VIDEO: Kamiak H.S. grad Bill Johnson and beach handball

Published 4:49 pm Monday, August 7, 2017

Kamiak High School graduate Bill Johnson is one of the top players the United States has to offer in his sport: beach handball.

Beach handball? What exactly is beach handball, you ask? Well, it’s a form of team handball played on sand, of course. However, unlike its indoor brethren, handball on the beach is all about tricks and flair, as goals scored while performing a trick (a 360-degree leap or an alley-oop) are worth two points, while those scored without a trick are only worth one. And Johnson, who already has an interesting story as he’s coaching basketball in Tibet, is a key member of the U.S. beach handball national team.

So let’s take a look at exactly what Johnson does as a beach handball player.

First, here’s Johnson scoring during a shootout using a trick of his own:

Got the win over Germany ?? today! We advance to the ?‍♂️ semifinals tomorrow vs Irrissary – Croatia ??. #smaawareness – there are 4 types of SMA, Type 1 being the most severe and affects infants. Lhamo lives with Type 2 – with the help of her physical therapist the hope is to slow down the muscle degeneration so Lhamo can live a healthy childhood.

A post shared by Willard Johnson (@willard.johnson) on Jun 17, 2017 at 3:09pm PDT

Johnson was part of the U.S. team that surprised everyone in the beach team handball world by winning the 2016 Pan American Games. Here’s a highlight package from the U.S.’s run to the gold (Johnson is the tall guy wearing No. 8 in the highlights).

And if you want a sample of team beach handball at its best, here’s the top two teams in the world — Brazil and Croatia — squaring off for the 2014 world championship: