Internal and External Load in International Women's Beach Handball. Official and Unofficial Competition

This study aimed to determine the kinematic, kinetic and heart rate demands of elite women's beach handball, differentiating between official and unofficial matches. Fourteen players (60.0 ± 4.1 kg; 168.5 ± 5.9 cm; 24.6 ± 4.0 years) from the Spanish Beach Handball Absolute National Team were monitored during eleven matches prior to the 2018 World Championship. The external load was gathered using the GPS device and the internal load was obtained using heart rate measured through a chest strap. The distance travelled by players per set in official matches (OMs) was greater (334.79 ± 135.41 m) than that of training matches (TMs) (324.97 ± 90.88 m) and friendly matches (FMs) (263.52 ± 133.92 m), with significant differences (p < .001) between OMs and FMs. The same applies to the Smax recorded in the OMs (14.00 ± 2.68 km/h-1) compared to the FMs (13.47 ± 2.33 km h-1). There were significant differences (p < .05) between OMs and FMs in both accelerations and decelerations in Zone 2 (2 to 3 m·s-2) and it was the second set that reported the highest number of accelerations and decelerations. In the TMs, the second set showed a lower number of accelerations and decelerations as a higher level of fatigue was obtained. Therefore, OMs had a higher kinematic and kinetic demand than TMs and FMs. But it is in the TMs that the highest level of fatigue is recorded.