The impact of bio-banding on technical–tactical performance in youth handball: first insights from male and female academy players

Objectives To examine and compare the impact of bio-banding with regard to age group competition on technical-tactical performance in young male and female handball players. Design An experimental study with a combined retrospective and cross-sectional design based on observational data analysis. Methods By means of the percent of adult height attained estimation method, 86 players (45 boys and 41 girls) were bio-banded as pre-PHV (96% girls). All players participated in two game formats – age group (AGC) and bio-banding (BBC) competition. Technical-tactical performance was recorded using the ‘PlayerScore' index and other indicators of game actions. Internal consistency (Cronbach's α and ICC) and inter-observer reliability (Cohen's ĸ) were assessed with good or very good levels for all variables. A mixed two-way ANOVA was carried out and Cohen's d effect sizes were calculated for each variable. Results The BBC had a moderate impact compared to the AGC on game-specific key technical-tactical performance indicators in boys, significantly increasing the number of ‘assists-no goal' (p = 0.044; ηp 2 = 0.11), ‘steal/min' (p = 0.039; ηp 2 = 0.11) and ‘losing one-on-one' (p = 0.028; ηp 2 = 0.08) in boys and decreasing ‘winning one-on-one/min' actions (p = 0.029; ηp 2 = 0.11) in girls. However, performance differences in favour of more advanced maturing players regardless of game format were observed in ‘PlayerScore' in boys (p = 0.037; ηp 2 = 0.08) and in ‘goal' in girls (p = 0.004; ηp 2 = 0.17). The interaction between game format and maturity status showed pre-PHV boys recorded more ‘steal/min' (p < 0.05; ES=1.70) and post-PHV girls scored more ‘goal' (p < 0.05; ES=1.06) in the BBC than in the AGC. Moreover, in the BBC, higher values for ‘goal' (p < 0.01; ES=1.61), ‘assist-no goal' (p < 0.05; ES=1.57), and ‘technical error' (p < 0.05; ES=1.23) among post-PHV boys, higher values for ‘steal/min' (p < 0.05; ES=1.43) among pre-PHV boys, and higher values for ‘goal' among post-PHV girls (p < 0.05; ES=1.40) were recorded. Conclusions Maturity status-matched competition had a positive but limited effect on technical-tactical performance. This alternative grouping strategy based could be considered effective in manipulating the technical-tactical performance of young players.