Determinant Factors for Throwing in Competition in Male Elite Handball

Abstract

The aims of this study were to define determinant factors that affected throwing actions used to score goals in handball, and to study the effectiveness of throwing actions and their relationships with different factors during their use, such as: the throwing distance, type of arm build, type of throw, whether it is done while jumping or while supported, the last supporting foot and the previous step cycle, as well as their relationship with the final score of the game in elite male handball competitions. A total of 1049 shots from 24 matches in the 2018/19/20 International Men’s Handball Championship were analysed. The results show that distance is relevant in the effectiveness of throwing, setting the build up, throwing while supported or jumping, the type of throwing, the type of steps cycle used and the supporting foot. This seems to indicate that the determining factor that affects a throw is distance.

On-court throwing activity of male handball players during the European Championship 2020

“…Even back players, that are supposed to throw from long distances, showed a frequency of just 22.5%. The results are similar to those obtained by other studies [ 28 , 30 , 31 ], very far from the data provided by Eftene et al [ 32 ] that estimate remote shots to be around 45.66%. These differences may be due to the registration system based on direct observation, compared to the registration through technological resources used in the present study.…”

“…Another relevant issue of this study is to verify that more than 80% of the throws in all positions are made at high or very high speeds (categories 3 and 4). In the same line, Tuquet et al [ 31 ], who analyzed 1049 throws of a high-level men’s championship, found that more than 95% of the throws were made at the highest possible speed compared to only 5% that were ability shots. Regarding effectiveness, the wings are the most effective players with 62% and 64% (LW and RW respectively).…”

“…One of the most relevant results of this study is that most of the shots that are made at high speed (zone C4) are executed from long distances from the goal (zone 6-7-8) and are mainly undertaken by the back players. In this sense, Tuquet et al [ 31 ] indicate that a throw, when made from the middle distance (9 m) and between the lines (6–9 m), must be strong and powerful so that it can surprise the defence.…”

Decreasing number of distance shooting in handball – trend of nowadays male handball competition

“…As the distance shots quantity decrease, significantly more center area 6-meter actions are performed. It needs to be emphasized that creating a 6-meter scoring chance is tactically linked with the distance shoot threat made by the backcourt players in order to open the space for pivot player activity or/and fainting activity for the rest of court players [21,22]. Analyzing the level of differences in the number of actions performed at EHF EURO 2020 and 2022, clear tendency in implementing the tactics aimed to finalize the actions from as close distance to the goal as possible was found.…”

Análisis de la eficacia de los lanzamientos a portería en balonmano femenino en Tokio 2020

“…Por otra parte, se encontró una similitud con los resultados de 24 partidos de balonmano masculino de elite entre los años 2018 y 2020 (Tuquet et al, 2021) donde los lanzamientos desde la zona de 6 metros (en este estudio agrupados en los lanzamientos de zona del pivote y central y lateral sin oposición) fueron más eficaces que los de 9 metros (zona central y lateral con oposición). Del mismo modo, hubo una semejanza con los datos de la selección femenina de Rumania U19 que compitió en el Campeonato Europeo del 2013 y presentó una eficacia de los 7 metros del 80%, de los lanzamientos de 9 metros del 44% y de los 6 metros (pivote) del 74% (Acsinte y Alexandru, 2014).…”