Effect of contact and no-contact small-sided games on elite handball players. Issue 1 (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dello Iacono, Antonio; Martone, Domenico; Zagatto, Alessandro Moura; Meckel, Yoav; Sindiani, Mahmood; Milic, Mirjana; Padulo, Johnny
• Is Part Of: Journal of sports sciences. Volume 36:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 14
• Page End: 22
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: Notational analysis -- heart rate -- metabolic demand -- rating perception effort -- team sport; Sports -- Periodicals; Sports -- Physiological aspects -- Periodicals; Sports -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; 612.044
• DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2016.1276296
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-0414

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to investigate the effect of contact (C-SSG) and no-contact (NC-SSG) handball small-sided games (SSGs) on motion patterns and physiological responses of elite handball players. Twelve male handball players performed 10 C-SSG and 10 NC-SSG while being monitored through the heart rate (HR) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) as physiological responses and time-motion activities profile using video-match analysis. Both game conditions resulted in similar HR responses ( P > 0.05), but the NC-SSG led to a higher RPE scores. The time-motion activity analysis featured NC-SSG with a greater amount of walking (855.6 ± 25.1 vs. 690.6 ± 35.2 m) and backward movements (187.5 ± 12.3 vs. 142.5 ± 8.7 m) combined with fast running (232.3 ± 8.5 vs. 159.7 ± 5.7 m) and sprinting (79.5 ± 4.7 vs. 39.7 ± 3.7 m) activities ( P < 0.001). Conversely, C-SSG had a higher percentage of jogging and sideway movements associated with greater frequency of jumping (0.87 ± 0.09 vs. 0.31 ± 0.06 nr) and physical contact (1.82 ± 0.55 vs. 0.25 ± 0.03 nr) events ( P < 0.001). No between-regimen differences were found for the number of throws ( P = 0.745). In addition, the RPE was significantly correlated with fast running relative distances ( r = 0.909, P < 0.001) and sprinting relative distances ( r = 0.939, P < 0.001). In conclusion, this investigation showed that both C-SSG and NC-SSG in team handball can effectively represent specifically oriented exercises, according to the sport-task and the performance demands.