Garden City Team Handball Coach Jesse Sorensen and his boys take the measure of the goal. Garden City boys took an historic step toward their quest for places on the United States Olympic Team in the 2012 and 2016 International Olympics when they played the first game of international team handball against a visiting team from Hempstead. The boys, between the ages of ten and eighteen, played the first competitive match for their ages in the northeastern quadrant of the United States. It has never been done in Nassau, Long Island, New York State or any of the surrounding states.

The first of its kind game at the Saint Paul's fieldhouse was assembled under the leadership of the Garden City Recreation Commission's executives, Kevin Ocker and Sandra Young. Garden City's boys work under the continuing training of Coach Jesse Sorensen, a player of national stature. Sorensen has been working with Village teenagers to learn basic rules and plays of the team sport which comes almost instantly to local youth who play basketball, soccer or field hockey. Coach Divine Jackson, a recent graduate of SUNY Westbury and an equally talented national player of the sport, led the Hempstead boys.

Hempstead Boys Team: Hempstead Team Handball players under the direction of Coach Divine Jackson Dieter Esch, Director of America's Team Handball Division in Salt Lake City, has become aware of the unmatched sport program founded by the Village of Garden City.

Sorensen said that the training program will re-open about the beginning of March 2009 when he hopes to be able to provide Garden City girls with equal opportunities to play the fast-paced game and train, like the boys, for a place on the women's Olympic Team and represent the United States in the same Olympics.

More than 40 boys learned basic rules and skills required to excel at the international sport of Team Handball and Garden City boys are leading the way. More than 40 boys learned basic rules and skills required to excel at the international sport of Team Handball and Garden City boys are leading the way. Coach Jesse Sorensen and his Garden City teenage boys International Team Handball Players