2013 YAC

European Beach Handball Championships

Qualitative Analysis

Introduction

The 2012 YAC European Beach Handball Championships has been hosted between July 5th - 7th 2013 in the Danish city of Randers. This was the fourth championship organized for the younger age categories.

Hungary's women's 19 and men's 19 teams proved to be unbeatable at the YAC European Beach Handball Championship as they both claimed gold at the finals. The nation's women's team laid the foundation for the double success, beating hosts Denmark 2:0 in the final. The men's team then followed suit with a never threatened 2:0 victory against Turkey. For the women’s team of Hungary the result showed that there is no opponent in this area for them. They won the gold for the fourth consecutive time after Nagyatad (2008), Umag (2011) and Batumi (2012).

In men’s competition, Hungary reached the gold for the second time after 2008, in their home Nagyatad. On both categories, men and women the same four team reached the semi-finals: Hungary, Turkey, Denmark and Russia. With one silver and one bronze, the teams of host country Denmark and Turkey were among the best teams after Hungary.

The fourth edition of the YAC European Beach Handball Championships was hosted in the championship park in Randers on the Guden River (Gudenå). Main court with a capacity of 18,000 spectators and two additional courts, a total of 60 matches played in three days.

2013 YAC European Beach Handball Championships hosted 15 national teams from 8 different countries with players born in 1994 or younger. The men’s matches were played in two groups: Norway, Russia, Spain and Switzerland in Group A and Denmark, Hungary, Serbia and Turkey in Group B. After the group matches the teams went to the Main Round. The four teams, 1st and 2nd placed teams on each group qualified for the semi-final: Turkey, Spain, Hungary and Russia. After thrilling semi-finals, Hungary and Turkey reached the final and Hungary won the gold with 2-0 (21-6, 25-16). Denmark became the silver medalist against Russia with another 2-0 (21-18, 21-20).

On women’s competition after the withdrawal of Armenia, the participating seven teams from Denmark, Hungary, Turkey, Norway, Russia, Spain and Switzerland have all been seeded in one group. This group was played in a round-robin system with the first four teams qualifying for the semi-finals.

After the group matches, Hungary, Turkey, Denmark and Russia qualified for the semi-finals once again, like in the men’s competition. After semi-finals, Hungary and host team Denmark reached the final. In the final match, 3-times European Champions, Hungary won against Denmark with clear 2-0 (25-19, 16-11). The bronze medal gone to Turkey, after a thrilling shoot-out against Russia: 11-13, 21-16 and 5-2.

Statistics and perspectives

Spain (both men and women) participated for the first time to the 2013 YAC European Beach Handball Championships. The other nations had participated a minimum of two times. Hungary, Norway, Russia and Switzerland on men and Hungary, Norway and Turkey on women took part in all of the championships hitherto.

The winner of the first men’s championship in 2008, Hungary won their second gold medal in Denmark. They reached last year the semi-finals in Georgia, and finished the championship with a bronze medal. Turkey won the silver medal. With this medal Turkey showed that their success in Georgia in 2012 was no coincidence. Denmark used the power of spectators and home advantage as much as possible and finished the championship with a spectacular bronze medal.

On women’s competition there was no big surprise that the Hungarian team was able to play the final for the fourth consecutive time. The Hungarian ladies lost only one match on the championship against Turkey (1-2; 27-11, 13-14, 7-6) and won the remaining seven matches. Hungary was the clear and deserved champions of the European Beach Handball Championships. Denmark finished the championship on the second place and Turkey third.

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All Stars of the Championships

Following the closing ceremony of the 2013 Women's 19 and Men's 19 European Beach Handball Championships, the all stars for both events were merited.

In the men's event Spain's Antonio Espada Carrillo was named Most Valuable Player. Mihaly Feher from gold medalists Hungary was awarded best goalkeeper, while his teammate, Attila Kun, received the accolade for the top scorer. Spain, whom finished fifth overall after they had lost their quarter-final against Denmark, was also awarded the Fair Play Award as the team received only two seven suspensions in eight games.

Hungary claimed another all star accolade as the women's 19 team was awarded the prize in the fair play category. Hatice Gören from Turkey became best goalkeeper, while her teammate, Sibel Karameke, received the top scorer award. Christina Wildbork from silver medalists Denmark received the award for the Most Valuable Player.

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Anthropometric Parameters of Players

Body Height

The average height of the teams in the men’s tournament was recorded to be 185.4 cm. The tallest team was Hungary with 190.30 cm, while the shortest was Switzerland with 181.6 cm. The tallest player was Alexander Lein Martinsen (205 cm) from Norway, and the shortest player was Michel Schmid (167 cm) from Switzerland.

On women’s competition the average height of the teams has been 173.0 cm. The tallest team was Russia (174.8 cm) and the shortest team was Switzerland (169.7 cm). The tallest player was Danish Sofie Lauge Schmidt (185 cm), while the shortest player was Spanish Irinea Cristina Cardona Venegas (163 cm).

Body weight

The average weight of the players in the men’s championships was 81.60 kg. Turkey was the heaviest with an average of 84.4 kg. The shortest team Switzerland was also the most light-weight (77.7 kg). The heaviest player was Marco Zanandreis (133 kg) from Switzerland and the lightest was also another player from Switzerland: Michel Schmid (62 kg).

On women’s championship the average weight of the players was 64.1 kg. The heaviest team was Denmark with an average of 67.7 kg, while the most light-weight team was Russia with an average of 60.3 kg. The heaviest player was Turkish Merve Durdu (57 kg) and the lightest players were Spanish Alma Garcia Hornero and Russian Anastasia Vinichenko (55 kg)

Age

The tournament consisted of players that were born in 1994 or younger. The average age of the men’s teams was 18.2 and the women’s teams 18.1. The youngest team on men’s competition was Spain with an average 17.7 years of age, while the oldest team was Hungary with an average of 18.7. On women’s competition the youngest team was Turkey with an average of 17.6. The oldest team in women’s competition was Denmark with an average of 18.5

On men’s competition, 43.59% of all 78 players were born in 1994. 32.05% were born in 1995, 20.51% in 1996 and 3.85% in 1997.

On women’s competition 41.43% of all 70 players were born in 1994. 28.57% were born in 1995, 24.29% in 1996 and 5.71% in 1997.

Match Dynamics

On men’s competition 11 matches ended with shoot outs. On women’s competition there were 12 matches ending in a shoot-out of 28 matches.

On men’s competition the average points scored in the Final Round (66.44) is definitely higher than the average in Preliminary Round and Main Round. On the women’s competition the average points of the Preliminary Round (69.43)

was the highest. In total the average points was on men’s competition 70,34 and on women’s competition 72,89.

Further one by one analysis of the teams yield interesting results. On men’s competition, the fifth placed team, Spain is the team with most points (an average of 43,38 per match) while the champions Hungary come second with an average of 41,63. Spain and Hungary are only two teams which have a points average above 40 points per match. Seven teams except Norway reached an average above 30 points per match. It is interesting that Norway, whom reached sixth position have a very low point average: 26,00. They are also the second worst team with points against (37.25) after eighth placed Serbia (39.38). It is also interesting that Hungary lost only one set during the whole championship against the eighth placed Serbia.

On women’s competition, the champions Hungary lead the table with an average of 43,14 points per match. They are the only team with an average above 40 points per match. During the championship, the Hungarian ladies lost only 2 sets and only one match (1-2 against Turkey). Denmark’s average of points against (20,50) is really remarkable. They only allowed the opponents approximately 10 points for each period. If we consider this record along with their 7 conceded sets, thus making a very remarkable display of defensive strength.

Shoot and Score Analysis

Totally 32 matches for men and 28 matches for women were played during the championship. Men’s and women’s average goals per game increased during the championship in Randers. The increase in women’s average is remarkable. The average points per game increased 22,69% compared to U18 ECh in Batumi and 24,07% compared to U19 ECh in Umag.

The number of matches completed with shoot-outs has shown the same level compared to the previous championships in men. Also the number of matches completed with shoot-outs in women’s competition is at the same level like in Umag (U19) but above the percentages compared to the both U18 championships in Nagyatad and Batumi.

It is useful to analyze shooting options in detail to display the development that has occurred since 2008. The increase in average goals per match or shoot-out rates is not enough to explain the progress of playing mentality of both genders. When we analyze the shooting options of women, we can see that the options have changed dramatically from 2008 to 2013. The most striking and serious change in this field is the decrease of the rate of one-point shots. The one-point shot rate that was 43.83% in 2008 retreated to 15.04% this year. In other words, while women made one-point shots in half of the shot options in 2008, this rate declined to less than one of any six shots in 2013. The decrease in one-point shots shows the increases in the options of

Spin-shots. While the rate of Spin-shots among all shots in women was 23.37% in 2008, this rate has risen to 35.00% in 2013. The striking change within these two shot options shows that women beach handball players have the tendency in shooting variations that require more technical skills. In this context, it can be said that the positive development in women will become more striking and tactical mentality will also develop similarly. The development is clear and visible if we compare the rates of in-flight shots. In 2008 the rate of in-flight shots was only 3,34%. This rate more or less remains the same in 2011 (3,63%) and increased to 9,40% in 2012. But this year, in Randers the rate of in-flight shots increased dramatically to 20,71%. This rate shows us the technical development of young female beach handball players.

The progress for men can be seen also in the same directions. It is possible to say that there is a striking progress in the shooting options of men. The most preferred shot option by men has been spin-shot in 2013 as was in 2008. But the decrease of one-point shots is remarkable. The one-point shots rate that was 11.16% in 2008 retreated to only 3.03% this year. While the percentage of spin-shot and specialist goals remains the same the percentage of direct goals increased dramatically. The direct goals rate was 0,98% in 2008, increased to 17,93% in 2013. The rates were 1,38% in 2011 and 1,95% in 2012.

Usage of Specialist

It’s seen once again how important to choose and use the specialists for both men and women especially on younger age categories. For successful teams, specialist’s important role in preferred game sets is significant. In those teams, specialists attract attention for not only being a good shooter but also a player to define the game’s character. For both men and women, like in senior teams, we see specialists were used in three ways: shooting specialists, assisting specialists and multi purposed specialists. It can be said that the effective usage of specialists developed on younger age categories if we compare the usage in the previous championships. Many teams used more shooting specialists; many teams used multi purposed specialists. The statistics shows clearly the effectiveness and contribution to the game.

In men’s competition, different types of specialists with different playing characters can be seen. For example Dave Schmid for Switzerland acted as a pure playmaker with 39 assists. He scored 32 points as specialist, an average score. However Patrik Vizes (70 specialist points) from Hungary or Sergey Mikhailenko (74 specialist points) from Russia acted as shooting power of their teams. Statistics for percentage of specialist points in total points also shows interesting results. For example Denmark’s 26,32% and Russia’s %24,61 is a sign of the importance of the specialists.

In women’s competition the composition is a little bit different. Specialists’ contribution to the game with their assists is very limited. 7 teams in total made only 26 specialist’s assists in the whole competition. Most teams used their specialists as shooters. For example Sibel Karameke from Turkey scored a total of 130 specialist points which means 44,75% of all points for Turkey. Another score effective specialists are Gianni Calchini (Italy, 36 specialist points, 31,90% in overall points) and Christina Wildbork (Denmark, 72 specialist points, 25,81% in overall points). Spain’s usage of 7 different specialists during the championship is also remarkable.