Jerry and Lisa Featherston report that their son, Nick, who received an appointment to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, completed his sophomore year in May, “and is doing quite well.”
Featherston became involved in team handball last year at the USAFA, which is considered a club sport there, Lisa Featherston said. The Air Force team competes in tournaments across the U.S. and at other military academies.
Lisa said by email that Nick and his team were given the opportunity to represent the United States in the World University Games in Gwangju, Korea, from July 1 – July 13. More than 140 countries are participating in the games with at least 560 American athletes competing.
Featherston said they knew that handball would not be covered on any of the media outlets. ESPN3 and ESPNU have been showing some basketball and volleyball games – but not much else.
She said some of the activities have been on livefisu.tv feed, like the opening ceremonies, which is similar to the Olympics. Nick can be seen on this YouTube clip, as part of those opening ceremonies.
“While team handball is not a well known sport in the U.S., it is widely known in countries in Europe and Asia – they did go there full knowing that they were not going to be the best team and would probably lose most, if not all of their matches,” she said. “But the opportunity they were given is incredible.”
