It was 1984, the year Merv Deckert won the World Handball Championship, the year he earned the seventh of his eight Canadian Open (and closed) titles, the year he was named Manitoba’s Male Athlete of the Year, that people began to talk about him in terms of greatness.

Handball is an enormously strenuous game, rather like playing squash with both hands, without a racket. Just learning the sport is beyond the abilities of many people. But once this feat of ambidexterity is learned, handball can become a lifetime sport, at the recreational level. Deckert is remarkable in that he has made it a lifetime sport at the world championship level. In 1984, he was not only playing but winning, at the airy heights of international play. He was 35 years old, the fellow he beat for the world title, Mexico’s Pancho Monreal, was 21. Today, at 37 Deckert is still competing, still winning and giving no indications whatsoever that he is about to slow down. In addition to the accomplishments already listed, he has won just about every other championship up for grabs in Canada and a good many in the United States. Moreover, since 1972, when he began competing outside the province, he had never finished lower than third.

He has also managed to be a fulltime teacher in Lorette, Manitoba, a fulltime father (and for several years following the death of his first wife Shirley, a single parent) to Christine, 10, Paul, 11 and 12 year old Kelley and a fulltime husband for his wife of two years Colleen. He was a keen athlete as a youngster, playing baseball, volleyball, hockey, basketball, badminton, soccer and golf. He did not come to handball until he was at the University of Manitoba, where he graduated with a B.Sc. and a B.Ed. in 1972.

The key to his success in all areas of life is clearly commitment. He’s committed to his family, to his profession, and to his sport.