Handball

Biological maturity status significantly influences success in handball, impacting an athlete's performance and overall development. This study aimed to examine the anthropometric and physical performance variables concerning age and maturity status, establishing reference values for physical performance among Tunisian players. A total of 560 handball players (309 males and 251 females aged 13-19 years) were categorized based on maturity status: early ( n = 98), average ( n = 262), and late ( n = 200), determined through Mirwald and colleagues' equations...

OBJECTIVES: To explore the relationships between physical fitness and i) technical skills and ii) time-loss from Australian football injury in female players across the talent and participation pathways. METHODS: This study uses a subset of data from two cross-sectional and one prospective cohort studies. A total of 223 female Australian football players across five competition levels (elite/non-elite senior, high-level junior, and non-elite junior (14-17 years)/(10-13 years)) were included in this study...

Even when brain scans fail to detect a striate lesion, functional evidence for blindsight can be adduced. In the aftermath of an automobile accident, JK became blind. Results of ophthalmic exams indicated that the blindness must be cortical. Nevertheless, multiple MRI scans failed to detect structural damage to the striate cortex. Prior to the accident JK had been an athlete; after the accident he retained some athletic abilities, arousing suspicions that he might be engaged in fraud. His residual athletic abilities-e...

The aim of this study was to carry out a descriptive analysis of the main performance variables of national teams that competed in the Men's (Germany-Denmark 2019) and Women's (Germany 2017) senior handball World Cups, and to compare the spatial offensive performance indices of laterality and depth according to the gender of players, considering for this purpose the total number of throws made according to the finishing area. A documentary study was carried out based on the total number of throws made in 192 male and 154 female games of 48 national teams belonging to 33 countries, which participated in previous World Cups...

This study compared the effects of a 6-week combined plyometric and sprint-training program on the sand to regular preseason training, on the athletic performance and technical actions of beach handball (BH) players. Athletes were randomly assigned either to the control (CG, n = 12; BH training only) or the experimental group (EG, n = 12; plyometric + sprint + BH training). Assessments conducted before and after the training period included a squat jump, a countermovement jump, the Abalakov jump, a 15-m sprint, a modified Course-Navette endurance test, and four sport-specific BH throwing speed tests: a standing penalty throw, a 3-step running throw, a jump throw, and a 360º jump throw...

Stroboscopic training enhances perceptual cognition and motor skills; however, neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this adaptation are not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a six-week stroboscopic training program on the conductivity of the visual pathway in elite handball players, specifically related to their visual processing of retinal location and viewing conditions. The study included 22 handball players who were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group...

A handball is one of two technical skills used to dispose of the ball in Australian Football. Previous research has only considered handball effectiveness in the analysis of team performance and there is a need to understand whether there are other more important characteristics of handball execution that explain effectiveness (i.e., performance). 1342 handballs from Australian Football League matches were analysed. Ten characteristic variables were created that represent the context and execution of each handball included in the analysis...

BACKGROUND: Proximal hamstring complex injury (PHCI) is a common injury among professional athletes, particularly those participating in pivot contact sports. Previous studies have suggested that surgery can be effective in restoring function and allowing athletes to return to sport (RTS), but the factors influencing successful RTS have been less clear. PURPOSE: To assess RTS capabilities after surgical treatment of PHCI in professional athletes and to identify favorable predictors of RTS...

Beach handball is a fully developed sporting discipline on all five continents which has attracted the attention of researchers in the last decade, resulting in a proliferation of different studies focusing on players but not on referees. The main objective of this cross-sectional research was to determine the physical demands on elite male beach handball referees in four different competitions: U18 male; U18 female; senior male; and senior female. Twelve elite federated male referees (age: 30.86 ± 8 years; body height: 175...

The aim of this study was to identify the key physical indicators that affect game performance of male team handball athletes in national team handball tournaments and explore them further in relation to playing positions. A total of 150 male handball athletes were tested before a national tournament, using squat, bench press, 30-m sprint, vertical jump, pull-ups and abdominal endurance testing. Correlation analysis was used to examine the potential relationship between fitness level and tournament ranking...

BACKGROUND: Physical therapists use tests that could determine strength and weaknesses of the shoulder for overhead throwing athletes to enhance performance, prevent injury, and safely progress rehabilitation. The Closed Kinetic Chain Upper Extremity Stability Test (CKCUEST) has been proposed to assess muscular capacity and dynamic shoulder stability in overhead athletes, which could provide information to determine a risk of injury. PURPOSE: To investigate if the CKCUEST is an appropriate test to implement within team elite handball players to evaluate dynamic shoulder stability across sexes and in the screening of shoulder pain...

This study investigated whether dietary supplement acceptance mediated the relationship between supplement use and doping attitudes in youth sports. To this end, we employed a two-wave half-longitudinal design during a sports season (time point one [T1] to time point two [T2]). The sample consisted of 217 elite youth athletes (47% male; mean age = 16.98 years, standard deviation = 0.88) who competed in team sports (43%; N = 93; basketball, floorball, handball, and ice hockey) and individual sports (57%; N = 124; alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, swimming, and tennis)...

(1) Background: Given the physiological characteristics of handball, players may require the use of certain sports supplements (SS). However, very few studies have investigated the consumption of SS in handball. The aims were to determine the number of handball players who consume SS, to analyze their SS consumption pattern according to gender and competitive level, and to assess whether the SS they consume are supported by scientific evidence, and to which group they belong according to the classification of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)...

An imbalanced adaptation of muscle strength and tendon stiffness in response to training may increase tendon strain (i.e., the mechanical demand on the tendon) and consequently tendon injury risk. This study investigated if personalized tendon loading inducing tendon strain within the effective range for adaptation (4.5%-6.5%) can reduce musculotendinous imbalances in male adolescent handball athletes (15-16 years). At four measurement time points during a competitive season, we assessed knee extensor muscle strength and patellar tendon mechanical properties using dynamometry and ultrasonography and estimated the tendon's structural integrity with a peak spatial frequency (PSF) analysis of proximal tendon ultrasound scans...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationship between items of the Short Recovery and Stress Scale (SRSS) related to physical stress and recovery and the biomarker creatine kinase (CK) in professional handball. METHODS: CK and SRSS items (physical performance capability, overall recovery, muscular stress, and overall stress) were assessed in an observational study of 16 adult male professional handball players from a team in the highest German league during the 2019-20 preseason...

Handball is a sport that involves high-intensity actions throughout the game, such as sprints, jumps, landings, and high-speed, repeated throws. This, along with competitive and tactical factors, congested schedules, and the need to maintain a high level of performance throughout the season, contributes to a high injury rate. This study aimed to analyse ligament injuries in a professional handball team over six consecutive seasons. A total of 68 elite male Spanish handball players participated, with 54 time-loss injuries (i...

Effective sports training should be attuned to the athlete's specific conditionings and characteristics. In motor learning research, two often neglected factors that influence this resonance are the learner's athletic background and the structural diversity of exercises (e.g., relative similarity). In the setting of real-word training with higher external validity, this study examines the effects of three learning approaches (i.e., contextual interference (CI), differential learning (DL), and free-play control condition (CO)) on the parallel learning of handball (HB), volleyball (VB), and basketball (BB) skills, considering participants' prior sport backgrounds...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate adolescents' experiences with the food selection at the sport arena. DESIGN: Four focus group interviews were conducted with 4-6 participants each. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were coded in NVivo and the analysis was guided by thematic analysis. SETTING: Adolescents from handball and football clubs in Oslo and Viken, Norway, participated in the study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 9 boys (11-14 years old) and 10 girls (11-14 years old) participated in the study...

BACKGROUND: Interventions that are co-created with end-users, and that are informed by behavior change or implementation theories, support implementation in real world settings. However, injury prevention programs for youth athletes have typically been developed by experts with no, or insufficiently described, end-user involvement and without guidance by theories. The aim of the current study was to describe the development of a holistic injury prevention intervention for youth handball targeting end-users at different levels, through using knowledge from end-users and researchers/experts and applying relevant behavior change and implementation theories...

INTRODUCTION: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are frequent in handball and altered sensory integration may contribute to increased injury risk. Recent evidence showed that proprioceptive postural control strategies differ among athletes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between proprioceptive strategy and biomechanics during side-cutting manoeuvres. METHODS: 47 handball players performed anticipated (CUT ant ) and unanticipated (CUT unant ) cutting tasks...