Match analysis: which is the real performance of the handball players?

Hi,

Today we will talk about a topic that should be on the basis of all the training process in each sport: the Match analysis.

In handball field, were made many studies about match analysis. One of the most recent was that of a Portuguese research group published on December 2012 on the important Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

In this research, were analyzed 10 matches of the Portuguese First division Championship. The Heart rate of the players was surveyed and a Time motion analysis was made on the video of the matches. The movements of the players were divided in 8 categories:

 - standing still

 - walking

 - jogging

 - fast running

 - sprinting

 - backwards movement

 - sideways medium-intensity movement

 - sideways high-intensity movement

The results was very interesting! For example, the average distance covered by players during the matches was 4370m; average time between two different  "motor actions" was 5,6 sec. Furthermore, was revealed that the action most used by players is the stop followed by change of direction; time passed by the players executing high intensity action is lower during the second half respect the first one.

Also the Heart rate of the players was lower during the second half respect the first one. In general, the average value of the Heart rates was 82% of the Heart rate max.

Thinking about the results of this study, it is easy understandable that the information provided are useful to plan the training. If I want to make an intervanl trainig, I have to consider that during the matches, the players change "motor activity" every 5,6 seconds. If you have a heart rate monitor, you can understand if the effort of the players during training is good respect the official match.

The great quantity of stops and changes of direction in handball should led us to the importance of eccentric training, in particular of the lower limbs. 

One of my professors during the course for professional physical trainer in Coverciano told me that "a lot of time coaches focus the trainings on the improvement of acceleration, but also the deceleration is very important"

In this paper there are also other important results that I did not report, but if you want the complete text, you can contact me.

 - Póvoas, S.C.A., Seabra, A.F.T., Ascensão, A.A.M.R., Magalhães, J., Soares, J.M.C., Rebelo, A.N.C.C. (2012) Physical and physiological demands of elite team handball. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26(12), 3365.

I hope to shared useful information.

Greetings