Karl Schelenz (or Carl Schelenz, born 6 February 1890 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

; died 7 February 1956) was a German

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. 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

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

, 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 The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. 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 The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

: 7.23 m, on 24 July 1921 in Berlin *

Triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

: 14.07 m, on 28 July 1921 in Hamburg *

Discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

: 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