Handball made it’s debut into the realm of ACU intramural sports on Saturday with the start of the men’s tournament.

Handball is played in two halves of fifteen minutes each. The teams are made up of seven people. One person on each team guards the goal, which is made up of the pads at each end of the basketball court. Throwing the ball into the goal from outside the women’s three-point line scores points. Players can dribble as much as they want and have three steps before and after starting to dribble. Both the men’s and women’s tournament were double elimination.

After the rules for this new game were understood, students got to enjoy the game itself.

“After the first half of our first game it was so fun to see everyone click and get the hang of how the game was supposed to be played,” said Emily Bibb, senior psychology major and art minor from Abilene.

The idea for introducing this sport came from ACU students themselves.

“We are always looking for a new sport and we have had a number of students say they thought team handball would be a good one to try,” Kyle Pinson, assistant director of Intramural Sports said.

The game was featured in the 2012 summer Olympics in London, which gave students the inspiration to propose the game for ACU. Students in the upcoming fall semesters will continue to get the chance to enjoy this new sport because of the positive reaction it received this season.

“If I weren’t graduating this year I would definitely play again next year,” Bibb said.

The men’s tournament started on Saturday because there were more men’s teams, and ran through Thursday. The women’s tournament started Monday, and ran through Thursday.