Team handball is an Olympic sport played professionally in many European countries. Nevertheless, a scientific knowledge regarding women's elite team handball demands is limited. Thus, the purpose of this article was to review a series of studies (n = 33) on physical characteristics, physiological attributes, physical attributes, throwing velocity, and on-court performances of women's team handball players. Such empirical and practical information is essential to design and implement successful short-term and long-term training programs for women's team handball players. Our review revealed that (a) players that have a higher skill level are taller and have a higher fat-free mass; (b) players who are more aerobically resistant are at an advantage in international level women team handball; (c) strength and power exercises should be emphasized in conditioning programs, because they are associated with both sprint performance and throwing velocity; (d) speed drills should also be implemented in conditioning programs but after a decrease in physical training volume; (e) a time-motion analysis is an effective method of quantifying the demands of team handball and provides a conceptual framework for the specific physical preparation of players. According to our results, there are only few studies on on-court performance and time-motion analysis for women's team handball players, especially concerning acceleration profiles. More studies are needed to examine the effectiveness of different training programs of women's team handball players' physiological and physical attributes.

Development over the last decade. Although anthropometric and physical characteristics have been studied for male sports teams, in women's handball, studies are scarce. The aim of this study was twofold: first, to describe the anthropometric characteristics, throwing velocity, hand grip, and muscular power of the lower limbs in female handball players and second, to identify the possible differences in these parameters in terms of individual playing positions (center, back, wing, pivot, and goalkeeper). A total of 130 elite female Spanish handball players participated in the study (age 25.74 ± 4.84 years; playing experience 14.92 ± 4.88 years). Anthropometric assessment was performed for all the subjects following the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry protocols. Furthermore, all the subjects performed a vertical jump test (squat jump and countermovement jump). Hand grip and throwing velocity in several situations were also assessed. A 1-way analysis of variance and a Tukey post hoc test were used to study the differences among individual playing positions. Wings were less heavy, shorter, and showed a smaller arm span than did goalkeepers, backs and pivots (p ≤ 0.001). Additionally, pivots were heavier than centers. Backs and pivots exhibited higher muscular mass than did wings. Total players' somatotype was mesomorphy endomorphy (3.89–4.28–2.29). Centers showed higher throwing velocity levels than did wings in 9-m throws from just behind the line, with a goalkeeper. Backs exhibited higher hand-grip values than did wings. Statistical differences have been established between wings and other specific playing positions, especially with pivot and backs. Coaches can use this information to select players for the different specific positions....

Handball is a team sport involving a great physical demand from its practitioners in which a high number of injuries occur, affecting individual and collective performance. Knowledge of the injuries is of great importance for their prevention. The objective of the present study was to identify, locate and compare the most frequent injuries and injury mechanisms in handball practice. It was carried out following the Preferred Informed Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The source of data collection was direct consultation of the PubMed and Medline databases. Several keywords were used for the documentary retrieval, and the quality of the studies that were selected was evaluated. Of the 707 studies retrieved, only 27 were considered appropriate for the review, and quality scores were obtained that ranged from 10 to 26 points, out of a maximum of 28. The most frequent injuries in handball players are located in the lower limbs (thigh, knee and ankle), and in the shoulder in the upper limbs. Regarding the playing position, the players who play over the 6-m line are the most affected by injuries, while the women players have a higher probability of injury. Most injuries occur during competition.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the on-court demands of handball players during the European Handball Federation Champions League Final Four (VELUX EHF FINAL4) 2019 to define time–motion characteristics (played time; covered distances) both in offense and defense. Furthermore; we aimed to define position-specific demands and differences among them. Forty players from three teams were analyzed during the tournament using a local positioning system (LPS) for the first time in top handball. Players covered similar distances both in offense (1388.28 ± 2627.08 m), and in defense (1305.47 ± 5059.64 m) and remained on court for a similar average time (15.69 ± 8.02 min and 15.40 ± 8.94 min respectively). When locomotion activities were normalized according to the time they spent on court; significant differences were found for defense compared to offense in walking (+20%; p < 0.000; Cohen’s effect size (ES) = 1.01) and jogging (−29.6%; p = 0.000; ES = 0.90), as well as a tendency for high-intensity running (+ 25.2%; p = 0.077; ES = 0.31). Per playing position; center and left back (CB = 94.86 ± 10.98 m·min⁻¹; LB = 96.55 ± 24.65 m·min⁻¹) showed the highest running pace in offense and mid-left; front center defender and outside right for the defense (ML = 90.38 ± 30.16 m·min⁻¹; FCD = 87.04 ± 14.94 m·min⁻¹; OR = 89.64 ± 34.93 m·min⁻¹). In conclusion; profile differences existed among players’ position activity; both in offense and defense; which should be taken into account when designing specific physical training programs

The relationship between anthropometric and physical characteristics of female handball players and throwing velocity is considered an important factor in handball performance. The aim of this study was to examine key differences in anthropometric and fitness characteristics between top elite and elite female players competing in the first Spanish handball league. A total of 89 players from the first Spanish handball league were divided into two groups, top elite (38) and elite (51) players, and assessed for anthropometric and fitness characteristics (throwing velocity, vertical jump and hand grip strength). A Student’s t-test was used to determine whether a statistically significant difference between the two different levels of play occurred. Significant differences were found in age, body height, body mass, arm span, muscle mass, different girths (tensed and flexed arm, forearm, wrist, ankle), dominant hand width and length, different breadths (biacromial, bitrochanteric, bistyloid breadth and biepicondylar humerus) and fitness characteristics (hand grip strength and throwing velocity for different positions). Top elite players compared to elite players showed differences in anthropometric characteristics which were mainly located in the upper limbs and mostly were nonmodifiable aspects by training. Furthermore, the best players were able to maintain a high throwing velocity in different tactical situations.