This study was done with the aim of determining the effects a programmed training would have on the changes in the explosive strength of young female volleyball players. The sample consisted of 30 female volleyball players, aged 14 to 16, divided into two groups – the experimental one (n=15) and the control group (n=15). The experimental group was comprised of the players from the club OK ‘Desetka’, who, apart from the basic technical and tactical training process, underwent a specially designed programme for developing explosive strength two times a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays). The experimental programme was applied during the period of preparations before the official beginning of the regional competitions for cadets. The control group was comprised of the players from the club OK ‘Millennium’, who, during the same period of time, underwent only those training sessions which had previously been planned within the annual plan and programme of the club. Explosive strength evaluation included four sets of tests: the squat jump (SJ), countermowement jump (CMJ), drop jump (DJ), one-legged CMJ (OLCMJ). The effects of the progremmed training on the development of the explosive strength of the young female volleyball players was determined by the Covariance Analysis, ANCOVA. The results obtained in such a way showed the statistically significant improvement in the parameters tested within the experimental group. The difference was insignificant in the OLCMJ test only. The results point to the conclusion that the experimental training programme had positive effects on the changes of explosive strength of young female volleyball players.

The aim of this work is to present and analyse the handball literature on the causes of injuries, types of injuries and their anatomic locations, as well as the prevention measurements. Based on the results of the analysed studies, it can be concluded that there is a significant number of injuries, of different body parts and of different severity in top-level handball players. Overuse injuries (to certain body parts, such as the more dominant shoulder, the ankle and the knee) are considered to be most prominent. In order to prevent the injuries to the mouth and teeth, the use of mouthguard is recommended. When it comes to the prevention and rehabilitation of shoulder injuries, the research results have shown positive effects that the training aiming at the increase of the inner rotation of the glenohumeral strength, the outer rotation strength and the scapular muscles strength has along with the exercises for improving the kinetic chain and the chest flexibility. The use of elastic bands and the medicine ball has proven efficient in increasing the shoulder area strength, and the whole swing and throw movement. The ankle and the knee are the most frequently injured joints among female handball players. The results of the application of the neuromuscular training, the proprioception and the balance exercises, combined with some specific players’ activities (running, jumping and planting) show that such training process is efficient in the prevention of injuries to ankle and knee joints.

Handball is a dynamic Olympic sport dominated by acyclic movements (sudden changes in direction, jumps, landings, contacts between the players, etc.) with speed and agility playing an important role in their successful realization. Our aim was to establish which changes occurred in the body composition, speed and agility of top-ranked female handball players during the playing season. The parameters for estimating body composition were: body mass, body mass index (BMI), the percentage of muscle and fat. The ability to achieve speed (in 5, 10 and 30m sprints) and agility (new envelope test without a ball, straight slalom run without a ball and Straight slalom run with a ball, zig-zag with and zig-zag without a ball) was estimated with the portable timing system. The differences between the initial and the final measurements were established with the Student’s t-test. The results obtained show that there were statistically significant changes and weaker results in almost all the tested variables. The only improvements were detected in the maximum speed in 30m sprint and the agility without a ball (new envelope test and slalom run without a ball). It is recommended that the training plan should be carefully devised (the activities of the high intensity load should be applied throughout the season) as well as the plan for proper sports nutrition (body mass should be reduced with simultaneous increase in the muscular mass component).

The aim of our research was to determine the explosive strength of the legs i.e., the height of the jump of the top-ranked female handball players during the season. 15 female players underwent the following tests for estimating the explosive strength of the legs: SJ, CMJ, CMJ free arm, CMJ right leg and CMJ left leg. The Student’s t-test was applied for establishing the changes between the measuring sessions during the season. The results obtained show that there were statistically significant changes and better results at the end of the season in the following parameters: CMJ right leg =.002 and CMJ left leg = .018, whereas no significant changes occurred in all the other two-leg jumps. Taking into consideration the fact that in performing different throws and goal shooting the most prominent movements in handball are done on one leg, the results were expected. It is recommended that throughout the season the training process should include additional exercises for improving and maintaining the ability of the handball players to jump (plyometric, proprioceptive and the combination of the two with the common strength improving exercises), since their positive effects have been proven by quite a few studies.

UVODKošarka je sportska igra i pripada grupi sportova kompleksnih motoričkih aktivnosti, koji imaju intervalno-promenlјiv karakter, sa aerobno-anaerobnim (glikolitičkim) obezbeđenjem energije. Kod takvih sportova motoričke radnje imaju dinamički karakter i ispolјavaju se uz veoma veliku varijabilnost u dužem vremenskom periodu, u uslovima kompenzovanog zamora (Želјaskov, 2004). Zahtevi za ispolјavanjem specifičnih formi kretanja u košarci zavise od različitih pozicija igrača, ali se te razlike gube sa razvojem košarkaške igre, s obzirom na tendenciju da i visoki košarkaši danas poseduju sposobnost efikasnog kretanja na terenu (Verstegen & Marčelo, 2010). Uspeh u ovoj kolektivnoj sportskoj igri zavisi od velikog broja faktora iz domena jednačine specifikacije uspeha u košarci. To je dinamična sportska igra koja se odlikuje složenim strukturama kretanja i uspešno bavlјenje istom zahteva posedovanje određenih motoričkih sposobnosti (Kocić i Berić, 2015). Upravo je Agilnost motorička sposobnost veoma značajna za košarku (Nikolić, Kocić, Berić & Jezdimirović, 2015). Pojam agilnosti nije lako objasniti jer ona predstavlјa sintezu skoro svih fizičkih sposobnosti koje sportista poseduje (Verstegen & Marčelo, 2010). Definisana je motoričkim zadacima sastavlјenim od brzog trčanja sa čestim promenama pravca kretanja. Motoričke strukture ovog tipa su veoma česte u igri, jer se zbog promena situacije od igrača zahteva da brzo startuju, da brzo trče i menjaju pravac, kao i da se brzo zaustavlјaju PREGLEDNI NAUČNI RAD