Lewis Howes making the most of his Spanish adventure

There was a surprise addition to the Ademar Leon squad last week, as the EHF Cup participants continued their pre-season preparation.

USA national team player and former American Football professional Lewis Howes arrived in Spain to train with the squad as he tries to better understand the sport he has only been playing for three years.

Howes was an All-American athlete in both American Football and Decathlon while at university, but life has since changed for him dramatically.

After suffering an injury which ended his American Football career, Howes went into business and is now an entrepreneur, author and a well-known social media expert and he tells eurohandball.com about his introduction to handball.

“I was recovering on my sister’s couch in Ohio after retiring from surgery with a broken wrist during an Arena Football game. 

“During this time, the 2008 Olympics were on and I saw handball for the first time in my life.  I was amazed by the game, became obsessed with learning the sport, and moved to New York City two years later to learn from the team,” explains Howes.

Big move

Howes progressed quickly as a handball player and was called up to the USA national team for the 2012 Pan American Championship.

International representation gave him a taste of the high standards not typically found back home and his ambitions to play abroad were soon realised thanks to a teammate in New York.

“I mentioned to one of my teammates on the New York City Handball Club that my goal was to play in Spain. I always want to learn from the best, and since they were the world champions I figured it would be a great country to play in. 

“My teammate had played with Diego Llorente Llamazares (a former player in Leon) and he made the introduction to the head coach for me,” says the 30-year-old back court player.

Looking to the future

Howes attracted plenty of media attention with his arrival in Spain and has clearly made an impression on his new club already, earning court time and scoring in his debut with the club in a pre-season friendly over the weekend.

The club has also made a big impression on the American, who is not looking at options with his new club in the future.

“I love this team.  The play is fast and strong, but also they have some amazing finesse players who are smooth and can easily fool any defender.

“Right now I'm learning a lot from the coach and the players, and looking to find a win-win situation for this season where I'm able to practice for a few months during the season and see if it makes sense to come back for more next season,” says Howes.

Individual progress is not the only goal for Howes and he is confident that the sport of handball and his fellow athletes in the USA have a bright future.

“As a handball player my goal is to become the best I can be to support the USA national team in being competitive over the next few years and make it to the 2016 Olympics.

“I believe there are there are more athletes who have the desire, dedication, and commitment to making it happen in Europe.  There are some extremely gifted athletes in America and it just comes down to them having a similar dream of playing pro sports and reaching the Olympics,” concludes Howes for eurohandball.com