RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: Kresimir Kozina #44 of Croatia is tripped up by Pablo Portela #5 and Gonzalo Carou #15 of Argentina on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Future Arena on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

The United States is awesome at swimming, basketball and track and field, but we flat out suck at handball. The irony of this statement is astounding, considering we all probably played it in gym class during our grade schools years. So what’s it going to take to become an international handball juggernaut? Can we get athletes like LeBron James to participate in the sport?

The Washington Post broke down the struggles the United States has in developing a strong handball program, which last competed at the Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta (we were outscored by 30 goals that Olympics). The United States failed to even qualify for the tournament to qualify for the Olympics, showing just how bad we seem to be at the sport. Considering the sport utilizes the type of athletes this country produces with an assembly line, the question was asked to U.S. national team Coach Javier Garcia-Cuesta how long it would take an athlete like LeBron James to not just become a great handball player, but the world’s best handball player.

Really, how long would it take LeBron James to become the best handball player in the world?

“Maybe six months,” U.S. national team Coach Javier Garcia-Cuesta said. “This is just a hypothetical. He has everything. When you see him playing, your mouth drops.”

There is no denying LeBron is a rare human being with a perfect blend of size, athleticism, strength and ball-handling skills. You can’t just clone LeBron James and train each LeBron clone to excel in different sports like football and baseball (yet), but James would seem to fit the mold for the ideal handball player. Even one of the best handball players in the world cannot help but think LeBron would be a beast on the handball court just as he is on the basketball court.

Denmark’s Mikkel Hansen is pretty much the LeBron James of handball. He was named the International Handball Federation’s world player of the year for the second time last year. This year, he won the equivalent of the MVP in the French league. He would be the right man to ask: Could James be as good as him?

“It’s difficult to talk about that,” Hansen said, laughing. “I admire LeBron James very much. I’m a big basketball fan. The way he sees the court, his vision for the game, is very impressive. There you would have a good start. And physically, he is amazing. But you also need to throw the ball. So, yeah. Maybe.”

It seems the challenges the Unites States face in building a credible program that can be a legitimate threat on the international stage are not unfamiliar to the United States men’s soccer team. One common point made about the men’s soccer team is this country has for years seen its top athletes compete in and train in other sports, like football or basketball, instead of growing up and staying rooted in soccer the way athletes in England and Germany and Brazil do. Perhaps there will come a day when the United States catches up in soccer, just as perhaps there will come a day when handball is actually a sport this nation competes well in.

The incentive to play handball, of course, is not there the way it is in other sports. NBA star point guard Kyle Lowry’s response to handball sums it up perfectly:

“You’re talking about another sport with running and jumping, changing direction and throwing a ball into a net?” U.S. men’s basketball team guard Kyle Lowry said. “Yeah, I think we could figure it out. How much do they make?”

And there you have it. We will suck at handball forever.

[The Washington Post]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.