From warm-up to handball team play
Introduction
By making your training units more diverse, you can increase the players’ motivation, since you consistently offer new approaches to improve and refine familiar movement sequences. In this book, you will find inspiring exercises you can apply during each phase of your everyday team handball training – from warm-up and goalkeeper warm-up shooting to the common contents of the main phase and the closing games. Each exercise is illustrated and described in an easy, comprehensible manner. Specific notes give you tips on what you need to be aware of.
This book deals with the following key subjects:
Warm-up:
- Basic warm-up
- Short warm-up games
- Sprint contests
- Coordination
- Ball familiarization
- Goalkeeper warm-up shooting
Basic exercises, basic play, and target play:
- Offense/series of shots
- General offense
- Fast throw-off
- 1st and 2nd wave
- Defensive action
- Closing games
- Endurance
At the end of this book, you will find an entire methodological training unit. The objective of this training unit is to improve shooting and quick decision-making under pressure.
This reference book contains 75 individual exercises.
Sample figure:
Dynamic group piston movement
1st English edition released on 28 Mar 2016
German original edition released on 19 Feb 2015
Published by DV Concept
Editors, Design and Layout: Jörg Madinger, Elke Lackner
Proofreading and English translation: Nina-Maria Nahlenz
ISBN: 978-3-95641-084-0
The book and its contents are protected by copyright. No reprinting, photomechanical reproduction, storing or processing in electronic systems without the publisher’s written permission.
Key
Difficulty level
Easy:
Medium:
Difficult:
1. Basic warm-up
No. 1 Team pursuit
Topic: General warm-up
Minimum number of players: 8
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: Sufficient number of handballs
Basic setting:
- Divide the team into groups of 4 or 5 players and determine the leader of each group.
Course:
- The groups move freely across the court.
- The leader runs ahead and shows exercises. The other players follow and copy the leader’s exercises (A).
- If two groups meet and the leaders exchange high fives, the following players need to switch their leaders. They must react immediately and copy the new leader’s exercises.
- Once the coach whistles, another player becomes the leader and must show exercises at once.
- And so on.
Variant:
- Each player has a handball.
No. 2 Warm-up with the ball and easy shooting at the goal
Topic: General warm-up
Minimum number of players: 6
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: One handball per player
Course:
- The players crisscross throughout one half of the court and dribble one handball each (A).
- The players need to perform different running and dribbling variants (such as dribbling with the throwing hand, dribbling with the non-throwing hand, dribbling with both hands alternately; hopping, sidestepping, running backwards, etc.)
- Once the coach whistles, the players try to throw their handball into the goal from their current position (B).
- Afterwards, the players fetch their handballs and start dribbling again.
No. 3 Passing from player to player with additional running exercises
Topic: General warm-up
Minimum number of players: 8
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: 2 handballs
Course 1:
- The team is divided into two groups. The players of each group are given numbers (figure: 1 to 5).
- The players crisscross throughout the court at relaxed pace.
- Each group passes a handball (A and B) according to the predefined order (1-2-3-4-5-1 etc.).
- Following each pass, the player who passed the ball sprints to one of the side lines (C) and then crisscrosses throughout the court again at a relaxed pace until he receives the next pass.
- The players may choose a side line for their sprint; however, they are not allowed to choose the line that is closest (D).
Course 2:
- The course remains the same as course 1.
- Additionally, the players of the opposing team who are currently not involved in passing or sprinting to one of the side lines are now allowed to steal the other group’s ball (E).
Variant:
- The players need to perform different running variants (hopping, sidestepping, arm rotation).
No. 4 Blindfolded warm-up
Topic: General warm-up
Minimum number of players: 6
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: Sufficient number of colored bibs, blindfolds for each pair of players
Course 1:
- The players form pairs.
- One player shows the running path and running moves, the other player copies the moves.
- Switch roles after 2 to 3 minutes.
Course 2:
- One of the two players is wearing a blindfold.
- The “blind” player runs ahead swiftly across the court. The second player guides his teammate by touching him (left shoulder → turn left / right shoulder → turn right / soft patting on the back → stop) (A).
- Switch roles after 2 to 3 minutes.
Course 3 (figure):
- Put some objects (e.g., colored bibs) on the court floor.
- The players perform course 2 and try to collect as many objects as possible (B).
- Only the “blind” player is allowed to pick up the objects (sign: patting on both shoulders).
- Switch roles after 2 to 3 minutes.
No. 5 Warm-up with subsequent shooting on targets
Topic: General warm-up
Minimum number of players: 6
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: Different balls (e.g., handballs, soft balls, tennis balls), 1 balance bench, 5 cones
Setting (see figure):
- Put different balls (handballs, soft balls, tennis balls, etc.) on the floor of one half of the court.
- Put a balance bench into the goal zone and place cones on top.
Course:
- The players move swiftly around the balls throughout the entire half of the court (A). They are not allowed to enter the goal zone. They perform different running variants.
- Once the coach whistles, each player fetches a ball (B), runs to the 6-meter line (C), and tries to shoot a cone (D).
- After throwing, the players fetch the remaining balls and shoot until no cone is left or until all balls have been thrown into the goal zone.
- The players then start to run again while the coach prepares the next shooting sequence (distribution of balls on the floor in one half of the court) and then, once again, gives the sign for shooting.
2. Short warm-up games
No. 6 Taking down the vaulting box by shooting
Topic: Short warm-up games
Minimum number of players: 8
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: Two large vaulting boxes, 1 handball, 6 cones
Setting:
- Position two large vaulting boxes diagonally and use cones to define the shooting line.
Course:
- Two teams play against each other.
- By passing quickly (A and B) and moving in a well-coordinated manner (C), the attacking team tries to put a player in a good shooting position (D).
- The team scores if the shooting player hits one side of the vaulting box.
- The shooting player is not allowed to step into the defined area around the vaulting box.
- Following each shooting attempt, the other team gets the ball and starts an attack on the opposite vaulting box.
- As soon as one of the teams has scored two (three) times, remove one of the intermediate parts of the vaulting box.
- The team that takes down their vaulting box first wins the game.
No. 7 Team ball in three squares
Topic: Short warm-up games
Minimum number of players: 8
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: 3 different throwing toys, e.g., 1 handball, 1 frisbee, 1 softball; 8 cones
Setting:
- Define three playing fields using cones and make two teams.
- Both teams play team ball on the individual playing fields using the respective throwing toy. The players are not allowed to bounce the toy.
- Choose a different throwing toy for each playing field, e.g., common handball, medicine ball, frisbee, soft ball, tennis ball, etc.
- After playing, the throwing toys must remain in the respective playing field.
Course:
- The team in possession of the toy tries to pass it 8 times (return passes are not allowed).
- If the opposing team steals the toy, they may immediately try to pass it 8 times.
- The team scores, if they manage to pass the toy 8 times. After scoring, the toy must be put on the floor at once.
- Now the coach whistles once or twice, which is the sign for both teams to change the playing field accordingly.
Changing the playing field upon the coach’s whistle:
- One whistle: Change playing field upwards (A).
- Two whistles: Change playing field downwards (B).
- The team that first secures the new throwing toy may immediately try to pass it 8 times.
Examples:
- End of game on playing field 1
-- One whistle; the players need to move to playing field 3. However, the players need to sprint around one of the two cones first before they are allowed to enter playing field 3 (C).
-- Two whistles; the players need to move to playing field 2.
- End of game on playing field 2
-- One whistle; the players need to move to playing field 1.
-- Two whistles; the players need to move to playing field 3.
- End of game on playing field 3
-- One whistle; the players need to move to playing field 2.
-- Two whistles; the players need to move to playing field 1. However, the players need to sprint around one of the two cones first before they are allowed to enter playing field 1 (D).
No. 8 Team ball with subsequent action
Topic: Short warm-up games
Minimum number of players: 8
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: 1 handball, 8 to 10 cones
Setting:
- Use cones to define several goals.
- Assign the numbers 1 to 4 to the side lines.
- Make two teams.
Course:
- The teams play against each other.
- By running and passing the ball in a well-coordinated manner (A), the team in ball possession tries to pass the ball 5 (3, 7) times to a teammate by bouncing it through one of the defined goals (B or D).
- The players must attack a different goal each time (C). They are not allowed to bounce the ball through the same goal two times in a row.
- The attacking team counts the bouncing passes through the goals aloud.
- As soon as the team has passed the ball through the cones 5 times, the coach calls out a number between 1 and 4 (E).
- The attacking team now tries to lay down the ball behind the respective side line (F).
- The team scores if they manage to complete the whole course (pass 5 times through a goal and subsequently lay down the ball behind the correct side line).
- The other team fetches the ball and now tries to score as well.
- If there is a switch in ball possession, the goal counting starts over from 1.
No. 9 Team ball with two different tasks
Topic: Short warm-up games
Minimum number of players: 10
Difficulty level:
Equipment required:1 handball, 8 small gym mats, 4 cones
Course:
- Both teams play team ball within the defined playing field (cones); however, they are not allowed to dribble. If a team manages to pass 8 times in a row, without the other team stealing the ball, the second part of the game begins.
- The attacking players now try to pass the ball to a teammate standing on one of the gym mats (C). If the player on the mat catches the ball, the team scores and stays in possession of the ball. In order to score again however, the team needs to attack a different gym mat.
- The team does not score if there is an opponent standing on the same gym mat as the attacking player while this player catches the ball (A).
- The players keep playing until the ball gets lost. The teams need to count the score (times they caught the ball while standing on a gym mat) themselves.
- Which team manages to catch the ball on the gym mat most often and scores highest?
Variants:
- Only a maximum of 3 players per team are allowed in the outer playing field (around the gym mats).
- After scoring, the players are neither allowed to attack the same gym mat again nor to attack the neighboring mats (B).
No. 10 2-on-2 intensive soccer variant
Topic: Short warm-up games
Minimum number of players: 12
Difficulty level:
Equipment required: 1 soccer ball, 4 balance benches
Setting:
- Position four balance benches as shown in the figure. The seating surfaces must point towards the court (turned over by 90 degrees).
- Make two teams.
- The teams play soccer 2-on-2.
- The teams need to decide in which order their players are to enter the playing field.