Reliability And Factorial Validity Of Power Tests For Handball Players

The main purpose of this study was to define reliability and factorial validity of four field specific handball tests used for the assessment of explosive (throwing) power of elite handball players. The subjects were 18 top level Croatian national handball players. The participants were tested during the middle of the competitive season. Three throws were measured for each test (R4M, R6M, R9MRS and R9MJS). The reliability was assessed through the AVR, ICC and Cronbach’s α coefficients, and the validity through the correlations obtained by the principal components factor analysis. The R6M, R9MRS and R9MJS tests had high reliability coefficients (α = 0.93, 0.93 and 0.91). The principal components analysis extracted one statistically significant component. The R4M test had the lowest correlation with the component (r = 0.52), and the other three tests had correlation coefficients between 0.88 and 0.93. The results of the study proved that the most reliable and appropriate tests to assess the explosive (throwing) power of handball players are the R6M and R6MRS tests.