Anthropometric and performance characterization of U16 and U18 female handball Portuguese national teams

(Anthropometrische und leistungsbezogene Charakterisierung der portugiesischen U16- und U18-Nationalmannschaften im Frauenhandball)

INTRODUCTION: Handball is an invasion team sport, characterized with high levels of impacts, change of direction and intermittent efforts1. Due to all the dimensions that it comprises - technical, tactical, psychological/social and physical characteristics - handball is a very complex sport 2. Each player has its own unique cognitive or physical characteristics that somehow are more suitable for each playing position2. For this reason, it is important to highlight the features that coaches should search when pursuing those differentiated players that might be suitable for national team. This topic gains more importance when it comes to female handball, where research is only growing in the recent years 1,2. The purpose of this study was to characterize the physiological profile of the Portuguese young female handball players. METHODS: 36 young female handball players belonging to the Portuguese National team participated in our study. We conducted several performance tests in the early phase of the 2021/2022 season (Vertical Jump: squat jump-SJ, Countermovement Jump-CMJ, Countermovement Jump free arms-CMJFA; Horizontal Jump-HJ; Medicinal ball throw-MBT; Handgrip-HG; Sprint ability-10m and 20m; Change of direction-COD). Players were divided by age (U16 n=18 body height (BH): 170,90±5,1 cm, body weight (BW): 68,88±12,88 Kg; U18 n=18 body height (BH): 171,94±6,6 cm, body weight (BW): 70,36±10,27 Kg). IBM SPSS 27 was used for descriptive analyses and differences between groups were analyzed with t-test (p<.05). RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the anthropometric measures between the two groups. However, when looking for all the performance variables, significant differences were found in all the tests, except MBT. As expected, the older players perform better in all the tests, even in MBT. CONCLUSION: From our results we may conclude that more mature players are better prepared for physical testing. Even though these two groups are only two years apart and not significantly different when referring to the anthropometric measures, the U18 athletes have already started their journey in the National teams a couple of years ago and have yet been present in an international competition. They seem better prepared in the early stages of the season, most of them are already playing in their senior teams, some of them playing the Portuguese first division. Further research should focus on comparing the beginning and the end of the season.
© Copyright 2022 27th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Sevilla, 30. Aug - 2. Sep 2022. Veröffentlicht von Faculty of Sport Science - Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Schlagworte:
Notationen:Spielsportarten Nachwuchssport
Tagging:Anforderungsprofil U16 U18
Veröffentlicht in:27th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Sevilla, 30. Aug - 2. Sep 2022
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Sevilla Faculty of Sport Science - Universidad Pablo de Olavide 2022
Online-Zugang:https://wp1191596.server-he.de/DATA/EDSS/C27/27-2580.pdf
Seiten:53
Dokumentenarten:Kongressband, Tagungsbericht
Level:hoch