Efficiency Of Technical And Tactical Approach To Teaching Minihandball Game Skills In Different Age Categories

The aim of the study was to verify the efficiency of a traditional (technical) approach and a tactical game based approach to teaching minihandball game skills the first- to fourth-grade elementary school pupils. The experimental design was two parallel-group trials. Experimental groups (EG) were taught by the tactical approach where modified and small-sided games comprised 80 % and drill-exercises 20 % of all the units. Control groups (CG) were taught by the technical approach where drill exercises comprised 70 % and modified and small-sided games 30 % of all the units. Two groups of first- and second-graders (EG n=16, CG n=17) and two groups of third- and fourth-graders (both EG and CG n=12) attending extracurricular activities oriented to minihandball participated in the study. The technique of offensive game skills (overarm pass, dribbling and shot) was evaluated by 1 to 5 scoring system. For statistical analysis, Wilcoxon’s T-test and Man-Whitney’s U-test were used and the level of significance was set to 5 %. Based on the results it can be stated that the tactical approach is as efficient as a technical approach on game skills’ technique acquirement. Results showed significant changes in the technique of game skills in both age categories (p<0.01). No significant differences between age categories were confirmed in game skill tests besides the dribbling test where the older experimental group (third- and fourth-graders) achieved better performance than the younger experimental group (first- and second-graders).