I wrote several commentaries on the newly implemented Residency Program at Auburn. Over and over I hammered away with all the concerns I had with this well intentioned, but poorly conceived effort. After some reflection, though, I thought it would make sense to identify some alternative strategies. Here are some links to the commentaries from that series… and some missing links as I never finished this effort:
Introduction: Many Options + Limited Resources = Hard Choices: Link
1) Modify the National Team Residency Programs to focus strictly on player development: Link
2) Increase the emphasis and support to National Team recruiting: Link
3) Develop or participate in a European based residency program to provide athletes more competition: Link
4) Upgrade College Team Handball: Following the rugby club model to nationwide participation (Part 1; Part 2)
5) Upgrade College Team Handball: Seeking NCAA status on the heels of the O’Bannon Ruling
6) The “Title IX Field Hockey Strategy”: Focus 90% of USA Team Handball’s resources on Women’s Programs: Link
7) The “Iceland Strategy”: Focus a large percentage of USA Team Handball’s resources on one geographical location (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3)
8) The “Alberta Strategy”: Fully assess Alberta’s successful development program and fund a U.S. version in one region of the U.S.: Link
9) Youth and Junior Teams Emphasis: Fund U.S. participation for up and coming athletes first
10) Funding direct to clubs: Reward high performing club programs with real and tangible financial support
11) High School Team Handball: Following in Lacrosse and Flag Football’s footsteps
12) True Youth Movement: Follow the AYSO soccer model to develop a massive player and fan base at even younger ages
13) U.S. Olympic Handball Festivals: Bridging the gap between club and national teams
USA Men’s National Team (Part 1: A Closer Look by Position- GK and CR): Link
USA Men’s National Team (Part 2: A Closer Look by Position- BC and RW/LW): Link
Demographics (Women)
American Citizen Female Athletes (Overview): Link
USA Women’s Elite Player Pool (Overview): Link
USA Club Programs
Part 1: Understanding the USA Club Structure and At-Large Men’s Clubs: Link
Part 2: Collegiate Men’s Clubs: Our Most American Competition with Opportunities for Growth: Link
Part 3: USA Women At-Large and Collegiate Clubs: Link
Part 4: Why there are so Few Clubs and Why the Rosters Mostly Consist of Expats: Link
Finances
Part 1: USA Team Handball Revenue (Grants, Contributions and Sponsorships): Link
Part 2: USA Team Handball Revenue (Membership and the Importance of Tracking that Data): Link
What We Want to Be
Part 1: A review of the USA Team Handball Strategic Plan and National Team Targets: Link
Part 2: A review of USA Collegiate Development Targets: Link
Video of Finland’s Michael Kallman in action (watch a minute: You’ll see a 2 minute call followed by the exact same jump shot that caught me woefully unprepared): Link
A couple of high level players, reportedly with USA citizenship
Should handball in the USA have a shorter “season” similar to other U.S. sports? (instead of the long European season model that over time has gradually been adopted)
List of U.S. urban areas by population: Link (Very highly correlated with existing U.S. Handball clubs)
Our new and likely recurring topic assessing how good athletes from other sports would be if they played handball. First up: Serbian and Denver Nuggets basketball player, Nikola Jokic
JD’s brief discussion with Barstool’s PFT commenter on Jokic: Link
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If you have any suggestions for future topics, a title for our podcast or have some intro music you would like us to consider please let us know on social media.
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