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Use and effectiveness of fast break in the Olympic Handball Tournament - Athens 2004
Dr. Yiannakos, A., Dr.Armatas, V., Dr.Galazoulas, Ch., Karapanagiotidou, K., Dr. Zaggelidis G.
Sports Performance & Coaching Laboratory,
Department of Physical Education & Sports Science,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, hellas
Keywords: handball, fast break, video-analysis
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to examine the fast break in top leveled handball matches (Olympic Games, Athens 2004). In particular, was examined the frequency of fast-break's type (1st , 2nd, 3rd wave), the way and the areas from which the fast breaks began, the point of the goalpost that the ball ended and finally the effectiveness of the fast breaks. Cross tabulation and chi-square methods were used for the data analysis. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. The results revealed a greater trend toward the 2nd wave to 1st and 3rd wave of fast-break while the 1st wave presented a higher frequency in goals toward the other two waves. The frequency of the third wave was greater to earlier studies. Also the majority of the fast breaks began from the goalkeeper (42.5%) while minor percentage began from the central positions. As far as the area that the fast break ended, the central area (6-9m) presented the highest percentage regarding the frequency of shots and the effectiveness. The low shots appeared to have the higher percentage regarding frequency and effectiveness.
Introduction
It is well known that in team sports and particular in handball, technique and tactic are very important factors for team performance (Yiannakos et al., 2005). Individual and team tactic base on technique but also rely on player's physical abilities. The most important issue in tactic is the perfection of the match behavior and specially the adaptation of the player to the premeditated and unanticipated situations that will rise throughout a handball game. Thus, there is a dynamic system between player and game's environment, where conditions change continuously. The object for team and individual is the efficiently adaptation to the above (Kotzamanidis, 2000).
Fast break is a form of tactic. After 1960 fast break has taken the predominant role in the game. Indubitably in modern handball one of the elements that determine the team success is the ability in fast break.
Fast break is considered to be the process in order to achieve goal before the opposite team organize its offense, regardless the players number. Even in an offense 6 versus 6, it could be a fast break since defensive players haven't got their positions (Kotzamanidis, 2000). Big variety, versatility and instability of movements characterize the game of handball. Those elements make obligatory the knowledge of player's and team's condition, which is being accomplished through performance analysis. During a football match and after the game, coach can become the recipient of a great amount of information; as a result he might not be able to evaluate and objectively exploit all the technique and tactical elements that may come along (Franks & Miller, 1991; Konstantinidou & Tsigilis, 2001). Therefore it is imperative to collect information about team's and individual's performance using analysis systems, which have substantial significance in sports (Letzelter, 1988).
There is ample amount of studies that have examined, via video-analysis, variant characteristics of handball. In particular, Seco (1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001) studied various handball tournaments and presented comparable variables for the totality of the game, also Ambrus (2002), Kuchta (2002) and Czerwinski (2000), who analyzed World and European Championships. The recording of handball's characteristics should be a sequent procedure and be an integral part of research since changes in sports are incessant. Additionally, the information collected from researchers through these studies and transferred to coaches and players are very important for the design of training, the choice of the appropriate tactic and its application in the game (Yiannakos & Armatas, 2006).
The purpose of this study was to record and evaluate the characteristics of fast-breaks in handball games in the Olympic tournament 2004. In particular it was studied: a) the frequency of the offense type, b) the fast-break type, c) the area that the fast-break started, d) the area that the offense ended with a shot, e) the effectiveness of the fast-breaks type, f) the area that the ball resulted in the goalpost.
Methods
Subjects
The subject of the study was forty-four (44) games of men's handball from all phases of the Olympic tournament in Athens 2004, where participate the top national teams in the world.
Study Design - Instrumentation
The handball games were videotaped and digitized with the help of a Sony video SLV-SE 210D, a PC AMD-XP professional 1333 GHz and a television capture board for PC (PCTV, Pinnacle Systems GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany). The study was based on the researcher's personal observation who recorded the characteristics of the fast-breaks. The Sport scout video-analysis program for PC was used for the data recording. The videotaped game, with the help of a fixed observation and recording protocol is a multi-search tool. This way the researcher has the ability to register all the actions he believes are important for the study, and then analyze them with the help of a PC (Tsimpiris et al, 2006).
The analysis method assisted in observing: a) the frequency of the offense type (organized offense, fast-break), b) the fast-break type (1st wave, 2nd wave, 3rd wave), c) the area that the fast-break started (Gk: goalkeeper, LW: left wing, L.B: left back, C.B: center back, R.B: right back, R.W: right wing, Piv: pivot), d) the area from where an offensive C.B.er took his shot (LW: left wing, L.B: left back, C.B: center back, R.B: right back, R.W: right wing, Piv: pivot), e) the effectiveness of the fast-breaks type (goal, save, out, post, block ), f) the area that the ball resulted in the goalpost. The observation of the chosen handball games was conducted in the department of Technical and Tactical Analysis in the Laboratory of Sports Performance and Coaching.
Data Analysis
All data were analyzed using the statistical package for PC SPSS 12.0. Cross-tabulation analysis was used for the analysis of the features. Chi-square analysis was used to determine the statistically significant differences and the level of significance was set at p<0.05.
Results
Regarding the type of offenses it was found that from the total number of those, 79.1% was organized offense and the rest 20.9% was fast break (Chart 1). The statistical analysis showed a significant difference between organized offenses and fast breaks (79.1% vs. 20.9%, x2=67.74 p<0.01).
In Chart 2 is presented the frequency of fast break's type (1st wave, 2nd wave, 3rd wave). The statistical analysis showed significant differences between 1st and 3rd wave (43.7% vs. 8.7%, x2=31.67 p<0.01) and between 2nd and 3rd wave (47.5% vs. 8.7%, x2=37.25, p<0.01).
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Table 1 shows the usage of the three type of fast break per team and final ranking. The statistical analysis showed significant difference in 1st wave between Croatia and Slovenia (73.1% vs. 37%, x2=26.33, p<0.01), in 2nd wave between Russia and Croatia (47.8% vs. 20.5%, x2=16.57, p<0.01) and in 3rd wave between France and Spain (13.3% vs. 1.2%, x2=10.88, p<0.01).
Table 1
Type of fast break's frequencies per team
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In Chart 3, is presented the playing position from which the fast break started. The statistical evaluation of the results presented significant differences between Gk and all the other positions (p<0.05), central positions with side positions and the pivot (p<0.05).
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The analysis of the areas from which shots were made in fast-break revealed that from L.W. were shot 7.6%, from L.B. 22.6%, from C.B. 34.2%, from R.B. 16.5%, from R.W. 4 9.6% and from Piv 9.5% (Chart 4).
The statistical analysis showed significant differences between C.B. to all other positions (p<0.05), except L.B.. Also, L.B. presented significant difference to position L.W., R.W. and Piv (p<0.05).
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In Chart 5 it is shown the effectiveness of the fast breaks type. The statistical analysis presented significant difference in goals between 1st and 3rd wave (74.8% vs. 50%, x2=13.1, p<0.05) and between 1st and 2nd wave (74.8% vs. 58.1%, x2=6.25, p<0.05).
Also there was presented difference in outs between the 3rd and the 1st wave (12.2% vs. 2.4%, x2=7.09, p<0.01) and in blocks between the 3rd and the 1st wave (5.4% vs. 0.6%, x2=3.95, p<0.05).
Finally, regarding the area in the goalpost (Figure 1) that the ball ended the statistical analysis presented significant difference between the A3 area and all the others (p<0.05) except C3 and between area C3 and the rest areas (p<0.05).
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Discussion
The results revealed that 79.1% of the total offenses were through organized offense and the rest 20.9% through fast break. The percentage of the fast breaks in the current study complies with other researches (21%) that took place between 1977 and 1999 (Seco, 1999). Moreover, Späte (1984) reported percentage of 20% and Seco (2001) studying the European Youth Handball Championship in Luxembourg reported that fast-breaks appeared percentage of 19.7%.
In contrast, the present study's percentage of fast breaks was greater than that of the Olympic Games of 1972. In the Olympic Games of Moscow 1980 fast-break presented percentage 12.7%, in Olympic Games of Los Angeles 13.4%, in Olympic Games of Seoul 13.7%, in Olympic Games of Barcelona 18.9% and in Olympic Games of Atlanta 18.1% (Seco, 1999). The study's results are lower from the percentages that Czerwinski (1993) recorded in the European Championship in Tallin where fast-breaks presented 25.5% of the total offences and 25.4% presented in the European Youth Handball Championship in Poland (Kuchta, 2002).
The percentage of the fast-break (19.5%) that presented in the present study could be explained by the high quality of teams that participated in the Olympic games, as far as the tactical and technique aspects of their game concerned and their superior physical condition.
The percentages of fast break's types of the present study seem to differ from past studies. Seco (1999) recorded the fast-breaks types in the World Championship in Egypt and concluded that 1st wave was 22%, 2nd wave was 78% while 3rd wave was not considerate. However, the percentage of the 3rd wave is higher towards previous tournaments. From the above, it is clear that 3rd wave fast break presents an increase and represents a significant and effective solution in offensive game.
The analysis of the effectiveness of the fast break's type presents that teams are more effective in 1st wave. The highest percentages of effectiveness of 1st wave observed in Croatia (73.1%), Germany (71.9%), Korea (64.3%) and France (60%). In second wave more effective were Slovenia (56.5%), Iceland (48.9%), Russia (47.8%) and Brazil (46.7%) and in the 3rd wave were France (13.3%) and Greece (12.5%). The analysis of the results presented that despite the trend towards the usage of the 2nd wave by the teams, 1st wave was more effective (74.8%).
The low use of the 3rd wave could be due to the preference of the players to occur in a situation like 1:0, 2:1, 3:2, in order to create more chances of scoring rather than face an unprepared defence in a 5:5 or 6:6 situation.
The effectiveness of fast break (goal) presented mean percentage 61% considering the three waves of all teams. It is low percentage compared to other tournaments. Seco (2001) reported that fast breaks presented effectiveness 77.3% in the European Youth Handball Championship in Luxembourg, while in the 5th European Championship held in Sweden was 75% (Mocsai, 2002). According to Czerwinski (1998) in the European Championship in Italy the effectiveness was 75%, the same author analyzed the European Championship in Croatia and found 60% effectiveness of the fast-breaks and Seco (1999) reported percentage of 62.8% in the World Championship in Egypt.
The results revealed that the majority of the fast breaks began from the goalkeeper (43.3%) and the side players rather than the centrals. The above is due to the patterns of player, since goalkeepers seek for a quick and long pass in order to take advantage of the unprepared defence.
As far as the high percentage of ball recovery and the beginning of fast break from the central area is because of many-member defence towards the side areas. The higher percentage of the shots in the fast breaks executed from the central area which seems logical since players preferred to shot from those having more chances of scoring.
Finally, the analysis of the areas of the goalpost that the ball ended showed that more goals were scored in the lower region (52.8%). In Olympic Games in Sydney there was presented a similar trend in low shots (55.6%) (Seco, 2000).
Concluding, the results revealed the trend towards faster game, combining fast break and position game avoiding the traditional organize offence of Romania school. Although, 1st wave of fast break seems to be more effective, teams should not set back their offence but should try applicate 2nd or 3rd wave. The results for the shots are very useful for goalkeeper's preparation and training since there is a undoubted trend toward low shots. Future research of fast break is essential and should be directed towards parameters that cause fast break and that affect the appearance and the effectiveness of fast breaks, like defensive and offensive tactic.
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