In our master thesis we researched connections between problem solving abilities, psychological characteristics and movement speed in handball, to be more exact among female handball players. Psychological characteristics of handball players were examined with Wartegg test, which is a projective personality test. Intelligence was measured with a slovenian fluid intelligence test, called »Test nizov«. Speed of movement was measured with different motoric tests, such as counter movement jump, sprints ...
41 young handball players of two slovenian national handball teams, which differ in age category, cooperated in our research.Results show that we can not conclusively describe the connection between problem solving and speed of movement among female handball players. Connection was different in every age group and also not consistent with previous research. Similar can be said for connections between psychological characteristics and speed of movement. While there are some important connections, they are not conclusive or consistent with other research. We also have not discovered any important differences between two age groups of female handball players.
We recognise many causes for unclear findings. Firstly the projective nature of Wartegg test, which is not yet proven to be valid. It is possible, that the test measured other characteristics than the ones it claims to measure. Furthermore we need to highlight that our sample is quite small, which also influenced the results. Lastly it is important to consider that our motoric tests were very short and simple and as such, do not reflect the complex and quick nature of handball. If we measured motoric abilities in a more complex way, perhaps we could have found more conclusive connections with chosen psychological characteristics.
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