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Topic: Explain one of your hobbies, and persuade a friend to take up this hobby.
Play Handball
My favorite hobby is playing handball which I have been exercising for about 20 years. Handball is a very popular sport in Europe and is known as “Olympic Handball” in North America. I grew up in Germany and came to the US about one and a half years ago. My whole family used to be active member in a handball club and I started to play it when I was only six years old. At that time my dad used to be the coach of a handball team for kids between the ages of five and seven.
Initially I was not interested in practicing it at all but he took me to a game once and I suddenly became quite excited. Maybe it was because I have seen all those kids running around chasing a ball… However, I’d like to bring you a bit closer to the sport of handball and hope to encourage you in taking up this activity.
I believe handball is an excellent sport for children. Practice with small children usually starts with general motor exercises. They jump, jump on one foot, run, try to catch and throw a ball while running, do balance exercises, and the list just goes on. It’s a great sport to get your child moving, stay active and get into the habit of weekly exercises. Additionally, it keeps them away from playing with electronic gadgets day in and day out.
Besides, handball is a team sport. An individual alone cannot have any success in this activity.
The younger you are to start it the better and the more intense your team spirit is being developed. It also encourages a great sense of fairness, competition, as well as assertiveness.
However, handball is not only for children. Even as an adult it’s never too late to start. I had a lot of friends who joined the team when they were 20 or even 30 years old. It’s a great work-life balance. You have your weekly schedule and know that you have to be at the sports hall at a certain time on a particular day. You can power out yourself in a playful way while enjoying the company of your friends. And the good thing is that you don’t have to pay a crazy amount of money to join that you would have to do when signing-up for a gym.
As handball is an indoor sport, it is a weather independent activity and can be played all year around. You don’t have to make your workout schedule depending on weather conditions which is a great advantage.

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Also, the older you get fitness gets more and more important to you. You don’t see that really when you are a child but you definitely start realizing it during your teens or mid-twenties. As you are already used to the weekly routine when doing sports as a child, it’s not too hard to keep up with it when getting older. Playing handball is a perfect exercise for staying fit and in shape. It trains your entire body, from the calves up to your shoulder blades. It includes running, jumping, catching, throwing, aiming, concentrating, techniques, and tactics and all that at once. It is seriously a great workout.
What I personally experienced during those years I have been practicing handball was that there is nothing better than doing sports together with your best friends. I always loved handball but being together with my friends while doing it was just great. I never thought of it as something I have to do for staying active, but of something I was looking forward to doing. If you spend two to three times a week together with the same people there is a great chance that good friendships develop, and if you do that for couple of years you realize that those friendships really last.
Another great thing about playing handball is the socializing part afterwards. It’s not only that you do your sport and go home after a workout but it’s also about making friends. You do the exercise, the hard work together with them but you also have a little fun afterwards and go out for a drink and a pizza.
Even today while living in a country where handball is not among the most popular sports and I cannot practice it actively I still watch in on TV. I stay connected to my friends in Germany through that sport and I’m active in the online communities. Even though I’m very far away from home, I know that handball along with my friends will always be there for me. I don’t think
I’d be the same person today if I did not have handball as a part of my life and my friends I got to know through it. I therefore encourage you to look for a handball team nearby and throw the ball with some of the players.