Analysis of the Variables Influencing Success in Elite Handball with Polar Coordinates

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for your submitted manuscript entitled, “Analysis of the variables influencing success in elite handball with polar coordinates’’. The article is interesting and well written. However, I have a few comments that I suggest you consider before publishing the text. In this reviewer’s opinion, there are major issues that limit the scientific relevance of the present study. The concern is that the number of subjects is relatively low.

ABSTRACT

·       Clarify the patients’ health background

·       Could be a relevant conclusion of the present study to find what is important to know.

INTRODUCTION

·       The introduction is consistent and easy to follow. Hypotheses are clearly formulated.

·       The Authors should clarify the actual heritage of this study. I am concerned about the originality of the present study.

METHOD

• How was sample size determined? (Sampling technique!)

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

·       Please, present methods of data analysis and criterion of results interpretation.

·       Please define specificity and sensitivity in this research context

RESULTS

·       Results description is a little chaotic and insufficient. Please, add some introductions to the description of the results and indicate what and why you did. Each result presented in the tables should be commented on in the text. Without that, readers do not know how to interpret the tables.

DISCUSSION

·       Discussion should be more based on the literature.

CONCLUSION

·       Why might one want to cite this paper? What is the true impact of the literature?

REFERENCES

·       Please adapt and improve based on the guidelines of the journal

Author Response

Sustainability

 

ANALYSIS OF THE VARIABLES INFLUENCING SUCCESS IN ELITE HANDBALL WITH POLAR COORDINATES

 

SUSTAINABILITY-2001998

 

RESPONSES TO REVIEWER 1:

 

We thank the reviewer for his/her helpful and constructive remarks on our paper.

 

GENERAL COMMENTS:

 

Thank you for your submitted manuscript entitled, “Analysis of the variables influencing success in elite handball with polar coordinates”. The article is interesting and well written. However, I have a few comments that I suggest you consider before publishing the text. In this reviewer’s opinion, there are major issues that limit the scientific relevance of the present study. The concern is that the number of subjects is relatively low.

 

Thank you very much for your comments and contributions. We are aware that the number of subjects is relatively low. This is one of the problems we have when we analyse elite athletes. In our study we have analysed the competitive behaviour of the players of the team that came third in the European Champions League at the time of the analysis. In addition, we have analysed a whole regular season. Our contribution to the analysis of the behaviour of a team by means of polar coordinates was precisely to limit the analysis to a single team, in order to avoid distorting the methodological process by analysing different seasons of the same team or of different teams, as this would imply different game models mixed together. If this were the case, the object of study would have to be different (comparing games models) and, therefore, we would be talking about another article.

 

ABSTRACT

Clarify the patients’ health background

We have taken this into account in the "Sample" section, where we have indicated that a total of 23 players were analysed in the 14 matches. These players played the entire season without an injury period in any of them that prevented them from being fit to play in 80% of the matches (Lines 124-126).

Could be a relevant conclusion of the present study to find what is important to know.

We have reviewed the conclusions of the article and the abstract and believe that they reflect the findings derived from the objective of this study. We have tried to better explain the research findings directly in the paper. Thank you for your comments (Lines 25-30)

 

INTRODUCTION

The introduction is consistent and easy to follow. Hypotheses are cleary formulated.

Thank you very much for your comment

The Authors should clarify the actual heritage of this study. I am concerned about the originality of the present study.

Following your suggestion, we have tried to better explain the significance of the results obtained (Lines 98-101).

METHOD

How was sample size determined? (Sampling technique!)

The aim of this study is to identify which variables influence success or failure in the different phases of the game in an elite handball team with polar coordinates (Lines 95). We have amended other sections to emphasise this objective (Abstract (Lines 19), Discussion (Lines 668-669) and Conclusions (Lines 813))

No sampling technique was used as the study does not intend to generalise the results to other teams or seasons of the same team, but rather to reinforce a new way of analysing the elements of tactical control in handball teams by means of an analysis technique that has not been used much in elite handball to date (there has been research with national teams but not in clubs at such a high competitive level). For its own internal consistency, the tactical analysis had to be of a single team, in a single season. We aimed to analyse the patterns of play of the season's model (same coach, same players), and not to compare different models between different teams or seasons of the same team. In addition, the 14 home matches of an elite men's handball team were selected. The home matches were chosen as the video was of higher quality than the away matches as each team was responsible for uploading a recording of the match. In this way we ensured that we were working with records with no gaps of unobservability. The observed team, being a top team, most of the analysed matches were broadcasted on television, being of high quality to be able to work with them. In addition, the home matches were chosen in order to have always the same competition scenario and to eliminate different biases.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Please, present methods of data analysis and criterion of results interpretation.

Please, define specificity and sensitivity in this research context.

Thank you for your comments, we felt that we needed to improve the wording of section 2.7. Procedures: Polar Coordinate Analysis for the reader to better interpret our analysis criteria and research context (Lines 241-245).

RESULTS

Results description is a little chaotic and insufficient. Please, add some introductions to the description of the results and indicate what and why you did. Each result presented in the tables should be commented on in the text. Without that, readers do not know to interpret the tables.

We have tried to explain the results more clearly based on your feedback (Lines 276-344).

DISCUSSION

Discussion should be more based on the literature.

In our bibliographic research, we have not found so much research in handball that explains the behaviour of teams in the different phases of the game and even less in polar coordinates. For example, there is no research focused only on the defensive transition phase, opening a new avenue for research.  However, we welcome your comment and have supplemented our discussion with existing contributions from other sports (Lines 669.675).

“There is research that has analysed with the same technique the performance of different factors at national team level in handball (Lozano et al., 2012; Lozano et al., 2016;Prudente et al., 2019). This technique has also been used in other sports with two other analysis techniques (T-Patterns and sequential analysis) to analyse fencing (Tarragó et al., 2017). In basketball, this polar coordinates technique has also been used both in the analysis of the game (Nunes et al., 2021) and in the analysis of coaches' responses (Nunes et al., 2022).

CONCLUSION

Why might one want to cite this paper? What is the true impact of the literature?

In our literature search, we have not found any study that analyses a real season of an elite men's handball team and what are the indicators that determine success. With this study we can see where training should be oriented, both to reinforce the categories that give us success throughout the game and to improve those categories that are more associated with failure. It is essential for any technical staff to master these indicators in order to obtain a better performance from their team and to train more efficiently by modifying their game model.

We have tried to expand the conclusion to make our contributions clearer (Lines 819-823).

REFERENCES

Please adapt and improve based on the guidelines of the journal

We have corrected some references after your comment. Thank you very much for your feedback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Congratulations to the authors for the interesting study.

In general, the study is very well developed and I do not find any outstanding weaknesses that deserve an in-depth review by the authors.

The different sections are correct, the introduction is complete and includes the latest studies focused on the field, and they are clearly presented even for readers who are not experts on the subject. The methodology seems appropriate to me, it integrates all the sections of an analysis of this type. The participants, as well as the procedure and instruments, have been accurately described. The results are well presented and are discussed with other types of studies of a similar nature.

However, taking into account the following suggestions could improve the quality of the study:

1.    Abstract:

a.    Change the term “correlation” to a more appropriate one such as “relationships”.

b.    Add the year/season of competition.

2.    Introduction:

a.    Page 2, line 53: Quote number 22. I recommend the authors to complement this quote with the following, more current: Prudente JN, Cardoso AR, Rodrigues AJ, Mendes JN, Fernando C, Lopes H and Sousa DF. (2022). Playing 7 vs. 6 with an empty goal: Is it really an option for coaches? A comparative analysis between Portugal and the other teams during the Men’s European Handball Championship 2020. Front. Psychol. 13:809909. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.809909

b. Page 2, line 69 to 73: Improve the introduction of polar coordinate analysis in relation to its objectives. In addition to what was stated by the authors, it is important to highlight the type of relationships that are going to be produced, activation or inhibition.

3.    Subjects:

a.    Perhaps the term sample or participants is more appropriate.

b. Based on the results of the team against the rivals of the Spanish league, wouldn't it have been more appropriate for the purpose of the study to analyze only the Champions rivals?

c. What is the reason for selecting only the games played at home?

Is there any relationship between the game model and this decision?

d.    Although the corresponding section is deepened, this section may be a good moment to justify the number of matches observed.

4.    Instruments:

a.  Perhaps it is more appropriate to change the term Marker to Score.

b.    The sequences criteria and its categories should be explained.

c.    In the Rival Defense criteria I miss the 5:0 defensive system. How has it been resolved when the opposing team has one less player?

d.    I have doubts about the completeness of some criteria, such as Passive play, Intermediate result, Disciplinary action or Rival Disciplinary action, because the possibility that none of the proposed categories will not happen is not contemplated. This type of sequential data needs to allow for this possibility, even if it is by creating an "empty set" category.

5.    Generalisability Analysis:

a.    The study only shows a table of results of the two analyzes carried out.

b.    For the first objective, it would be interesting to show how the coefficient evolves as the number of observations increases.

c.    For the second objective and because the observation was carried out with four observers, for future studies the authors are recommended to use a design with three facets: PO/C.

6.    Polar Coordinate Analysis:

a.    Page 7, line 193: “The focal behaviours used were SUCCESS and FAILURE and were related to the other criteria”. These two behaviors used as focal do not appear in the observation tool.

This situation creates confusion for the reader and should be clarified at this point.

At the beginning of the discussions, an attempt is made to explain, but the number of situations that contemplates both success and failure does not correspond to the number of analyzes carried out: two for each one.

b.    Table 5. Title. Change Exit to Success.

c.    Table 5. It is recommended to use two decimals to be able to distinguish if the module is significant (1.96).

d.    Figure 2. If a program has been used to optimize the graphical representation of the analysis, it should be quoted.

I think that with these changes and clarifications the paper could be ready for publication.

Author Response

Sustainability

 

ANALYSIS OF THE VARIABLES INFLUENCING SUCCESS IN ELITE HANDBALL WITH POLAR COORDINATES

 

SUSTAINABILITY-2001998

 

 

RESPONSES TO REVIEWER 2:

 

We thank the reviewer for his/her helpful and constructive remarks on our paper.

 

GENERAL COMMENTS:

 

Congratulations to the authors for the interesting study.

In general, the study is very well developed and I do not find any outstanding weaknesses that deserve an in-depth review by the authors.

The different sections are correct, the introduction is complete and includes the latest studies focused on the field, and they are clearly presented even for readers who are not experts on the subject. The methodology seems appropriate to me, it integrates all the sections of an analysis of this type. The participants, as well as the procedure and instruments, have been accurately described. The results are well presented and are discussed with other types of studies of a similar nature.

 

Thank you very much for your comments and contributions.

 

However, taking into account the following suggestions could improve the quality of the study:

ABSTRACT:

1. Change the term “correlation” to a more appropriate one such as “relationships”.

Thank you for your comments. We have modified this directly in manuscript (Line 22)

1. Add the year/season of competition.

Thank you for your comments. We have added it to the document (Lines 21-22).

 

INTRODUCTION

22. Page 2, line 53: Quote number 22. I recommend the authors to complement this quote with the following, more current: Prudente JN, Cardoso AR, Rodrigues AJ, Mendes JN, Fernando C, Lopes H and Sousa DF. (2022). Playing 7 vs. 6 with an empty goal: Is it really an option for coaches? A comparative analysis between Portugal and the other teams during the Men’s European Handball Championship 2020. Front. Psychol. 13:809909. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.809909

Thank you for your comments. We have added it to the document (Lines 64).

1. Page 2, line 69 to 73: Improve the introduction of polar coordinate analysis in relation to its objectives. In addition to what was stated by the authors, it is important to highlight the type of relationships that are going to be produced, activation or inhibition.

Thank you for your comments. We have tried to explain it better in the document (Lines 85-89).

 

SUBJECTS

 

1. Perhaps the term sample or participants is more appropriate.

Thank you for your comments. We have added it to the document (Line 120).

1. Based on the results of the team against the rivals of the Spanish league, wouldn't it have been more appropriate for the purpose of the study to analyze only the Champions rivals?

We totally agree. The Champions League matches give us tighter and more difficult matches. The reason we analysed the Spanish league matches was to analyse a complete season and to increase the number of matches analysed.

1. What is the reason for selecting only the games played at home?

The home matches were chosen as the video was of higher quality than the away matches as each team was responsible for uploading a recording of the match. In this way we ensured that we were working with records with no gaps of unobservability. The observed team, being a top team, most of the analysed matches were broadcasted on television, being of high quality to be able to work with them. In addition, the home matches were chosen in order to have always the same competition scenario and to eliminate different biases.

Is there any relationship between the game model and this decision?

It had nothing to do with the game model but with the quality and practicality of winning matches. The team had the same game model in home and away matches. One of the authors was part of the technical staff of the observed team and therefore we have knowledge about game model.

1. Although the corresponding section is deepened, this section may be a good moment to justify the number of matches observed.

Thank you for your comments. We have added it to the document (Lines 129-130).

 

 

INSTRUMENTS

1. Perhaps it is more appropriate to change the term Marker to Score.

Thank you for your comments. We have modified this directly in manuscript (Line 189).

1. The sequences criteria and its categories should be explained.

We have explained each criterion according to your suggestion. Due to the large number of categories, we believe that table 2 describes in a simple and brief way what each of them corresponds to (Lines 149-178).

1. In the Rival Defense criteria I miss the 5:0 defensive system. How has it been resolved when the opposing team has one less player?

We used the criteria Number of Players and the category INF1, INF2 depending on whether they played with or without GK.

1. I have doubts about the completeness of some criteria, such as Passive play, Intermediate result, Disciplinary action or Rival Disciplinary action, because the possibility that none of the proposed categories will not happen is not contemplated. This type of sequential data needs to allow for this possibility, even if it is by creating an "empty set" category.

We thank you for this insightful comment. It was one of our discussions at the time of creating the observation instrument because, as you rightly point out, the requirement of completeness in the criteria might not be fulfilled. However, we incorporated these criteria only with the aim of detecting situations that lead to an alteration of the pace of play of the attacking team. One of our objectives was to analyse this rhythm and to evaluate the sequences in attack or defence. That is why these categories are important as they indicate these interruptions in the rhythm of play and we prefer to keep as "absence" of these situations the non-activation of the categories presented in these criteria.

It could certainly be a very interesting debate about the "purity" of some of our criteria. Our article will probably generate discussion in future publications on observational methodology, so we will be attentive.

GENERALISABILITY ANALYSIS

1. The study only shows a table of results of the two analyzes carried out.

Indeed, the analysis of generalisability examines the variables of the game action. This is defined by the categories observed for each ball possession in the sample. The SAGT programme we used is not powerful enough to carry out the analysis with 3 facets. That is why we did it with the two that we considered to be the most significant for the study carried out.

1. For the first objective, it would be interesting to show how the coefficient evolves as the number of observations increases.

The analysis was performed on a number of 1668 "plays" with the 69 "categories". The resulting generalisability value was very high, 0.998, considering that the resulting coefficient increases the sample is very low.

1. For the second objective and because the observation was carried out with four observers, for future studies the authors are recommended to use a design with three facets: PO/C.

Thank you very much for your comment. We will take it into account for future research.

POLAR COORDINATE ANALYSIS

1. Page 7, line 193: “The focal behaviours used were SUCCESS and FAILURE and were related to the other criteria”. These two behaviors used as focal do not appear in the observation tool.

This situation creates confusion for the reader and should be clarified at this point.

At the beginning of the discussions, an attempt is made to explain, but the number of situations that contemplates both success and failure does not correspond to the number of analyzes carried out: two for each one.

We have tried to explain at this point what we mean by success or failure in the document (Lines 261-270.

5. Table 5. Title. Change Exit to Success.

Thank you for your comments. We have modified this directly in manuscript.

5. Table 5. It is recommended to use two decimals to be able to distinguish if the module is significant (1.96).

Thank you for your comments. We have modified this directly in manuscript.

2. Figure 2. If a program has been used to optimize the graphical representation of the analysis, it should be quoted.

The cite and reference was already incorporated in the match analysis in section: 2.5. Matches' Analysis [40] (Line 216).

I think that with these changes and clarifications the paper could be ready for publication.

 

Thank you very much for your constructive comments and for your time.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

n/a

Author Response

Thank you for your comments