A multidisciplinary approach of success in team-handball

The aims of this study were: (i) to describe and compare morphologic, physiological, specific-skills and psychological attributes of team-handball players from two teams with different performances, and (ii) to identify the variables that differentiated between the successful and less-successful team-handball players. Thirty-four (age 23.4±4.7 years; stature, 182±6.3cm; body mass 85.4±11.4kg) professional male adult team-handball players were studied. Eighteen athletes (age 23.0±3.8 years) were classified as successful, and sixteen athletes (age 23.8±5.5 years) were classified as less-successful. Each participant was measured according to four categories of variables, i.e. morphologic (proportionality, somatotype and body composition), physiological, handball-specific skills (technical skills and game intelligence profile) and psychological profiles. Each set of data was analyzed using MANOVA (for which success was the between participant variable), ANOVA and a discriminant function analysis (Stepwise method). Finally the selected measures were analyzed together (a multidisciplinary approach) using a discriminant function analysis (Stepwise method) to determine which combination of measures best discriminated between the two groups of success. The results showed that: (1) the two groups presented significant results for 10 of 77 variables; (2) six measures (30-m sprint, standing vertical jump, right handgrip, sit-ups, stature and ability to vary their actions) appear to be the strongest predictors of success in team-handball (Successful=-1.827; Less-successful=2.055; Λ=0.200, χ²(6)=46.603, P<0.001). The chosen variables are representative of three different categories (morphologic, physiological and team-handball-specific skills) showing that the study of modern team-handball requires a multidisciplinary approach.