“S&C in handball – my point of view …”
With a 10+ year experience working in handball with professional teams in 4 different countries on high level (EHF Cup group phase, Champions league qualifications, European league), I would like to share my thoughts on how S&C in handball evolved, to which directions and some issues on the way.
What is noticeable, is that handball is learning and adopting a lot from “bigger” sports, like football and basketball. Trainings are mostly based on statistics, clubs are using different tracking and team management software e.g. Kinexon, Polar, Catapult, Sideline XPS e.t.c. Apart from obvious advantages of using such systems, now we have fewer differences in training plans and approaches among clubs (number of trainings, gym sessions, running sessions, recovery), which makes player transition among clubs easier, faster adaptation to training and most importantly lower injury risk.
The issues/problems, that this kind of progress and advancement showed in handball, are that team rosters are mostly not big enough (budget being the main reason) to evaluate the data and implement load management. Besides, the number of coaching and supporting staff is often not sufficient to provide quality work. For example, basketball team roster is 12 players, coaching and supporting staff (medical, physio e.t.c) count 10-12 people, while in handball where we have 18-20 players often the staff consists of 4-6 people.
There was a time when clubs counted a S&C coach and Physiotherapist as an expense, luckily now they consider them as an investment and as someone who protects their player.
Demands in top level handball
In the last decade we have a constant rise of demands in elite handball (number of games, number of minutes played, longer competition). Also, the level of athletes and athleticism has improved, which means that selection process and training is on higher level. Training volume has decreased, and I am glad that head coaches have realized the need for that. In my opinion, in S&C work with elite athletes there is too much emphasis on strength and power and some things are neglected. First of all, technique (running technique, landing, stopping, body control….) should focus on training movement patterns and not just the movement.
It is now accepted, that expert performance in sport depends on perceptual and cognitive skills as well as on physical and motor capabilities. In that regard, S&C coaches more and more use tools and techniques to improve decision making and reaction time. There are a lot of different technologies and methods, for example fitlight training system, blazepod and various sensors that provide instant feedback and measurable performance.
All this new equipment, require a certain level of “computer “skills” by the coaching staff as well as the players. Weekly schedules, training programs e.t.c., is done through various team management software.
When we talk about demands, we often think about coaches and club, but now more often demands concern the players themselves, mainly on personalized treatment, recovery, and injury prevention.
Players are now more and more aware of the fact that the things they do after/before training are equally important as in training time.
S&C training demands
In S&C training what has evolved and changed the most, is that the training volume has decreased. No more long and unnecessary trainings and runs which increase the rate of overuse injuries. There are a lot of things that we cannot control during the match. Handball is a fast collision sport, therefore we can replicate only up to a certain level during training sessions with HIIT (high intensity interval training). What I think has to change/decrease the most, is running based trainings, to prevent overuse of lower limbs.
A pretty good point to start, when considering the running based demands of handball players in a match, would be to find relevant data on the total distance covered by players during matches. The work on motion analysis characteristics is the one published by Luig et al. (2008), which conducted time-motion analyses during nine games of the 2007 men’s World Championship. About 170 players were monitored with cameras from the top of the sports halls. The analyses were conducted using a computerised match analysis system. Four movement categories were defined in this study: walking, slow running, fast running, and sprinting.
| Position | Mean (Average) Distance covered (+ and – 1 standard deviation) |
| Wing | 3710.6m (+/- 210.2 m) |
| Backcourt players | 2839.9m (+/- 150.6 m) |
| Pivot | 2786.9m (+/- 238.8 m) |
| Goalkeeper | 2058.1m (+/- 90.2 m) |
| Intensity Level | Percentage of total distance covered |
| Walking | 34.3% (+/- 4.9%) |
| Slow Running | 44.7% (+/- 5.1%) |
| Fast Running | 17.9% (+/- 3.5%) |
| Sprinting | 3% (+/- 2.2%) |
In a paper published in The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research in September 2011, entitled Match Analysis of Elite Adolescent Team Handball Players, the authors summarized :
“Defining ‘‘rest’’ as standing, walking or jogging, and work as the distance covered by high intensity running or sprinting, the work-to-rest ratio for our handball players was 1:2”
That is, they found that for every minute of work (high intensity movement essentially), there are 2 minutes of rest (low intensity movement or none at all).
This work/rest ratio and running demands, are something that we S&C coaches need to “worry” about during off-season, in-season, post-season….
So my next question for some coaches out there is… are you still making these mistakes?
- Running 4 or 5km to “get fit”
- Always running at the same general speed
- Never manipulating work/rest ratio
- Not taking into consideration your playing position and role in your team
- Performing all your running work in a straight line – with no consideration for lateral and backwards movement
- No deceleration nor changing of direction
- Performing the same runs and the same distances every session
- No consideration for how the running-based work ties in with your strength-based work and your overall goals
- Performing “running training” as totally separate from ”strength training” in your overall program
- Forgetting that any running in a game also involves jumping and blocking in consistent amounts as well
- Making yourself slower in the process rather than more powerful, explosive and athletic like handball requires
Final thoughts
A crazy trend/mistake I’ve noticed the last few years, is the over-complication of simple exercises, which I like to call youtube exercises/coaches.
Not all exercises have to be a circus act to be effective.
Only certain things are proven. Let’s stick to them : free weights, olympic lifts, clean and press, snatch.
Don’t change often!!!
Repetition creates neuro patterns, which make use of some technique and movement easier and faster, without using the upper parts of your brain. That makes us faster and leaves the upper parts of your brain clear and relaxed to perform different tasks.
Marko Sesum – Strength and conditioning coach
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