Sports / Deportes Bola Anyone? / Alguien Juega Bola?

s po rts • de po

Ed’s note: This article is about “American Handball” also known by the Spanish word “Frontón” as opposed to the Olympic Handball, a team sport

¿Alguien Juega Bola?

Comencé a organizar torneos de frontón en 1996 con la ayuda de Ronnie Lopstain. Él me trajo jugadores de Stockton a Tracy y me enseñó cómo manejar un torneo. Ron compartió conmigo sus recursos y también su visión del juego: ver el frontón como un legítimo deporte que se jugase en nuestras escuelas igual que el baloncesto y el fútbol americano. Yo pensaba lo mismo.

Él había organizado torneos por años antes que yo apareciera en el mapa y, eventualmente, se cansó y la antorcha me la pasaron a mí. Los jugadores de frontón estocktonianos empezaron a pedir torneos en sus parques y de allí ya no paramos más.

Comenzamos con torneos en el parque Stribley, Brotherhood, el Grupe, el McKinley y en el parque Dentoni. Manejaba hasta todos los parques y, si tenían frontón, les fijaba un afiche promoviendo los torneos y, si había gente jugando, los invitaba a participar. Pronto me di cuenta que el frontón era popular en Stockton y no solo me enorgullecía ser parte de este deporte, sino sentía que era mi deber promover su existencia y crecimiento.

Con el tiempo me enteré que era una parte de la cultura mexicana que nunca se mencionó en las clases de Estudios Chicanos que tomé en la San Joaquín Delta College o en la Uni

versidad Estatal–San Francisco —lo que me indignó. También me enteré que mucha gente asocia el juego con la prisión y creen que los mejores jugadores y su evolución parten de ahí. Otros atribuyen su creación e importación a los EEUU a los irlandeses.

Quise saber la verdad, comencé a investigar y supe que el juego, en realidad, data de los tiempos indígenas. Descubrí que había variedades en este juego: pelota pequeña, pelota grande, Un Frente, 2 Frentes, 3 Frentes, 4 Frentes, etc., y que las canchas en las que jugamos en Stockton y Tracy parecen solo existir en nuestra área, de modo que las empecé a llamarlas “Frentes-en-C” (pared con esquineros) para distinguir nuestro estilo de juego.

Junto a mi investigación, comencé a viajar a través del norte de California en busca de otros jugado- continúa en la pág. subsiguiente

s po rts • de po

One Man’s Quest to maintain the amazing sport of handball

By Angel Hernandez, Tracy, Ca.

Bola Anyone?

Istarted organizing handball tournaments in 1996 with the help of Ronnie Lopstain. He brought players down to Tracy from Stockton and showed me how to run a tournament. Ron shared his resources and is vision for the game with me: to see handball acknowledged as a legitimate sport and be played in our schools like baseball and football; I felt the same way.

He had organized tournaments for years prior to my coming onto the scene, and eventually got burned out and the torch was passed to me. Handball players in Stockton began asking tournaments at their parks, and it took off like a wild fire.

We began having tournaments at Stribley Park, Brotherhood Park, Grupe Park, McKinley Park, and Dentoni Park. I would drive around putting up fliers at every park in

Stockton that had a handball court. I would run into players and invite them to participate. I soon learned that handball is a big part of Stockton, and I was not only proud to be a part of it, but felt obligated to continue its existence and growth.

In time, I learned it was a part of the Mexican culture that was never mentioned in the Chicano Studies classes I attended at San Joaquin Delta College and San Francisco State University, which bothered me. I also learned that many people associated the game of handball with prison and believed that the best players and its evolution began there. Others credit the Irish for inventing it and bringing it to the US .

I wanted to know the truth and began doing research and learned that the game actually dates back to indigenous times. I learned that there are different variations of the game; small ball, big ball, 1-Wall, 2-Wall, 3-Wall, 4-Wall, etc. and that the courts we play on in Stockton and Tracy seem to exist only in our area and so I named them and started calling them C-Walls (walls with corners) to distinguish our style of play. In conjunction with my research, I began to travel throughout Northern California in search of other players and courts and began networking with players from Woodland, Sacramento, San Jose, Fresno, Lodi and so forth.

I started participating in their tournaments and inviting them to ours. I ventured even further to New York City, Los Angeles and Tijuana. I was amazed to learn it was being played in other areas and about the commonalities and differences. I was astonished by the athleticism of the players I witnessed and competed against. My passion for handball grew even bigger!

In 2010 an organization called World Players of Handball (WPH) started to host Pro Events for big ball, which is the variation I grew up playing. Many of the grass root organizers became ambassadors, including myself; it was the legitimacy we desired. They started a circuit and hosted tournaments primarily in Southern California and would have a grand finale tournament in Las Vegas to cap the season.

I made it a point to represent our area and stake our claim in the game. I participated in as many Pro Events as I could and I encouraged others to do the same. I volunteered my time helping out with the tournament operations; I provided my input and promoted WPH to the fullest. Staying the course, I was instrumental in bringing one continued on next page

s po rts • de po

Bola Anyone?

from the previous page

of these events to Tracy, which was held at West High School and was the first Pro Stop hosted in Northern California. I eventually got them to host 3 more Pro Stops at In-Shape West Lane in Stockton. WPH stopped organizing big ball events in 2018 which was heartbreaking for me.

The same year I was inducted into the Mexican American Sports Hall of Fame od San Joaquin County thanks to Motecuzoma Sanchez, who nominated me for my accomplishments and dedication to the community. This year I celebrated 25 years of bringing people together by hosting an annual tournament at McDonald Park in Tracy where it all started for me. I did a lot of reflecting leading up to this event and I was able to recall when my uncle Javier gave me my first handball at the age of 7 and how happy I was to learn the game. I started playing at the nearby park where there happened to be this beautiful white handball court with colorful murals on the sides.

Years later, along with the South Side Community Organization, I fought to preserve that court. We took on the Tracy Gang Task Force and won! City officials wanted to tear it down claiming that handball is a game played by “gangsters.” However, The Tracy Press printed an article in our favor titled “Hands Off” that got the attention of City Hall and spoke about our goal to keep the court up for many generations to come; it brought light to the sport of handball in a positive way. I furthermore requested that the handball court be acknowledged as an amenity listed in the Tracy Parks & Recreation booklet for it was not being recognized up to that point; it was almost as if this huge walled structure didn’t exist and neither did we. As a result, City Hall granted my request and it is now part of their program.

My focus is to continue keeping the sport of handball alive and to continue building positive relationships. Many players have come to know and respect one another.

We have managed to break down barriers that have kept us apart in the past. We have created a network that spans across borders. A handball player can travel the world and find a game! I find that to be amazing and to be a beautiful cause that is worth fighting for. I want the City of Stockton to acknowledge handball as part of what makes it an All American City. I want to get the courts throughout Stockton repaired for they are in terrible condition. I want to get some 3-Wall courts built in Stockton. I want to gain more supporters like the owner of Stockton Monuments, Mike Contreras, who has been a firm supporter of our movement. I want to see the

sport grow and flourish.

I truly believe God intended for me to be a handball player and has guided me to do the things I have done. I have met many players I consider my friends and I have been welcomed into many communities, and for that I am eternally grateful. Peace, Love & Bola!!!

¿Alguien Juega Bola?

viene de la vuelta res y canchas, iniciando una red comunicacional con aficionados de Woodland, Sacramento, San José, Fresno, Lodi y otras localidades.

Comencé a participar en sus torneos, invitándolos a los nuestros. Me aventuré incluso más lejos, a Nueva York, Los Ángeles y Tijuana. Me sorprendí de descubrir que se jugaba en otras áreas y las diferencias y cosas en común que tenían en su juego. Me asombré de lo atlético de sus jugadores que vi y enfrenté como rivales ¡Mi pasión por frontón creció aún más!

En el 2010 una organización denominada

Angel Hernandez (L) shake hands with Ron Lopstain, while shows off a recognition for his efforts to keep handball alive in the County’s parks. Ángel Hernández (izq.) estrecha la mano de Ron Lopstain, al tiempo que muestra reconocimientos recibidos por mantener el frontón vivo entre los parques del Condado.

World Players of Handball (Jugadores de Frontón del Mundo, o WPH) comenzó a organizar eventos profesionales para “pelota grande”, la variación con la yo crecí jugando. Muchos de los organizadores aficionados —incluyéndome a mí— se convirtieron en ‘embajadores’; era la legitimización que tanto esperamos. Éstos comenzaron un Circuito y celebraron Torneos, primariamente en el sur de California, los que se coronaban en una gran final en Las Vegas con la que se cerraba la temporada.

Me hice el propósito de representar a nuestra área y hacerla reconocida en el deporte. Participé en todos los eventos profesionales que pude mientras animaba a otros a hacer lo mismo. Hacía voluntariado ayudando con la logística de los torneos; ofrecía mi parecer y promovía a los WPH con todas mis fuerzas. Siguiendo ese rumbo, fui instrumental en traer uno de estos eventos a Tracy, el que se celebró en la Secundaria West High —el primer Pro Stop (evento pro- continúa a la vuelta

Job Resurrected: The War on the Poor, Part 4 An Egyptian Lazarus

In the Egyptian Late Period, there is a story of Prince Setne Khamwas, the fourth son of Rameses II and his son, Si-Osire. Si-Osire was unconventionally conceived with the help of a melon potion taken by his mother. Setne Khamwas was then informed through a dream that his wife was pregnant and that their male child is to be named Si-Osire. He is an exceedingly bright child eventually surpassing the scribes sent to educate him.

One day as Setne Khamwas and Si-Osire were observing a couple funerals, the father noticed how the rich man’s retinue included mourners while the poor man had no mourners. Knowing the impiety of the rich man, Si-Osire unsettlingly wishes his father an afterlife similar to the poor man: “May it go with you in the Netherworld as it will go with this poor man” 1 .

Ignorant of the rich man’s irreverence and profaneness, Setne Khamwas becomes quite upset until his son takes him by the hand into the Western Desert where they enter the Netherworld:

My father Setne, did you not see that rich man clothed in a garment of royal linen, standing near the spot where

Osiris is? He is the poor man whom you saw being carried out from Memphis with no one walking behind him and wrapped in a mat. They brought him to the Netherworld. They weighed his misdeeds against the good deeds he had done on earth. They found his good deeds more numerous than his misdeeds (…) It was ordered by Osiris to give the burial equipment of that rich man, whom you saw being carried out from

Memphis with great honors, to this poor man, and to place him among the noble spirits, as a man of god who serves

Sokar-Osiris and stands near the spot where Osiris is (Ibid).

According to H. Gressmann, such a popular story possesses a “genuinely Egyptian motif” (Ibid). The stories about Setne Khamwas’ journey into the Netherworld have a long history beginning, at least, in Ptolemaic times (323 – 30BC) and then repeated in the later

Thomas Block, Middlefield, OH

Job Resucitado: La

Guerra Contra los

Pobres - Parte 4

Un Lázaro egipcio

En el Período Tardío de Egipto, hay una historia sobre el príncipe Setne Khamwas, el cuarto hijo de Ramsés II y su hijo, Si-Osire. Si-Osire fue concebido de forma poco convencional con la ayuda de una poción de melón que tomó su madre. A Setne Khamwas se le informó a través de un sueño que su esposa estaba embarazada y que

Roman Period (30BC – 324AC). This capacity of Osiris to judge mankind, rewarding the just and punishing the wicked, was a latter attribute of Osiris, an ancient moon god. By the Middle Empire, the tutelary ancestor-god-becomegreat-king, originally found throughout African settlements and especially in the Sudan, had replaced the ancient moon god persona 2 . Its circulation continued on next page su hijo varón se llamaría Si-Osire. Fue un niño extremadamente brillante que eventualmente sobrepasaría a los escribas enviados para educarlo.

Un día, mientras Setne Khamwas y SiOsire observaban unos funerales, el padre notó que el séquito del potentado tenía dolientes mientras que el pobre no. Conocedor de la impiedad del rico, Si-Osire desea inquietantemente a su padre una vida futura similar a la del pobre: “Que te vaya en el Inframundo como le irá a ese pobre hombre” 1 . Ignorante de la irreverencia y blasfemia del hombre rico, Setne Khamwas se enoja, pero su hijo lo lleva de la mano al Desierto Occidental, entrada del Inframundo:

Mi padre Setne, ¿no vistes tú a ese rico vestido con una prenda de lino real, de pie, cerca de donde está Osiris? Es el pobre que viste sacar de Memphis sin nadie caminando detrás de él y envuelto en un petate. Lo llevaron al Inframundo.

Compararon sus fechorías con las buenas obras que había hecho en la tierra.

Encontraron más numerosas sus buenas acciones que sus fechorías (…) Osiris ordenó entregar el material funerario de ese rico, a quien viste sacar de Memphis con grandes honores, a este pobre, y colocarlo entre los espíritus nobles, como un hombre de dios que sirve a Sokar

Osiris y está cerca del lugar donde está

Osiris. (Ibíd.)

Según H. Gressmann, una historia tan popular posee un “motivo genuinamente egipcio” (Ibíd.) Los relatos del viaje de Setne Khamwas al Inframundo tienen una larga historia que comienza, al menos, en la época ptolemaica (323 - 30 a. C.) y luego se repite en el período romano posterior (30 a. C. - 324 d. C.). Esta capacidad de Osiris para juzgar a la humanidad, recompensando justos y castigando malvados, fue un último atributo de Osiris, antiguo dios de la luna. En el Imperio Medio, el ancestro-dios-tutelar-convertido-en-granrey, originalmente encontrado en todos los asentamientos africanos y especialmente en Sudán, había reemplazado a la antigua personalidad dios-luna 2 .

Su circulación en continúa a la vuelta

An Egyptian Lazarus

from the previous page in Ptolemaic times parallels the existence of the Old Testament Psaltery in its Septuagint edition as the “Hymn Book of the Second Temple Period” 3 . While the story of Setne Khamwas and his son was circulating around Egypt, Psalms 49 and 73 were being included in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures. Listed as sapiential writings, they offer a fulfilling conclusion to Psalm 37 detailing the unjust rich man who must answer before his God, similar to the Osiris interview that the Egyptian dead must endure. His prosperity while alive will suddenly be reversed and the just person will enjoy eternal happiness 4 .

Psalms 49 and 73 and the Setne Khamwas story are then retold in Jesus’ parable about the rich man and Lazarus (LK 16:19-31). For the rich man, his earthly bounty, acquired selfishly and unjustly, was lost upon death while the cankered Lazarus rested in Abraham’s bosom. Between Lazarus and the rich man is an abyss that cannot be crossed in death (Ibid). H. Gressman interprets Jesus’ parable as a descendant of the Egyptian motif 1 . But, to draw a relationship between the two stories is to miss an important reason for Jesus’ story. The story of the rich man and Lazarus was simply an ancient and well-traveled story used by Jesus to rebuke the leaders of his day for their self-righteousness. He fashioned the story to fit his Hebrew audience.

Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the reversal theme is evident, (e.g., “Some who are last will be first and some who are first will be last” 13:30). But, Luke appreciates the hunger examples, (e.g., “Blessed are you who hunger; you shall be filled” 6:20-21 and “Woe to you who are full; you shall go hungry” 6:25). Paul Davidson then notes that, “It is hard to imagine today’s Prosperity Gospel churches acknowledging the fairly obvious implications of this parable, let alone agreeing with them” 5 .

As early as the Fifth Dynasty (2450 – 2300 BC), the high Egyptian official Henqu states he was a man “who fed the hungry, who clothed the naked, who wronged no maid, who fed the animals and birds sacred to the gods, who filched no man’s goods, who protected the poor and weak, who lived on affectionate terms with the members of his family, and who was gracious to the aged” 2 .

Goodness has a long history of eventually usurping greed!

Un Lázaro Egipcio

viene de la vuelta

la época ptolemaica es paralela a la existencia del Salterio del Antiguo Testamento en su edición de la Septuaginta como el “Libro de Himnos del Período del Segundo Templo” 3 . Mientras la historia Thomas Block Middlefield, OH de Setne Khamwas y su hijo circulaba por Egipto, los Salmos 49 y 73 eran insertos en la traducción de la Septuaginta de las escrituras hebreas. Enumerados como escritos sapienciales, ofrecen una conclusión satisfactoria del Salmo 37 que detalla al rico injusto que debe responder ante su Dios, similar a la entrevista de Osiris que los muertos egipcios deben superar. Su prosperidad como vivos se revertirá repentinamente y la persona justa disfrutará de la felicidad eterna 4 .

Los Salmos 49 y 73 y el relato de Setne Khamwas son recuento en la parábola de Jesús del rico y Lázaro (Lucas 16: 19-31). Para el rico, su generosidad terrenal, adquirida egoísta e injustamente, se pierde con la muerte, mien-

NOTAS/NOTES

1.Lichtheim, 1980 2.Budge, 1911 3.VanderKam & Flint, 2002 4.The New American Bible, 1970 5.Prosperity Gospel (2016)

tras que Lázaro, herido, descansa en el seno de Abraham. Entre Lázaro y el rico hay un abismo que no se puede cruzar con la muerte (Ibíd.) H. Gressman interpreta la parábola de Jesús como descendiente de aquel motivo egipcio 1 . Sin embargo, establecer una relación entre las dos historias es obviar una razón importante en la historia de Jesús. La historia del rico y Lázaro fue simplemente un cuento antiguo y transitado que Jesús usó para reprender a los líderes de su época por engreírse. Cambió el diseño para adaptarse a su audiencia hebrea.

A lo largo del Evangelio de Lucas, el tema inverso es evidente (por ejemplo, “Los últimos serán los primeros y los primeros serán los últimos” 13:30). Pero Lucas aprecia el tema del hambre, (por ejemplo, “Bienaventurados los hambrientos; serán saciados” 6:20-21 y “Ay de los saciados pues pasarán hambre” 6:25). Paul Davidson luego señala que, “Es difícil imaginar que las iglesias del Evangelio de la Prosperidad de hoy reconozcan las implicaciones obvias de esta parábola, y mucho menos las acepten” 5 .

Ya en la Quinta Dinastía (2450-2300 a. C.), el alto funcionario egipcio Henqu afirma que era un hombre “que alimentaba al hambriento, vestía al desnudo, no agraviaba a ninguna criada, alimentaba a los animales y pájaros consagrados a los dioses, no robaba los bienes de nadie, protegía a los pobres y débiles, vivía afectuosamente con los miembros de su familia y se mostraba bondadoso con los ancianos” 2 . ¡La bondad tiene una larga historia de usurpación eventual de la codicia!