Differences in throwing capacity between senior and U-18 men handball players

The purpose of this investigation was to analyze the differences in general and specific throwing capacity of handball players as a function of the age category. Differences between throwing velocity to goal without and with opposition have also been addressed. Ninety four handball senior and U-18 players were assessed in four different situations of throwing: 1) heavy medicine ball throw, 2) light medicine ball throw, 3) throwing velocity without opposition and 4) throwing velocity with opposition. Senior players were found to perform far better than the U-18 players in all four throwing situations (p<0.001; t1=6.958; t2=8.244; t3=8.059; t4=5.399; df=92).Throwing velocity was higher without than with opposition for both groups; the throwing velocity of the senior group was 7.79% lower (p<0.01; t=8.317; df=47) when there was opposition, whereas U-18 players’ velocity lowered by 6.03% (p<0.01; t=4.469; df=45). The results suggest that age can be a determining factor in handball players’ throwing capacity, both general and specific. Likewise, the presence and interference of a goalkeeper appears to affect throwing velocity in a negative way, especially in senior player

Inter-rater reliability and validity of the Australian Football League\u27s kicking and handball tests

Talent identification tests used at the Australian Football League’s National Draft Combine assess the capacities of athletes to compete at a professional level. Tests created for the National Draft Combine are also commonly used for talent identification and athlete development in development pathways. The skills tests created by the Australian Football League required players to either handball (striking the ball with the hand) or kick to a series of 6 randomly generated targets. Assessors subjectively rate each skill execution giving a 0-5 score for each disposal. This study aimed to investigate the inter-rater reliability and validity of the skills tests at an adolescent sub-elite level. Male Australian footballers were recruited from sub-elite adolescent teams (n=121, age=15.7 ± 0.3 years, height=1.77 ± 0.07 m, mass=69.17 ± 8.08 kg). The coaches (n=7) of each team were also recruited. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using Inter-class correlations (ICC) and Limits of Agreement analysis. Both the kicking (ICC=0.96, P\u3c0.01) and handball tests (ICC=0.89, P\u3c0.01) demonstrated strong reliability and acceptable levels of absolute agreement. Content validity was determined by examining test scores sensitivity to laterality and distance. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing coaches’ perceptions of skill to actual test outcomes. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) examined the main effect of laterality, with scores on the dominant hand (P=0.04) and foot (P\u3c0.01) significantly higher compared to the non-dominant side. Follow-up univariate analysis showing significant differences at every distance in the kicking test. A poor correlation was found between coaches’ perceptions of skill and testing outcomes. The results of this study demonstrate both skill tests demonstrate acceptable inter-rater reliable. Partial content validity was confirmed for the kicking test, however further research is required to confirm validity of the handball test

PERBANDINGAN KOMPONEN KONDISI FISIK ATLET BOLATANGAN KABUPATEN LAMONGAN DAN KABUPATEN GRESIK

Sport is a human need to maintain a healthy body condition. If the condition of the body is healthy, it can be ascertained that the person can carry out activities in daily life properly. Sports activities greatly affect a person's physical fitness, moreover, these activities contribute directly to the components of physical fitness and physical condition to keep them well controlled. Physical condition is a very important element in almost all sports. Therefore, physical exercise requires careful and systematic planning so that the level of physical fitness and functional ability of the body is better. Handball is a sport that is simple but has a very dominant body contact and requires the players to run, jump, change directions quickly and have good endurance to support achievement. Based on the results of monitoring in the implementation of the handball team selection in Kabupaten Lamongan and Kabupaten Gresik which were prepared to face the 2019 pekan olahraga provinsi. Researchers conducted a comparison of the components of the physical condition of the handball teams in Kabupaten Lamongan and Kabupaten Gresik. The purpose of this study was to determine the results of the comparison of the components of the physical condition of handball athletes in Kabupaten Lamongan and Kabupaten Gresik. The results of this study are the handball athletes of Kabupaten Gresik have an average of 37,5071 more than the handball athletes of Kabupaten Lamongan who get an average of 36,779. The speed of handball athletes in Kabupaten Gresik has an average of 5.50507 more than the handball athletes of Kabupaten Lamongan who get an average of 5.0029. The agility of handball athletes in Kabupaten Lamongan has an average of 12.2329 more than the handball athletes of Kabupaten Gresik who get an average of 11.8321. The arm muscle strength of handball athletes in Kabupaten Lamongan has an average of 39.50 more than the handball athletes of Kabupaten Gresik who get an average of 33.57. The abdominal muscle strength of handball athletes in Kabupaten Gresik has an average of 39.79 more than the handball athletes of Kabupaten Lamongan who get an average of 37.21. The leg muscle strength of handball athletes in Kabupaten Gresik has an average of 2.1343 more than the handball athletes of Kabupaten Lamongan who get an average of 1.9050. The endurance of handball athletes in Kabupaten Gresik has an average of 12.7657 more than the handball athletes in Kabupaten Lamongan who get an average of 11.9293

Examination and comparison of psychological characteristics of american football players and handball players

In this study, mental toughness and anxiety have been chosen to be compared between male American football and handball players. The present study was carried out to determine and examine the psychological parameters mentioned above and show the importance of these concepts in the process of sport career. Mental toughness (with its sub-dimensions) and anxiety levels of 44 male participants were determined. Twenty-seven of those participants were American football players between 19 and 25 years of age (mean ± s: age 20.93 ± 2.25 years). Their sports experience ranged between 1 and 19 years (mean ± s: 10.26 ± 3.34 years). The remaining seventeen participants were handball players between 18 and 26 years of age (mean ± s: age 21.54 ± 3.31 years). Their sport experience ranged between 5 and 12 years (mean ± s: 9.15 ± 4.13 years). Differences between the groups were determined using the "Independent Sample t-test" analysis method using the SPSS 21.0 software. The independent sample t-test results showed that there were significant differences in the total mental toughness (including its sub-dimensions; confidence, constancy and control) and anxiety levels of the two group of players (p < .05). The American football team players’ confidence, control, and total mental toughness levels were higher than that of handball players and they had lower level scores for constancy and anxiety levels. © 2018 by authors, all rights reserved

Ergogenic aids in competitive handball players: a narrative review.

Handball performance is a team-sport characterized by high intensity efforts interspersed with recovery periods. Due to high demands of handball performance, the use of ergogenic aids is a common strategy of handball players with the aim of enhancing handball performance, to allow more effective training, and to increase the rate of recovery. Although the use of ergogenic aids is generalized in the whole spectrum of competitive handball (e.g., from recreational to professional players), only a few ergogenic aids have been investigated to test their effectiveness to increase handball performance. In addition, no previous study has summarized the scientific literature on this topic to determine the ergogenic aids with good level of evidence regarding their effectiveness to increase handball physical performance. Thus, the aim of this narrative review was to describe the prevalence in the use of ergogenic aids in handball players and to analyse this information to identify which of these substances may increase physical performance in an intermittent sport such as competitive handball.post-print690 K

Effects of a Motivational Climate on Psychological Needs Satisfaction, Motivation and Commitment in Teen Handball Players

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the motivational climate created by the coach and perceived by a group of young high-performance handball players on their sport motivation, self-determination, sport psychological needs and sport commitment. The study participants were 479 young handball players. The age range was 16–17 years old. Players were administered a battery composed of a Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire, Sport Motivation Scale, the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale and Sport Commitment Questionnaire to measure the above-mentioned theoretical constructs. Results showed that the handball players showed high levels of a task-involving climate, of basic psychological needs satisfaction and of self-determined motivation and commitment. Higher levels of basic psychological needs such as autonomy and competence were associated with a higher task-involving climate, self-determined index and sport commitment (task-involving climate–basic psychological needs (β = 0.55; 95% IC 0.387/0.682; p = 0.001); Ego-involving climate–basic psychological needs (β = 0.06; 95% IC −0.069/0.181; p = 0.387); Basic psychological needs–self-determined index (β = 0.48; 95% IC 0.376/0.571; p = 0.001); Self-determined index–commitment (β = 0.58; 95% IC 0.488/0.663; p = 0.001). The obtained model showed that basic psychological needs mediated the association between a task-involving climate and self-determination, and self-determination mediated the association between basic psychological needs satisfaction and commitment

Uncertainty of outcome and rule changes in European handball

In this article, a new set of rules in professional handball, introduced in July 2016 are discussed. The discussion is aided by a reasonably broad empirical analysis, comparing uncertainty of outcome between European handball and football (soccer). This analysis indicates that European handball, already before the introduction of the new rules, may have had problems with severe lack of uncertainty of outcome. Given this fact, we discuss the new rules, and conclude that they may lead to further increased competitive imbalance (reduced uncertainty of outcome) in handball. Such a conclusion should be of interest for handball officials, especially when the new set of rules, here identified as possibly harmful for uncertainty of outcome, still are under debate. Keywords: uncertainty of outcome, handball rules, uncertainty of outcome measurementacceptedVersio

Selected Physical Characteristics of Medical Students

The purpose of this study was to measure selected anthropometrical characteris-tics, motor abilities and cardiorespiratory functions of medical students. Eighty-seven students were involved in this investigation. The students were categorized into five groups: (1) recreational, doing sport activities irregularly, (2) basketball and (3) handball players, having training at least two times per week, as well as men (4) and women (5) students entering medical school. In all groups the mean body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio were at the upper level of the normal range, while body fat percentage was similar to standards for sedentary subjects. Better motor per-formances were obtained from the basketball and handball players than from the other groups. Static strength for the sample was somewhat above the normal sedentary level. The resting blood pressure and heart rate for most subjects were in the normal. Cardiovascular risk factors were found in six students. Their systolic blood pressure was above 140 mm Hg. There were no sub-jects identified with low blood pressure. The heart rate was elevated for three students from the recreational group, and in the women. Bradycardia did not occur. The vital capacity and the ability to hold one’s breath was at the upper level of the normal range. The present results emphasis the need to improve the students` prevention oriented life style through participation in exercising

Handball-specific loading acutely reduces the acromiohumeral distance in experienced handball players and in non-handball experienced athletes

Context When playing handball, the preservation of the subacromial space, which can be quantified by the acromiohumeral distance (AHD), plays a crucial role for shoulder health of handball players. Acute effects of handball-specific loading on the subacromial space with consideration of individual adaptions resulting from long-term handball-specific loading experience have yet to be determined in order to prevent injuries such as e. g. an impingement of the supraspinatus tendon. Objective To (1) assess the acute effects of handball-specific loading on the AHD in healthy experienced handball players (HB) and non-handball experienced athletes (CG) and (2) to assess the AHD behavior in relation to individual intrinsic factors to identify possible risk factors and the effect of handball-specific experience associated adaptations. Participants 20 HB (10m; 10f) and 20 CG (10m; 10f); 24 ± 5 years. Intervention Handball-specific loading protocol. Main outcome measures The AHD was measured by ultrasonography at 0° and 60° abduction pre and post intervention. Isometric shoulder strength was measured with hand-held dynamometry. Shoulder range of motion (ROM) was measured with goniometry. Results Handball-specific loading led to significantly reduced AHD in the dominant shoulder in the 60° abducted position in both groups (HB: −1.7 ± 2.0 mm; p = 0.001, d = 0.69; CG: −1.1 ± 2.0 mm; p = 0.024, d = 0.37) and in the non-dominant shoulder in 0° (−0.7 ± 1.5 mm; p = 0.038, d = 0.35) and 60° abducted position (−1.3 ± 1.8 mm; p = 0.004, d = 0.69) in HB only. Handball-specific loading enhanced AHD reduction when elevating the shoulder from 0° to 60° in both groups and arms. Larger shoulder abduction strength affected the maintenance of the AHD positively. HB demonstrated less shoulder strength compared to CG, while ROM did not differ. Conclusions Handball-specific loading can affect the ability to preserve the subacromial space which might put handball players at risk for shoulder injuries. Poor shoulder strength can aggravate this mechanism. Therefore, implementation of strengthening exercises of the external rotator and abductor muscles in the training schedule may improve shoulder health of handball players.Peer Reviewe