Coaches’ opinions about teaching defensive skills for youth handball teams

Abstract

Purpose It can be observed that coaching in youth sports may be based on technique development, while it is inspired by high-performance sports. As it is observed a lack of research that addressed the coaching process with youth handball teams in the Brazilian context, this study aimed to analyze what is expected for the defensive phase and how it is taught. Methods We interviewed 22 handball coaches from the U-12, U-14, U-16, and U-18 teams addressing the teaching of defensive skills when facing different offensive systems and the approaches used in the training sessions. The interviews were analyzed using the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) method. Results and discussion The coaches’ discourses revealed an increasing expectation due to players’ experience, but with stimulation of high-level sport since the youngest teams. The discourses also emphasized the use of traditional approaches and game-based approaches to apply the learned skill in the game context, independently of the age group. It was noted that the expectations of the coaches about players’ technical-tactical development and the approaches are controversial, especially when comparing the specific skills with the use of the traditional approach in the younger teams (U-12 and U-14 teams). It is suggested that more attention must be paid when choosing the defensive skills to be taught for youth players, and the chosen teaching approaches must promote a reflexive environment to learners.

Activating Specific Handball’s Defensive Motor Behaviors in Young Female Players: A Non-Linear Approach

“…In addition, the study of Musa & Menezes [ 39 ] about coaches’ opinion on defense skills in young handball players has declared that double marking and staying close together (Timely Helps and Defensive Tilt synonyms) are the basic defensive motor behaviors that young players under 14 must dominate as a prerequisite to training in the subsequent category. In this sense, as the players in our study belong to different U16 teams, it can be expected that in addition to the individual defensive motor behavior used to avoid attackers from reaching the central zone, “Timely helps” and “Defensive Tilt” were performed.…”

Planejando o ensino do handebol a partir da organização defensiva: aplicação na educação física escolar, na iniciação esportiva e no esporte universitário

“…O planejamento do processo de ensino-aprendizagem do handebol demanda tempo e conhecimento sobre diversos aspectos do jogo, como os metabólicos e tático-técnicos. Os aspectos tático-técnicos podem assumir papel central por representar os princípios norteadores do modelo de jogo dos professores/treinadores 2 ao longo das categorias (Mendes et al, 2021;Menezes, 2022;Musa & Menezes, 2022) e, ao mesmo tempo, possibilitar a seleção de conteúdos ofensivos e defensivos.…”