What 1/4, 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 means?
Let us assume that a child came to a first training at the age between 6 and 11 years. The goal of its development process is to play good in the age of 19 and 35 years (or older). Hence, handball education lasts between 8 to 12 years.
WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF NEUROTIC RUSH,
EVERYDAY ROUTINE WHICH DESTROYS HUMAN CREATIVITY AND WILL.
– ERNESTO SABATO –
In this age there are often discrepancies in chronological and biological age. There are children of 7 years with biological characte-ristics of those aged 9 or 6. For that reason it is not advisable to take age element for granted. Age is just an orientation and in contest of personal development it is just a stage of growing up, more than an age frame. Should we try to fit players into this program, it would be much easier to fit them good if we look at described characteristics and capabilities, than solely at their age. The route from the first training to the first senior match is divided into 4 parts:
STAGE 1 (6 – 9 years) – „HANDBALL EDUCATION ¼“
Children enrol in a handball section at their school or to nearby handball club, they learn basic technical elements and coexisting in the group, they get to know their coach, play first matches…
STAGE 2 (10 – 12 years) – „HANDBALL EDUCATION 2/4“
Children left their entry stage of adjustment to the new world and they play mini handball, the first match is behind them so are the first victory and the first defeat, a New Coach is now just a Coach, some new kids became teammates…
STAGE 3 (13 – 15 years) – „HANDBALL EDUCATION ¾“
Children have been playing mini handball for 2-3 years and are moving into real handball, they become familiar with shallow and deep defences, rival teams already demonstrate 2-3 attacking combinations, they move from elementary to high school, puberty just around the corner…
STAGE 4 (16 – …) – „HANDBALL EDUCATION 4/4“
Children become adults, a lot is expected from them, they need to be responsible and they decide their future in professional career. At the same time they need to fit handball into all that, asking themselves if one could live out of playing handball, what are their ambitions and what are their parents’ plans for them…
What are white and green petals?
Usual splits of prepardness for successful handball playing consist of:
- Technical preparedness
- Tactical preparedness
- Physical preparedness
- Psychological preparedness
We asked ourselves:
What is the link between them?
What is of key importance?
What could be influenced?
If it seems that above questions are not important to answer or that there are obvious answers to them, let us try to answer following three questions:
Why are some players very smart and understand all what is explained to them, they use very good technique, but during the match they are not creative at all?
We called that „grey petal” a technical-tactical creativity. This is a combination of conscious–intellectual processes and handball technique. It can be trained from the moment children learn 3 basics technical elements and understand the point of having rules. In this book we will explain what foundation is best to achieve that creativity.
Why are some players extraordinary fast, handy with the ball and coordinating their body, but during the match, in the fight for a ball, in the moment of the shooting in one-on-one/two-on-two situations, they are not as efficient and as successful as those which are slower and bit clumsy?
Some call it the anticipation. We joined the group calling it the psychomotor speed – a combination of unconscious reactions and motoric capabilities of humans. This could be trained as from 6 years of the age.
Why are some players strong with good playing technique, but others are more efficient in shooting and feinting?
We call it the biomechanics of movement. This is because we see a “technique” as partial movement of individual body parts and body could be efficient only if movements are harmonised with motoric capabilities. The biomechanics of the movement has to be trained since the day one.
