Handball is one of the most popular team sports around the world that has become physically very demanding, related to both competitions and daily training sessions. Optimal training programs are necessary to improve performance, especially when taking into account the frequency of jump shots (vertical jumps) and handball feints (changes of directions) during daily training. The main objective of the present study is to review the available literature systematically, and to determine what are the effects of additional plyometric training on handball players’ vertical jump abilities. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, six studies were selected after a systematic search through four digital databases: Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and ScienceDirect. The available scientific articles show that plyometric training alone or in combination with standard handball training, lasting at least six weeks, and including two training sessions per week, contributes to improving the performance of elite- or national-level handball players. Plyometric training is recommended to improve performance, as well as to maintain explosive strength parameters during the season.

Given that anxiety is a significant individual disposition that affects sports performance, this study aimed to verify the latent variables obtained by the State – Trait Anxiety Inventory X-2, and to compare the obtained factor solutions with the proposed model of latent variables. The second aim refers to the presentation of the results of the questionnaire State – Trait Anxiety Inventory X-2 answered by Serbian male and female handball players. The research was conducted on a sample of 170 respondents, 99 male and 71 female handball players, aged 14 to 39 years (average age = 21.9) with an average handball playing career of 9.39 years. Towards the end of 2019, the respondents filled in the above-mentioned questionnaire used to assess anxiety as a personality trait. Exploratory factor analysis with certain modifications of the algorithm was applied to determine accurately latent space. The overall analysis was performed using the R statistical package. Four factors were selected based on the conducted factor analysis of the latent space of the questionnaire. Ten, five, three and two items are projected on the first, second, third and fourth factor respectively. Since internal reliability of the fourth factor was 0.394 it was excluded from further consideration and interpretation. The achieved scores on four separate factors show that Serbian male and female handball players achieve average results on the first (Presence of Trait anxiety) and the third factor (Absence of proactivity), while they achieve scores above the average on the second factor (Positive affect). In order to examine the sex differences between the examined variables, a one-way analysis of variance was performed. The findings show that there is no statistically significant difference on all three factors between the scores achieved by male and female handball players. A statistically significant difference between handball players of different competitive ranks appeared only on the Positive affect factor between the top athletes and the athletes in the second league (p = .04).

ObjectivesDespite the potential link between mental skills and athletic performance, little is done to examine handball players’ present level of mental skills concerning their performance. To begin with, the study has three folded aims; the first one is to examine the factor structure of Bull’s Mental Skills Questionnaire, which was developed in the United Kingdom to measure selected mental skill, of Serbian athlete population. The second aim is to determine gender differences in those mental skills, and the third aim is to determine differences between the playing positions in the mental skills of handball players to create a mental profile of Serbian handball players.Materials and methodsThe sample consisted of 170 handball players, aged 14 to 39, who have played handball at the semi-elite, competitive-elite, and successful-elite level. The modified exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the latent dimensions of the Bull’s Mental Skills Questionnaire. For examining gender differences in the manifestation of mental skills Mann–Whitney U test was used.ResultsCompared to the original structure of the questionnaire, which singles out seven factors of mental skills (imagery ability, mental preparation, self-confidence, anxiety and worry management, concentration ability, relaxation ability, and motivation), five factors were singled out in the sample of Serbian male and female handball players (anxiety and concentration management—α = 0.74; self-confidence—α = 0.75; relaxation ability—α = 0.66; mental preparation—α = 0.68, and imagery ability—α = 0.66). With these five subscales as dependent variables, results of the Mann–Whitney U test show that there are significant gender differences in variable anxiety and concentration management (U = 2893.5, p = 0.049) and relaxation ability (U = 2833.0, p = 0.031). Female handball players score higher on anxiety and concentration management and lower on relaxation ability. When playing positions are in question, results of Kruskal–Wallis‘s one-way analysis of variance, i.e., Mann–Whitney’s post hoc analysis, suggest that statistically significant differences were observed between wings and center backs and wings and goalkeepers in the imagery ability.ConclusionThe Bull’s Mental Skills Questionnaire in Serbian sample of handball players show satisfactory psychometric characteristics but has singled out five factors of mental skills compared to the original questionnaire.