Abstract
Profiling of beach handball players is required to optimize sports performance, talent identification, and injury prevention. The study aimed to describe the anthropometric characteristics, somatotype, and body composition of elite male and female beach handball players classified by playing positions. Thirty elite beach handball players (15 male, 15 female) of the Spanish National Beach Handball Team, which ranked fifth and first in the VII World Championships, respectively, were categorized as front (wings/specialists), back (pivots/defenders) players and goalkeepers. Independent from position, male players showed larger values of anthropometric characteristics, girths, breadths, and absolute components of body composition than female players. Contrastingly, skinfolds, and body fat mass percentage were higher in female players. All these results were statistically significant (p < 0.05) with large to extremely large effect sizes (d = 1.4–5.4). The position-related differences indicated that male back players were taller (p = 0.008; ηp2 = 0.56), heavier (p = 0.016; ηp2 = 0.50) and showed larger arm span (p = 0.036; ηp2 = 0.42) than front players. In contrast, female goalkeepers showed larger body mass (p = 0.007; ηp2 = 0.57) and BMI (p = 0.035; ηp2 = 0.43), whereas back players showed higher muscular mass than goalkeepers (p = 0.022; ηp2 = 0.47). The present study provides anthropometric reference values of elite beach handball players, and indicates differences between playing positions, providing normative data for talent identification of male and female players.
Highlights
Beach handball emerged as a sport derived from team handball with distinctive rules and a sandy playing surface
Position-related differences in female players were seen for body mass (p = 0.007; ηp2 = 0.57), BMI (p = 0.035; ηp2 = 0.43) and muscular mass (p = 0.022; ηp2 = 0.47)
Goalkeepers were the female players with the highest body mass (+ 8.8 kg, p = 0.010 vs. front players; +11.7 kg, p = 0.013 vs. back players) and BMI (+3.4 kg/m2, p = 0.029 vs. back players), whereas female back players showed higher muscular mass than goalkeepers (+2.7%, p = 0.021)
Summary
Beach handball emerged as a sport derived from team handball with distinctive rules and a sandy playing surface. Beach handball has become increasingly popular thanks to the support of various bodies, such as the International Handball Federation and the International Olympic Committee. As a result of this popularity, the first International Handball Federation (IHF) Beach Handball World Championships was organized in 2004 on a biannual basis. Beach handball is played in national leagues from more than 50 countries. From 30 June to 5 July 2020, the Beach Handball World Championships has recently taken place in Pescara, Italy, with 400 athletes from 32 teams and 22 nations from the five continents. As beach handball continues to grow in popularity, it is being considered to debut as a separate event in the 2024 Olympic Games, as a step towards becoming an Olympic sport. Beach handball can be regarded as a sport with a huge impact among coaches, participants, and spectators
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