Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify external and internal load indicators in youth handball, during a congested tournament held in Costa Rica, and to determine whether there are sex-related differences. Variables were selected through the Principal Components Analysis (PCA) as a data reduction technique. The data were obtained from 73 youth handball players (33 women and 38 men) from eight local clubs, during a three-day congested tournament. Twelve games were analyzed (six male and six female games) using PCA and an independent t-Student test for sex-related differences. Six major load indicators were identified-six for external load (relative distance (RD), relative acceleration (RAcc), maximum acceleration (MaxAcc), maximum speed (MS) and difference between acceleration a deceleration (DfAcc-Dec)) and one for internal load (average heart rate (AvHR)). In the men, the most representative indicators were RD, AvHR and MaxAcc, which accounted for 39.6% of the variance. In the women, these were MS and MaxAcc, accounting for 44.4% of the variance. RAcc (p < .01), MaxAcc (p < .01) and MS (p < .01) were higher in men, whereas AvHR (p = .02) was higher in women. The conclusion is that external and internal load showed differences between male and female players. Men can be characterized by volume-related variables, whereas intensity-related indicators were more frequent for women. For congested tournaments, it is important to separate training loads according to sex, as well as to prioritize the physical qualities for training.

Keywords: handball; handball players; physical activity measurement; locomotion