Darrick Heath
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1964-10-12) October 12, 1964
Sport
SportHandball

Darrick Heath (born October 12, 1964) is an American former handball player.[1] He competed in the men's tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics.[2] After his playing career, Heath became a coach, and coached the national team.[3]

Biography

Heath was born in 1964 and attended Finger Lakes Community College.[1] He then went to C. W. Post College where he played basketball.[1][4]

After playing handball for a local club in Long Island, he eventually made his way onto the US National Team.[1] In 1988, 1989 and 1993 he was part of the team that won national titles in handball.[1] For the next two years, Heath moved to Europe, playing professionally in Budapest, Hungary and Graz, Austria.[1][5] In 1993, Heath was also named the U.S. Team Handball Male Athlete of the Year.[6]

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Heath was part of the American team that finished in ninth place in the men's tournament.[7][8] However, Heath would later suffer a spinal injury in a car crash, which ended his playing career.[9]

After playing for the US National Team until 2003, Heath became a handball coach,[1][10] and coached the national team during the 2011/12 season.[1] He helped the US team reach the 2011 Pan American Games, the first time that the US team had qualified for the games since 2003.[11] He was also a lecturer at Emory University in Atlanta for ten years from 2002 to 2012,[1] and featured in a university paper.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Darrick Heath". Olympedia. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Darrick Heath". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  3. "Passing The Torch: A Conversation With 1996 Olympian Darrick Heath And Gary Hines". Team USA. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  4. "At the U.S. Olympic Festival". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  5. "Darrick Heath". Finger Lakes Community College Athletics. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  6. "Team Handball". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  7. "Handball, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  8. "U.S. Loses As Team Handball Begins". AP News. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  9. "Olympic Athlete Praises Resurgens for High Level, Elite Care". Resurgens. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  10. "Lake Placid Hosts USA Team Handball Qualifying Matches for Pan Am Games". Lake Placid. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  11. "TEAM HANDBALL: USA Men qualify for Pan American Games for first time since 2003". Team USA. Archived from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  12. "US handball star Darrick Heath featured in university paper". Team Handball News. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.