Jump Shot Performance in Team Handball – a Kinematic Model Evaluated on the Basis of Expert Modelling

The jump shot is one of the most important elements of specific handball motor behaviour. We wanted to assess it with the method of expert modelling. The sample of subjects consisted of ten male elite handball players, members of the national Slovenian teams that play in the first national handball division (average height 191.1 ± 4.48 cm; average body mass 90.0 ± 4.40 kg, average age 23.4 ± 4.2 years; average training experience in senior teams 5.3 ± 2.1 years). We analysed six backcourt players, two wing players and two pivots. Each of the subjects executed, after a 20-minute warm-up, three jump shots. Data processing was performed by APAS (Ariel Dynamics, California, USA). Expert modelling was performed with the SPEX expert system. We formed a success tree containing 17 variables, representing all five phases of the jump shot. In order to assess the validity of this kinematic model, three independent referees also assessed the quality of the jump shot. The ranks obtained from their marks were then compared with the ranks obtained with the SPEX expert model. On the basis of the obtained results we then constructed an expert mark for each analysed player. The level of concordance of the referees was high (W = 0.875), the coefficient of correlation between the actual ranks and the referee ranks was statistically significant (0.912). Our final finding is that a kinematic model of the jump shot constructed in this way can also be a good criterion for assessing the quality of the basic technique of the jump shot for seniors.