A study of key cognitive skills in handball using the Vienna test system

Abstract

The continuous improvement of athletic performance, pushing physical limits, and the aspiration for ever-better results are some of the most important objectives of athletes. These may not be achieved barely based on innate talent and the acquisition of technical and tactical knowledge. It is just as important to understand mental processes and to be able to develop and support them professionally. Studying the cognitive skills of athletes is especially significant in the case of sports requiring dynamic, complex, and open skills. Handball is one such sport where the environmental conditions require continuous adaptation and decision making. In our research we studied the above-mentioned performance indicators among youth and adult handball players using the relevant tests of the Vienna Test System (VTS). The main advantage of VTS is that it studies the competences of athletes objectively, providing a valid and reliable assessment tool. The paper explores the decision-making strategies of handball players, their reactive stress tolerance, as well as their attention and concentration skills. This enables us to identify those players who are capable of adequately managing stress and who can recognize opportunities and properly make use of them even under pressure.