In 2010, senior Gavin Brown was looking at possible colleges to attend when his mom marveled at t Pacific and jokingly suggested that he join the handball team.
At the time, Brown scoffed at the idea, not even knowing what handball was. His teammate, senior Aaron Cochrane, convinced him to go out for the team, during the beginning of Brown’s freshman year and he’s been playing ever since.
Now, as a decorated champion, Brown looks forward to his last collegiate season as he and the rest of the Pacific University handball team prepares for the 2014 national championships.
The 2014 United States Handball Association National Collegiate Championships will take place Feb. 19 in Raleigh, N.C. with Brown returning on a hunt for more success.
At the 2013 USHA tournament, Brown walked away as a Division II national champion as a part of the Pacific men’s handball team and as an individual DII Division B national title winner, making him the 23rd player from Pacific to win an individual title.
Looking toward the 2014 championships, he expects to step up his game even more.
Because of the way handball tournaments are set up, Brown will not be able to defend his individual championship at the 2014 tournament and will have to compete in a higher bracket division.
Although a bigger challenge, Brown has his goals set on the bigger picture.
“Another individual title would be nice, but I’m really hoping that as a team we can progress better and get a higher team score,” said Brown.
Not only has Brown been successful in terms of wins, but also by being awarded the prestigious Sportsmanship Award in 2012.
The award recipient is decided by the coaches and given out every year at the national tournament.
Brown credits his receiving of the award from his first match when he called a fault on himself on a sudden death match point.
“I lost, but I gained a lot of friends from that match,” recalled Brown. “I’ve been able to make friends with that opponent as well as other members on that team.”
The community aspect is something that Brown loves about the sport of handball.
He said the national community is small enough where the players are playing against the same people at tournaments and are able to make life-long friendships with each other.
After graduation, Brown plans to move to Portland to further his career in visual effects, animation, and motion graphics. He hopes to eventually attain an M.F.A.
While Brown does not see himself playing handball professionally in the near future, he does plan on playing competitively for as long as he can.
“I’ll be in Portland which is perfect because there’s a club every mile or two,” said Brown. “There’s a huge community of handball players in Oregon.”
Brown plans to keep a strong place in his life for handball in both the immediate and distant futures.
“The cool thing about some of the tournaments is that they’ll have classifications for people who are ages 60 to 65, 65 to 70, 70 to 75 and 75 and up,” He said. “There are guys who are pushing 80 and playing handball and I hope to be one of those guys eventually.”
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