Karl Schelenz (or Carl Schelenz, born 6 February 1890 in Berlin; died 7 February 1956) was a German sport teacher. He is famous as the "father" of modern

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

Life

Schelenz worked as a sport teacher in Berlin and in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

. As an author, he wrote books on the modern sport of

. In 1917 he, Erich Konigh, and Max Heiser published the first modern set of rules for handball on 29 October in Berlin, which is seen as the date of birth of the sport. Schelenz modified the rules in 1919. In 1916 and in 1917, he was the German champion in long jump. He was third in the German championship in

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. Schelenz was a member of the German sport team Berliner Turner-Verein von 1850 e. V. in Berlin.

Best marks

High jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

: 1.80 m, on 27 June 1920 in Stettin and on 4 July 1921 in Berlin * Long jump: 7.23 m, on 24 July 1921 in Berlin * Triple jump: 14.07 m, on 28 July 1921 in Hamburg * Discus throw: 39.22 m, on 29 May 1921 in Cologne

Works by Schelenz

* ''Das Handballspiel: Bearb. f. Theorie u. Praxis'' 1922 Deutsche Sportbehörde für Leichtathletik, Munich (as Carl Schelenz) * ''Deutschlands Olympiakämpfer 1928 in Wort u. Bild'' 1928 W. Limpert, Dresden (as Carl Schelenz) together with Karl Scharping * ''Lehrbuch des Handballspiels: Technik ; Taktik'' 1943 Limpert, Berlin (as Karl Schelenz) * ''Handball: Training und Leistung'' 1949 Antäus-Verlag, Lübeck (as Karl Schelenz)

External links

Welt des Sports: Geschichte des Handballspiels (German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schelenz, Karl German national athletics champions German male long jumpers German male high jumpers German male triple jumpers German male discus throwers German handball coaches Athletes from Berlin 1890 births 1956 deaths German schoolteachers