Jörg Madinger - Handball Practice 10 - Modern speed handball - Fast adjustment to the 1st and 2nd wave

Fast breaks play an important role in both areas. Especially for youth teams with their offensively acting defense formations, playing the first wave, carrying the ball forward quickly, and adjusting to outnumbered situations during the fast break play a crucial role.

With increasing age, comprehensive fast break concepts with a well-structured second wave become more and more important.

The following points should be taken into consideration when creating your annual schedule:

- How many training units do I have (do not forget vacations, holidays, and the season schedule)?

- What do I want to achieve/improve this season?

- What goals should be achieved within a given concept (of the club, the association, i.e. the German Handball Association [DHB], for example)? You can refer to the publications of the DHB for information about defense systems, individual offense/defense skills, and the expected performance of a certain age group.

- What skills does my team have (do the individual players have)? You should continuously analyze and document the skills of your team so that you can make a target-performance comparison at a regular basis.

A handball season can be divided into the following training phases:

- Preparatory phase until the first game: This phase is suitable for improving physical fitness skills such as endurance.

- 1st part of the season until the Christmas holidays: The Christmas break should be kept in mind here.

- 2nd part of the season until the end of season.

You should then refine and elaborate these training phases step by step.

- Division of training phases into sections with part-specific objectives (monthly schedule, e.g.).

- Division into weekly schedules.

- Planning of individual training units.

A clear structure is important for the annual schedule as well as for the planning of the individual training units.

- Work with parts (see monthly schedule). You should work on a special topic over a certain period of time, especially in the training of youth teams. That way, you can repeat exercises and make sure the players memorize the courses.

- Each training unit should have a clear training focus. Do not mix topics within a training unit, but make sure that each exercise has a well-defined objective.

- The players are corrected in accordance with the training unit's focus (when training the defense, defense actions are corrected and pointed out).

In each individual planning phase, training units that focus on improving speed of play will play a role in one way or another. Completely new fast break concepts should be developed during the preparatory phase already, whereas decision-making processes, free play, and adjusting from defense to offense play may be improved continuously during all phases.

The focus of the training should run like a red thread through the entire unit. It is advisable to follow the basic timescale below:

- Approx. 10 (15) minutes – warm-up.

- Approx. 20 (30) minutes – basic exercises (2 to 3 exercises max. plus goalkeeper warm-up shooting).

- Approx. 20 (30) minutes – basic play.

- Approx. 10 (15) minutes – target play.

1st timescale for a 60-minute training unit / 2nd timescale in brackets for a 90-minute training unit.

Warm-up practices

- Opening of the training unit: It may be advisable to start the training unit with a ritual (get together in a circle, exchanging high-fives) and to explain the contents and the objectives of the training unit to the players.

- Basic warm-up (jogging, activation of blood circulation and the musculoskeletal system).

- Stretching/strengthening/mobilization (preparing the body for the physical stress of the training unit).

- Short games (these should already focus on the objective of the training unit).

Basic exercises

- Ball familiarization (focused on the objective of the training unit).

- Goalkeeper warm-up shooting (focused on the objective of the training unit).

- Individual technique and tactics training.

- Technique and tactics training in small groups.

In general, the running and passing paths are predefined during the basic exercises (you may increase and vary the requirements during the course of the exercise).

Additional information on basic exercise

- Each player should do the drill (switch quickly).

- Very frequent repetitions.

- The players should rotate or do the drill on both sides simultaneously / slightly delayed to avoid long waiting periods.

- Practice individually (1-on-1 to 2-on-2 max.).

- Add additional tasks/drills, if applicable (to make the exercise more complex).

Basic play

Most of all, the basic play differs from the basic exercise in such a way that now there are several options for action (decisions). The player(s) should realize the respective options and make the ideal decision. Here, the players practice decision-making in particular.

- The players should now implement what they practiced during the basic exercises under competitive conditions.

- Working with alternative actions – practicing the decision-making process.

- The players should repeat the drill frequently and try out different actions.

- Working in small groups (3-on-3 to 4-on-4 max.).

Target play

- The players now implement what they practiced before in free play. To increase their motivation, you may award additional points or additional attacks for correct implementation.

- In the target play, the players implement what they practiced before (5-on-5, 6-on-6).

Depending on the contents and the objectives of the training unit, you may have to slightly adjust the timescales of the basic exercise and basic play.

Set topics

- Individual training of the players according to the respective conceptual training framework (DHB or the club’s individual conceptual framework).

- Tactical training of defense and offense systems (age-dependent):

→ From man coverage to a 6-0 defense system, for example.

→ From 1-on1 to 6-on-6 with initial actions practiced in teams, for example.

It is mainly the personality and the behavior of the coach that makes the training a success. Therefore, it is important to observe certain behavioral rules to guarantee a successful training. The coach's social skills have an impact as important as his expertise.

A coach should:

- describe the training and its objectives to his team at the beginning of the training unit

- always speak loud and clear

- talk from such a position that all players can hear his instructions and corrections

- recognize and correct mistakes and give advice when correcting

- mainly correct what is part of the training objective