Storm brewing at USATH?

A recent article authored by Brian Gomez of the Colorado Springs “The Gazette” describes new financial woes the USA Team Handball federation finds itself in:

The national governing body for team handball is facing a $30,000 shortfall as it prepares to send its men’s squad to the Pan American Games, and assuming the U.S. doesn’t win, players might have to pay their own way to continue the Olympic qualification process.

These financial problems are brought about by a decrease in the funds allocated to USATH by the USOC. USATH General Manager Steve Pastorino is quoted in the article:

Pastorino categorized the USOC funding cut as a “near-catastrophic blow,” noting USA Team Handball is “a small NGB, and we need every dollar that we can get. We felt that we were on an upward trend with the USOC. We were demonstrating the progress that they wanted to see. We were making the progress in our high performance plans that we had laid out for them … To have our funding slashed was a difficult pill to swallow.”

In addition to this article, unconfirmed reports have surfaced alleging that Pastorino had been relieved of his duties as early as July 31, 2011, at the request and the subsequent voting of the USATH Board Of Directors. These reports further claim that Pastorino had since agreed to stay on with the Federation on a voluntary basis. Pastorino’s alleged dismissal might be interpreted as a way for the USATH BOD to cut ties with the person who could be seen as the principal behind three consecutive years of failed and inconsistent USOC financial audits. It could also bee seen as a heroic effort of Pastorino to help in a time of financial crisis.

A request for an interview has been sent to USOC CEO Scott Blackmun, but has not been answered as of this writing.

Read full story at teamhandballnews.com