# Seasonal Changes in Psychomotor Abilities of Male Handball Players

## TL;DR

Professional handball players experience improved reaction times but slower movement times after a full season, suggesting a need for tailored training and recovery.

## Contribution

The study identifies position-specific psychomotor changes in handball players due to seasonal fatigue and training adaptations.

## Key findings

- Reaction times for choice reaction, hand-eye coordination, and spatial orientation significantly decrease after the season.
- Motor abilities like movement time in reaction tasks deteriorate, indicating declining motor execution despite improved cognitive processing.
- Position-specific differences in psychomotor evolution suggest the need for individualized training strategies.

## Abstract

What are the main findings?
Full-season competition leads to a significant reduction in reaction times for choice reaction, hand–eye coordination, and spatial orientation tests among professional handball players.While reaction speed improves, motor abilities parameters tend to deteriorate after the season, evidenced by increased movement time in simple and choice reaction tasks.

Full-season competition leads to a significant reduction in reaction times for choice reaction, hand–eye coordination, and spatial orientation tests among professional handball players.

While reaction speed improves, motor abilities parameters tend to deteriorate after the season, evidenced by increased movement time in simple and choice reaction tasks.

What are the implications of the main findings?
The findings suggest that seasonal fatigue and training adaptations create a unique psychomotor profile that requires monitoring to balance improved cognitive processing with declining motor execution.Position-specific differences in psychomotor evolution throughout the season indicate a need for individualized training and recovery strategies to maintain peak performance across all court roles.

The findings suggest that seasonal fatigue and training adaptations create a unique psychomotor profile that requires monitoring to balance improved cognitive processing with declining motor execution.

Position-specific differences in psychomotor evolution throughout the season indicate a need for individualized training and recovery strategies to maintain peak performance across all court roles.

Background/Objectives: Reaction time, hand–eye coordination, spatial orientation, and attention play a key role in handball, which is characterized by high intensity as well as high cognitive and motor demands. The level of these abilities may change during the season, potentially reflecting training adaptations and increasing physical fatigue. The aim of the study was to compare the level of psychomotor abilities in professional handball players before the start of the competition round and after the end of the league season. The study included 77 handball players playing in the Polish Handball Super League (average age: 25.6 ± 5.2 years). The players were divided according to position: pivot, center, and wing. Methods: Psychomotor abilities were assessed using the Test2Drive computer system, employing tests of simple and choice reaction time, eye–hand coordination, spatial orientation, perception and attention, and movement anticipation. Results: At the end of the season, a statistically significant reduction in reaction time was observed in the choice reaction (p = 0.001), eye–hand coordination (p = 0.002), and spatial orientation tests (p = 0.003). In terms of motor skills, an increase in time was observed in the SIRT test (p = 0.003), CHORT (p = 0.005) and HECOR (p = 0.011) tests, while the time in the PUT test was shortened for both neutral (p = 0.002) and critical (p = 0.025) stimuli. Positional analysis showed that after the season, the pivot player achieved higher effectiveness in the CHORT test than the wing player (p = 0.020). Additionally, statistically significant differences were observed for correct responses in the SPANT test (p = 0.032). In terms of correct answers in the PAMT test, the pivot player had the lowest effectiveness. Conclusions: Participation in the full season of competition coincided with significant changes in the psychomotor profile of handball players, with a simultaneous improvement in reaction speed and deterioration in movement time parameters.