Training Handball In 2019

Training handball is as crucial as competing in a match, we all want to improve our fitness whether it be strength, agility, reactions or general fitness and how long we can stay on the field. Here is a list of the best ways to train handball in 2019.

The 15 meter run

Create a 15 meter gap by placing markers on both ends and run to each side back and forth. The goal is to complete 3 sets of 5 runs, now here comes the tricky part; each set of runs will be different, so the first 5 runs can be ordinary sprints but the second set of runs can be backward run’s, sidestep runs, crossover runs even jogs if you’re feeling tired towards the end of the exercise. Running is vital to handball training and you can never stop to take a break when in a competitive match because your opponent won’t stop so neither can you.

Correct stretching

Stretching is usually overlooked in sports, especially handball. By correctly stretching all of the muscles you will be using in handball will help you train harder, run faster and shoot more accurate. Most importantly it helps reduce the chance of injuring yourself. A great stretch is called the straddling stretch, simply stand up straight and have both arms to your side and slowly touch your foot with the opposite hand and switch over. Repeat 20 times to fully unlock your hip flexors and you’ll be able to rotate so much more easily. The next stretch is similar but is just as effective, again stand up straight and hold your arms directly in front of you and keep them there, the raise one leg and try and touch your hand on the same side, then repeat with the other leg and do this 20 times and your hamstrings will be so much more flexible, this will help with quick sprints and jumping shots.
 

Reactions training

Being able to react in any given situation and take the correct action next is extremely important and in handball training as this is a fast paced sport, you need to know when to pass and when to your but also what type of pass and type of shot to make, these decisions are made in split seconds and you want to make the right choice so here’s how we train. You will need a partner for this or find a way to improvised, lay down of the floor with your arms out to the side and have a player stand above you, he will drop the ball in random places and you will have to quickly react and catch the ball before it lands on the ground or hits you, he can place them near your head, chest or legs but you need quick reactions to catch the ball 10 times in a row.
 

Give me power

Strength and power are often used in the same way in handball it’s the same when training handball, improving our power will help us sprint faster, shoot harder and stand our ground when our opponent is shoving us. Simply lie down on the floor on your back and get into a simple sit up position, then reach up and touch your feet with the opposite hand and vice versa, repeat 20 times on every side. This will help improve your abs and general strength. A great way to train power in our legs are what’s called leap jumps, get into a squat position, squat down and upon reaching the top jump as high as you can, land on your feet and straight back into a squat down position, see if you can last 60 seconds and your legs will feel pumped.

Conclusion

These are without a doubt some of the easiest and best ways to train handball in 2019, not only for training beginners or newer players but also for veterans at the sport, never forget the basics. The great thing about these types of training is that you can do them on your own and that’s what makes the fun handball drills.

Handball Goalkeeper Training

The overhead save

A great exercise to train reaction times and quick sprints. This drill starts by having multiple players a 10 meters away from goal and they each have a ball waiting to overhead shot into the goal. The goalkeeper will tag a player on the arm and then the player will shoot and the keeper must quickly react to sprint back to the goal and make a save. Great variations of this training drill are to increase the distance away from goal, have two players make a shot so the keeper must save two shots at once, try different angles of the shot so the keeper has to rotate left and right to make the save.

The three shot rush

This handball goalkeeper training drill consists of 3 lines of shooters each at the left center and right angles of the goal. The drill begins by the shooter from the left side of the goal shoots and the keeper must make the save, after finishing the shooter in the middle repeats and then the same with the shooter on the right. Repeat this exercise for 10 minutes or until 60 saves are made. This is good training for improving the quick steps and reaction speed to save at each angle of the goal. Many variations of this drill can be to add more shooting at other angles of the goal, have the shooter try multiple shot types such as the jumping shot. 

Sprint to score

Believe it or not, the goalkeeper can exit the circle to stop saves and instead act as an attacker and score for their team, having an extra attacker on the field can put your team at a greater advantage of scoring a goal but this tactic is usually used only when the team is desperate and is most likely on the losing side. The drill begins having 2 players on either side of the goalkeeper and they all sprint to the other side of the court to the other goal and must make 3 passes between each other, once they are closing towards the opponent’s goal the keeper must make the shot on goal. Repeat until 10 goals are scored, the keeper can try multiple types of shots when attempting to score. Having a keeper that can also shoot when needed can give your team a very valuable and unpredictable edge to win the match. Mixing up the training drill can consist of adding more players to make passes, adding in opposing attackers to intercept passes and to add a goalkeeper to attempt to save the incoming shots. 

Jumping jack save

The most common save a handball goalkeeper makes is often referred to as the jumping jack save, this is due to the goalkeeper using their arms and legs to make themselves as big as possible to try and block the incoming shot. This usually happens during a one vs one where it's only the shooter and the goalkeeper left to face each other. When the keeper is in the moment of the save their arms go up and down and their legs move from side to side, the more they move the more off putting it is for the shooter to pick the side they want to shoot. Moving onto the drill, a line of shooters opposite of the goal will each have a one vs one shot against the keeper, it's the shooter's decision what shot they use but the focus of the goalkeeper is to keep moving their body and make it as big as they can to block the shot. This is ultimately one of the best training drills a keeper can do as this type of save is what they will mostly be doing throughout the whole game. 

The sliding save

A goalkeeper in handball can save with any part of the body including their legs, this drill will require the keeper to slide to a corner of the goal to make the save. The drill will have 2 lines of players away from the goal and each shooter is to aim for the corner of the goal while the keeper stands in wait at the opposite corner. Once the shot is made and the keeper attempts to save the shooter on the other side will repeat the process and the keeper must slide to the opposite corner. This is great goalkeeper training for improving the keeper’s quick sprints and maximum stretch capabilities. This exercise can be switched up by having to shots at once, having a pass made before shooting so the keeper must constantly refocus their position and to increase the distance of the sprints. 

Conclusion

Having less goalkeepers than the rest of the player’s doesn’t make their role or training experience any less significant, by using these goalkeeper training drills in 2019 you will become a pro in a short amount of time. Also, these are recommended by real handball coaches in schools as what is the most enjoyable, so these are essentially the most fun handball drills. These also work for beginners and newer players to the sport, so have fun training.

Handball Shooting Drills

The Cross Pass Shot

Create 2 lines of players in front of the goal and have a goalkeeper ready, one line are shooters and the other are passers. The drill starts by having a player in each line move toward the goal at the same time and have the passer feed the ball directly to the shooter and then attempts to score passed the goalkeeper. The cross pass indicates that the ball is passed onto the other side of the goalkeeper's direction hindering their view slightly. This is a great shooting drill as it’s very fast paced and used in real pro matches. 

Variations include:

• Increasing number of passes before making a shot at goal
• Add a defender to try and intercept the ball when making a pass
• Increasing the distance away from the goal to try long range shooting.

Long distance shot

Have 2 lines of players facing away from goal and have a feeder placed in the center of those lines and a player from each line with run towards goal, taking turns and receive a pass from the feeder and make an immediate shot at goal, the player then returns to the back of the opposite line and will repeat the shooting drill. Players should stand anywhere between 5 – 10 meters away from goal and should leap with their strong foot and take a shot. Variations can include; having a defender try to block your shot, make multiple passes first before taking a shot, compete with the other line to see how many goals they can score.

No goalkeeper shooting

A beginner drill that even pros can still train with, simply have an empty goal and take stationary shots at goal from about 6 meters away and try to score as many as you can in 1 minute or 20 shots. This handball shooting drill is very flexible as you can take side shots, far shots, close shots or even add in a goalkeeper to increase the difficulty. The main objective is to score all shots consistently as accuracy and power is what scores goals in this sport.

Hit the wall shot

This is a great exercise for improving shooting accuracy, to prepare the drill place a target on the wall or draw a circle using a marker and stand roughly 4 meters away and attempt to make shots hitting the target you have made. You can practice multiple shots such as moving shots, stationary shots and jump shots. This training drill should last about 2 minutes or 40 shots. You can mix it up by having a defender try and block the shot or intercept in, have a feeder passing you the ball before shooting or standing further away from your target.

The Long Pass Shot

Have one line of players standing at the halfway line facing the goal and have a feeder behind them throwing them a long range pass towards the goal, the objective is to sprint to receive the pass and then take an immediate shot at goal, the shot they take is up to them but it has to as soon as they receive the ball. This is a great handball shooting drill to improve reactions and decision making as the player must know what type of shot would be best to make as soon as the ball is received. This training drill has great variety as you can add in defenders to try and block the pass and have multiple lines attempt this at the same time and change this as a goalkeeper drill.

Conclusion

These are some of the best shooting drill in 2019, they are also more effective than most drills because it trains all the players involved at once, whether they are improving the shooting, passing or goalkeeping skills. These are also fun handball drills which makes them the most relevant for new or beginner players to start training.

Handball Drills In 2019

Handball is becoming more popular every year and is slowly becoming one of the most watched sports on the planet, and that means more and more people want to get good at handball and show off during the next match they play. Well theirs only one way to get as good as a pro impress everyone watching you, and that’s to train using handball drills, we have created a unique mix of the best handball drills that are used by professional coaches and teams to train pro athletes, so you want to become the best then you have train the best, here are the best handball drills in 2019.

Shooting to win

In order to win a game you have to shoot well enough to get past the opponent’s goalkeeper, a great drill to use is the zig-zag shot, this consists of 2 lines of players at the halfway line and 2 players from each line will run towards the goal and the player with the ball will pass the ball to the player on the other side of the court at a diagonal angle, the next player will pass it along the line of players until it reaches the player at the front who will then take the shot on goal. The pattern of passes made is a zig-zag like pattern and the constant change of direction of the ball will make it hard for players on the opposing side to intercept the passes and makes for and easy shot on goal.

Efficient passing

Passing is at its core the game’s most interesting aspect as the ball is very small and can be thrown very fast in any direction the player wants, this style of play comes with very creative passes and that’s why the crowd loves to watch handball. A simple drill is to have multiple players in a circle and have an attacker in the middle, the attacker will have to chase down the player with the ball or intercept the pass they make, the players making the passes cannot move but they can choose what type of pass to make, do they make a fast pass, lob pass, behind the back pass; oftentimes drills like these can create very imaginative yet innovative passes that will catch out the opposing team when they least expect it.

Improving fitness

Being able to spring and run up and down the court for an entire game without slowing down is tough, having a high endurance and outlasting your opponent's fitness is an easy way to create goal scoring opportunities, especially during the closing stages of the match. A great handball drill to improve fitness is often referred to as the eye drill, have 5 comes placed out in a circle and 1 cone in the middle creating the shape of an eye. Have the player in the middle run to a cone and back to the center and repeat for all other cones, see if you can last 5 minutes. Some great variations of this training drill is to add players to each of the six comes and they can act as feeders who pass the ball to the player who runs to the cone and they have to pass back, this type of handball drill can also train multiple players at one time.

Conclusion

The key thing to take away from this is consistency will turn you into a better player and by making these handball drills fun and to train using them every day, this will help you improve in no time if you stick to these golden rules.

Handball Passing Drills

Make 10 passes

Team A will attempt to make 10 consecutive passes without losing possession of the ball. Team B will try to intercept and steal possession of the ball. As soon as team A loses the ball or fails a pass the teams switch sides of possession and team B will now attempt to make 10 passes. Great variations of the game include; a small or large area of the field, pass while remaining stationary, pass as soon as you receive the ball.

A one-two pass

A simple handball passing drill that improves the accuracy of your passing. One player becomes the passer and is directly opposite of a group of lined up players around 5 meters away. The passer will feed the ball to the players lined up and once they receive the pass they immediately pass it back and sprint to the back of the queue and repeat for 10 minutes. Great variations of the game include; Increase or reduce distance of the pass, two teams compete to finish all passes first, first to fail a pass loses, start distance of pass as 2 meters and increase the distance of pass as each player makes a successful pass until a pass fails. You could also add a goalkeeper and have the final player that receives the pass to attempt to score by shooting.

Half circle pass rush

A great passing drill for fast feet and fast hands, organize 3 players into a short half circle like pattern each acting as a feeder, a line of players will each take turns individually run to the first feeder and receive and make a pass and then move onto the second and third feeder, once completed all passes run to the back of the line. The intensity of this exercise makes for a great handball passing drill. Great variations of the game include; increase amount of feeders higher than 3, increase distance of each pass to improve accuracy and power, compete against another team to see which team finishes faster.

Passing under pressure

This is a great drill for newer players that need to experience the pressure of having an attacker close you down and try to intercept the ball. The drill consists of 3 players; a feeder, receiver, and attacker. The feeder will pass the ball to the receiver while the attacker is close by and is trying to intercept the pass. The key here is for the receiver to react quicker as he will be slightly closer to the feeder. Once the pass is successful the receiver then creates space by pivoting and makes the pass back to the feeder. Once the pass fails the 3 players rotate roles.This passing drill improves upon reaction time and pressure in the moment of a match. Great variations of the game include; adding more attacker to increase pressure, have 2 teams compete to see who makes 10 successful passes first.

Running passes

A great passing drill for mixing up how passes are made and received in a real game. Passing can be unpredictable so making and receiving passes while running around can increase the motions of how players sprint and pivot to make the pass a success. Begin by having pairs of players move toward and away from their own positions while making a pass. This is used when players need to quickly make a hasty attack or speedy retreat. Great variations of the game include; increase the number of players in each group, have teams compete to make 10 successful passes first, add an attacker to the group to try and intercept the pass.

Pass around the attacker

The title explains it all you simply have 4 players form a circle and make passes to each other and have an attacker inside the circle trying to intercept the ball, upon a failed pass the attacker switches with the player that made the pass and repeat. This builds players stamina and endurance as they have to constantly run and make passes in a short timeframe. A way to make this more difficult would be to add more attackers or reduce the amount of passers, have multiple teams compete to win by seeing which team lasts longer without failing a pass.

Conclusion

These handball passing drills are the best to start in 2019 or even for beginners, they work well for kids passing drills as well as general handball training. The best part is that these are all fun handball drills to improve your game.