The PlayerScore: A Systematic Game Observation Tool to Determine Individual Player Performance in Team Handball Competition

Abstract

In team handball, the individual match performance of each player is essential for winning games; however, a validated match analysis system is still lacking. Consequently, the aim of the study was to justify (1) the different relevant variables and their scoring within the individual match analysis (PlayerScore), (2) to determine the intra-rater reliability and validity of the PlayerScore, and (3) to determine the influence of the rater in relation to their degree of expertise level. Six games (three games each of Spain and Brazil, one game twice) of the 2021 World Championship were analyzed by six different raters. The PlayerScore was calculated for each field player of Spain and Brazil in all seven analyzed games. We found a high intra-rater reliability (ICC = 0.97) for the two rated games (Spain against Germany), a highly significant difference (p < 0.001) between the summarized team PlayerScore of Spain and Brazil, as well as significant differences (p < 0.001) for the factor “game” and “rater” (p < 0.05), but no significant interaction for “game × rater” (p = 0.90) in the two-way repeated measures ANOVA. We conclude that the PlayerScore is a reliable and valid rating tool to determine the individual players’ performance in team handball; however, the raters should have sufficient experience in the different techniques and tactics in team handball.

Concurrent training in team sports: A systematic review

“…21 Team handball puts multi-faceted physiological demands to the players. 7,8,38 Maximum strength and power of the upper and lower extremities are necessary for sport-specific movements like throws, one-on-one situations, changes in directions and jumps. 8,139 Strength training is recommended to improve muscular strength and power in highly trained handball players.…”

“…7,8,38 Maximum strength and power of the upper and lower extremities are necessary for sport-specific movements like throws, one-on-one situations, changes in directions and jumps. 8,139 Strength training is recommended to improve muscular strength and power in highly trained handball players. 43 However, most of the study results reveal that additional heavy resistance training before handball specific training led to impaired improvements in the lower extremities over a 6-week intervention period.…”

“…In addition, coordinative, cognitive and social factors, anthropometric characteristics, tactical components and nutrition are important factors that need to be considered. 2–10 This review, however, focuses on the first category, which addresses the physical and physiological demands from the athletes.…”

“…3,10,35 Young & Farrow 10 identified strength, power and reactive strength as three determining factors that potentially influence agility performance. Therefore, muscular strength and power, rate of force development and sport-specific strength are necessary to handle team invasion games, which play a crucial role in performance improvement, 4,5,8–10,35,38–40 injury prevention 41 and health promotion, 42 with special emphasis on the lower body. Training contents vary within the team to adjust for position-specific game demands.…”

“…24,60 Particularly in handball or basketball, there are almost no recommendations for optimizing concurrent strength and endurance training through performance development. 8 Sanchez Lopez and Rodriguez Perez 61 reviewed the existing literature about concurrent training for elite handball players. However, they also included individual and team sports like rowing, cross-country skiing, volleyball and water polo that lack the multi-directional demands and a comparable game structure that characterizes team invasion games like handball, basketball or soccer.…”