Just Culture #10: The must humbling and rewarding goalkeeping job; The Handball goalie

Watched the first live top league handball game and it sparked a thought about the goalie, and how to grow the sport.

Nov 02, 2024

Just Culture brings you reviews and thoughts from all spectrums of culture in a timely and untimely fashion.

In Just Thoughts #15: Mental Health and Family, I wrote about my son's handball playing, the sport, and the sense of community the sport entails.

We recently went to see the live game, the men’s top series game, and while watching the sport, a thought crossed my mind. In no other team sport does the goalkeeper have the possibility to score as many goals and give as many goals as the goalkeeper in handball.

In no other team sport does the goalkeeper have the possibility to score as many goals and give as many goals as the goalkeeper in handball.

Helsinki derby, Dicken (Blue) vs. HIFK (Red), at Helsingin Urheilu talo

Asking perplexity to give some general statistics about sport generated the following

Popularity and Participation

Handball is most prevalent in Europe, but its ranking varies by country:

In a handful of European countries, handball is the 2nd most popular team sport
In several Balkan countries, handball competes with basketball for the 2nd or 3rd spot
In Sweden, handball is generally considered the 3rd most popular sport after football and ice hockey
In France, handball is among the top 4 sports, competing with basketball for the 3rd spot behind soccer and rugby

Game Statistics

Number of ball possessions: 53-56 per game on average, with some games reaching up to 80 possessions
Average running pace: 53-89.9 meters per minute, which is lower than rugby, basketball, Australian Rules football, and soccer
Physiological Demands

Blood lactate levels: 3.1-4.82 mmol/L during games, indicating significant anaerobic glycolytic contribution
Heart rate responses: Vary by position, with goalkeepers showing the lowest demands and backs and pivots spending more time at higher intensities

Player Rotations

Only about 3% of players in the 2012 European Championship played more than 90% of total game time.
Wings and goalkeepers tend to play more minutes than backs and pivots

Performance Factors

Sprinting and agility are essential, with specific training methods showing limited transfer between straight sprints and agility tasks.
Strength and power training is crucial, with a positive correlation between ball velocity and strength measures.

Physiological Capacity

VO2max during small-sided games can reach 60.2 ± 2.6 ml·kg-1·min-1, higher than in shuttle runs or treadmill tests
Total distance covered per match: 3900-4700m
Mean heart rate during matches: 160-170 beats·min-1

Here's a graph comparing the average running pace of handball to other sports:

This graph illustrates that handball has a lower average running pace than other famous team sports but still demands significant physical exertion from players. The unique aspects of handball, such as the frequent changes in direction and the combination of running with throwing, contribute to its specific physiological demands.

Further digging revealed that it’s considered the second most popular team in Germany. In Finland, it doesn’t even rank among the top five, while it's fairly popular in Denmark, Sweden, and a few Balkan countries.

The data shows that it’s not a fast-paced game, even if the court is not much bigger than a basketball court. Additionally, you may switch players mid-game, without their being interruptions, even the goalie. What follows is that some teams may choose to remove their goalie when they go into offense and have the goalie run back when the team goes back on defense.

When the defensive team managed to stop the ball, the goalkeeper made a save, especially when catching it. The goalie can also directly throw the ball to the opposite end, scoring a goal if the net is empty because the other team removed the goalie and added an offensive player in the previous possession.

Here’s a video of some crazy saves.

Some ridiculous reflexes are needed to make a save, and the nature of the sport means there have been no recorded instances of a national team game ending in one of the teams being shut out. From search;

Handball is a high-scoring sport, making it virtually impossible for a team to be completely shut out. Here's why:

Scoring frequency: On average, teams score a goal every 1-2 minutes of play.
Game duration: A standard handball match lasts 60 minutes (two 30-minute halves).
Offensive advantages: Handball's rules favor the offense, making scoring easier than in many other team sports.
Skill level: At the national team level, even mismatched teams have skilled players capable of scoring.

How do we grow the sport?

Considering the notions described above and the fact that other sports have become popular in new countries when critical “stars” have become a worldwide phenomenon—like what Michael Jordan did to basketball—I’d focus on the goalies in handball and encourage soccer/football goalies at a young age to also play handball.

The goalies in handball are more like quarterbacks in American Football than they are goalies in reflect sports like ice hockey because they need to read the game, as they are influencing it to a much higher degree.

Additionally, unlike in soccer, not giving goals as a goalie is impossible. Teaching humility in a very different manner, something the legendary Samoan goalkeeper discussed in the movie review of “Next Goal Wins” in Just Thoughts #20 may know something about. You need to get up and continue, not quit on your team just because of one goal, as Pierre highlighted in Just Thoughts Podcast #5.

All this being said, handball is quite an entertaining sport. It is almost as physical as rugby or American football but has a faster pace. It features more skill demonstrations than soccer or football, but unlike basketball, it has a goalkeeper.

Whether these ideas make sense or if they inspire you to go and watch a game, my biggest challenge will be teaching my kids to distinguish between personal attack and the physicality of the game when they continue playing this sport. The line is much more evident in soccer (football), and basketball.

Nonetheless, my kids started the game because it was much easier to score a goal or make a basket than in the other sports. Goals happen at a faster pace, giving a chance of success at a quicker rate. This made getting into the sport much easier than the other sports they’ve tried.

What do you think? Is Handball worth a look? Did the reflection of the goalie's role make sense? Tips from other sports on how to talk to kids about the game's physicality?