Identifying talented handball players – the possibilities of examining the players by means of speed-force and coordination tests

Abstract

The main aim of this thesis was to assess the usefulness of the chosen tests of motor skills (focused mainly on the work of the lower and upper limbs) and the computerized motor skills tests in identifying the talented handball players. To examine them, the players’ results from two junior teams were compared. The first test was performed before the players started high school, that is, at the age of sixteen. The results were compared with the sport level examined during the second test, performed when the players reached the senior age (nineteen years old). The Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient among the ranking results (sport level), somatic features and motor skills, was used in the analysis, with the level of statistical significance being p<0,05. Significant statistical correlations were discovered between the level of anaerobic force of the examined handball players when they are sixteen, and their sport level when they are nineteen years old. The significant statistical correlations may be one reason to use the tests of speed-force skills to identify the talented handball players described in this thesis. Among the coordination skills, only the multitasking ability proved to have significant statistical correlations with the players’ sport level.

Keywords

• coordination tests
• handball
• identifying the talented players
• motor tests
• somatic features