The only team participating at the 2025 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship which also took part in the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship is the United States of America. However, coach Robert Hedin is using this competition to see more talent at his disposal, with only four players making the roster at Bulgaria 2025 having already played in the world handball flagship competition.

Of course, the main objective is to create a competitive team for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and with the rules at the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, which state that the roster must be filled with Under-24 players and over three players aged over 24 years old, Hedin saw this competition as a good opportunity to hand some debuts to several players.

One of them is line player Sigurður Jefferson Guarino. If the name has some Icelandic connotations, then, yes, Guarino was born in Connecticut, to an American father and an Icelandic mother. But he moved when he was just a kid to Iceland, where he also made his first steps in handball.

“Why handball? I think it was the camaraderie. All of my friends were playing, so I thought I should start playing too. And I loved the sport from the start. It has everything you want as a player. It is fast, it is physical, it has something for all, something from all sports. I think it is very exciting,” says Guarino.

Soon enough, he emerged in the first team at Handknattleiksfélag Kópavog, which is currently playing in the Icelandic league, helping Guarino feature against some of the players he calls role models.

“Last year, Aron Palmarsson came back to Iceland, before moving to Veszprem in 2024. And I played against him, we won that match. It was incredible. I was always looking, when I was growing up, at other line players from Iceland. Robert Gunnarsson or Kari Kristjansson are two players which I always admired,” says Guarino.

But how did the line player, currently 24 years old, get into the United States of America team?

“I did not know that the USA have a handball team. So when I found out, I emailed one of the coaches of the younger age category teams that I have an American passport and I am available to play. I did not get an answer, but they got back to me three years later. Unfortunately, I was not eligible to play, because I was 22 at that time and could not feature in the junior team,” says Guardino.

Then, the coach of the senior team, Robert Hedin, got interested and got in touch with Guarino. And the line player made his debut for the USA senior men’s national team at the 2025 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, scoring 10 goals in the first three matches, where USA were unbeaten, with two wins over the Republic of Moldova and Azerbaijan and a draw against Nigeria.

“Everybody helped me settle well, the coach is also amazing, so I think it is a very good experience and a learning curve for me. Of course, I am proud to represent the USA and it’s great that I am here,” says Guarino.

The experience in Iceland helped him a lot, with the domestic league being a hotbed for young talent, with plenty of emerging stalwarts taking on the court and, in turn, helping Guarino develop as a player.

And the line player is determined to forge a path for himself in the sport he loves most, after also dipping his toes into American Football, another interest of Guarino.

“I have tried out for an Icelandic team, the only one here, but handball was my first love, of course. Definitely, I have some role models in the sport, one of them being Saquon Barkley, who works a lot, is humble and puts everything into playing. But, as I said, handball is handball for me,” says Guarino.

With the USA winning their group in the preliminary round at the 2025 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, a medal is now in sight for the American side, despite a slow start, with a 31:31 draw against Nigeria.

Guarino did not enter the court for that match, but in the next ones, he was a key ingredient in the defence, where he was slotted in the centre, as well as in the attack, where his nous for fast breaks worked out wonders for his side.

Now, with a semi-final where the USA will be favoured, all the American side needs to do is to deliver a good match and a medal will be ensured. For Guarino, it would be a dream start. And a first step towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, which is every American player’s dream.