Let's Build The Right Wall: Handball In Lakewood

Mr. Cesar Vargas & Emmet Barley in the Bronx playing handball.

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Mr. Cesar Vargas,  a twenty-five-year resident of Lakewood, has been the art teacher at Harding Middle School for seven years. He and his wife raised three boys here and taught art for eighteen years. 

My son Emmet Barley was fortunate to be introduced to the game of handball by Mr. Vargas three years ago when he was in sixth grade when Mr. Varas started a handball club.

“I was introduced to handball in high school and was immediately hooked. Whenever I found the chance to play I would, as much as I could. Fast forward to three years ago, I introduced the game to our middle school students, and like me, they were hooked. Between the LHS and Harding, we have about 25 to 30  players. These kids wait patiently for me to come down to play during lunch and recess. Many of them show up on the weekends on their own to use the mediocre court we have in our back parking lot at Harding. It's really cool to see as I drive past on an unrelated errand and catch them out there getting it in.”

Handball, a game that originated in Ireland, was introduced to the U.S. by Irish immigrants in the 1800s. New York is now the mecca of handball. This past August, the World Handball Championship was held in Limerick, Ireland. The U.S. won the men's competition, and Ireland won the women's championship. 

Handball is popular in Ireland and is an official sport of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The GAA is an international amateur sporting and cultural organization focused primarily on promoting Indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, including the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, Gaelic handball, and GAA rounders.

This past February, junior players from New York and from Belfast, Ireland, ages 14-18, faced off in a tournament in the Bronx. Each team had eight boys and four girls.

I brought my son Emmet to spectate, and he was asked to play against a player from Belfast. Emmet led the whole way but fell short by just one point. It was an excellent way for Emmet to gauge the competition and where he was as a handball player. 

Mr. Vargas is deeply committed to helping these kids continue their passion for handball beyond middle school. He recognizes the current limitations, with Harding being the only place to play in Lakewood if the gym isn't booked for other activities. This situation is not conducive for students at  LHS, and the prospect of handball dying out for them due to the lack of a dedicated playing space is unacceptable. Mr. Vargas firmly believes that we can do better, and he is advocating for establishing a dedicated handball court at LHS, ensuring that the sport can continue to thrive at the high school level.

Ideally, Vargas would like LHS to designate a space for a handball court and possibly even set one up at one or two of our parks, which Vargas said he guarantees will be used. We have reached out to the high school's girls' and boys' tennis coaches, and they are both on board with helping to support finding a space for these kids to play and possibly take an interest in playing for the high school tennis team.  

We are meeting with Mr. Mark Walter, the Director of Community and District Activities. He supports bringing a handball court to a park or the schools. The biggest challenge is finding adequate space. Mr. Vargas has submitted measurements and ideas to make this possible on one of the high school courts.

“Our students were able to play in a tournament this past summer in Cleveland and in Toledo, where several top players, who our students are familiar with, in the world took some time to give our students a pretty cool handball clinic and something they will remember.”  Mr. Vargas led the charge in getting students to attend this event. Emmet had a great time and came home with all kinds of handball swag. The players and event coordinators are passionate about this sport and want to encourage these kids to keep playing.

Emmet loves handball, and I want to encourage this passion for him. He used to be a soccer player, and I tried encouraging him to play lacrosse, but he said he wasn’t interested in a contact sport. He said he would be on the tennis team and had started taking lessons to prepare for next year when he was in high school.  

“It's the perfect game and has a low cost attached to it, unlike many other sports offered to our Lakewood kids.”  Vargas plans to continue introducing and helping to develop this great sport to his middle school students for as long as possible. I genuinely believe we are onto something good and can surely use help to grow it further.”  He is pursuing a coaching certification from the United States Handball Association (USHA) and has received support from this organization at the Cleveland Handball Association.

Benefits of Handball:

• Mental wellness and social get kids off screens and outdoors

• It’s a full-body workout: cardiovascular, agility

• Hand-eye coordination

• Lifelong sport, not demanding on your body

•  Low-cost, everyone is welcome

If you are interested in helping us grow this sport in Lakewood, please reach out to Patricia at [email protected] or Cesar at [email protected]

Patricia is a freelance travel writer and a resident of Lakewood. Her three boys attend(ed) Lakewood City Schools: a recent LHS graduate who is at OSU, an eighth grader at HMS, and a sixth grader at GMS. She has volunteered at all the schools her children have attended and other organizations in Lakewood. Most recently, Be SMART. She aims to continue to help maintain a safe, healthy, and stable community for her family and neighbors.