Viva Kreis is one of a few American-born players on the U.S. Women’s National Handball Team. To pursue a professional career in handball, she had to leave her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to join USAM Nîmes Gard club in France. She is working toward making the Olympic team for LA '28. which will be the first appearance for the U.S. women's (and men's) handball teams since Atlanta '96, the last time the U.S. hosted the Summer Games, with the teams qualifying as host nation. Viva, also an ASU alumna, shares her journey to the national team and talks about the realities of being a handball athlete in the U.S., where the sport struggles with a lack of funding.
We get to travel to different countries, wear 'The United States' across our chest, sing the national anthem. But being a sport that hasn't had a ton of success on the global stage, we really don't receive a lot of funding. So, a lot of what we do is self-funded…. And so, it's difficult at times to ask yourself, why am I doing this?... But you just have to have the vision and the foresight to see what you're working towards. And when you have a great group of teammates by your side, that makes it easy.
Viva Kreis U.S. National Handball Team Player