Team Handball

Reita Clanton and Mary Phyl Dwight began playing team handball more than 20 years ago. From 1974 to 1984 they were members of the U.S. Women’s National Team. During that time they played in over 100 international games, two world championships, and five U.S. Olympic Festivals. They reached the pinnacle of their playing careers in 1984 as members of the women’s Olympic team, which finished in fourth place.

Clanton has coached four U.S. Olympic Festival teams, three of them gold medal teams. Since 1987 she has been the team handball codirector, as well as a clinician and coach, for Special Olympics International. She is the assistant coach for women’s team handball in the 1996 Olympics and head coach of the women’s Team 2000. She also conducts team-handball clinics throughout the United States.

Clanton’s playing and coaching experience goes beyond team handball, though. She has coached winning basketball programs at the high school, junior college, and university level, and she has played on the varsity basketball and volleyball teams at Auburn University. Her basketball uniform number was later retired.

Clanton earned her bachelor’s degree in health and human performance from Auburn University. A resident of Decatur, Georgia, she enjoys singing, playing guitar, reading, and staying physically fit.

Dwight is the women’s development coach for the U.S. Team Handball Federation. In 1995 she was the team leader for the USA Women’s Pan-American Team, which won a gold medal. She also has coached two U.S. Olympic Festival teams and has been the team handball director for Special Olympics International since 1987. Like Clanton, she conducts clinics for players of all ages.

Among Dwight’s other sporting experiences are stints as head volleyball and softball coach at the university level. As a varsity athlete at Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU), she was captain of her basketball, volleyball, and track teams and competed in softball and cross-country as well. She was elected to the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981.

Majoring in physical education, Dwight earned her master’s degree from Kansas State University and her bachelor’s degree from SMSU. She has taught physical education at the high school and college level. Her hobbies include cross training, boating, and camping. She lives in Raytown, Missouri.