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Only unbalanced games are affected by technical and tactical aspects able to discriminate winning and losing performance in women’s water polo Olympic Games

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to analyze technical and tactical parameters characterizing the women's water polo Olympic Games (Rio, Brazil, 2016) to discriminate winning and losing performance profile in general and according to close and unbalanced games with different margin of victory (i.e., ≤ or > of 3, 4, and 5 goals of difference between teams).

Methods

Twenty-four games were analysed through the frequency of occurrence of the following technical and tactical indicators: goals scored (GS), goals scored and shots without goals inside (AsG, AsWG) and outside (5-mG, 5-mWG) the 5-m area, goals scored (5-mFG) and shots without goals (5-FWG) after a 5-m fouls, penalties scored (PS) and failed (PWG), turnovers (TO), assists (AS), blocked shots (BS), and counterattack goals (CG). Mann–Whitney U test was applied to compare the values of winning and losing teams for each indicator.

Results

Regardless of GS, no difference between teams emerged in close games. Conversely, for unbalanced games, differences between teams emerged for AS (p ≤ 0.001; effect size, ES ≥ 0.5) in each margin of victory, and for AsWG and 5-mWG (p ≤ 0.05; ES ≥ 0.3) in > 5 goals of margin of victory.

Conclusion

The outcomes of women’s water polo Olympic close and unbalanced games are determined by not specific playing events, and few technical and tactical factors (such as AS), respectively. Therefore, top-level women’s water polo coaches and physical trainers can plan a sound training session according to specific game data reported for the Olympic Games contest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Edin Mirvic, Faris Rasidagic, Nermin Nurkovic & Husnija Kajmovic

  2. Neuromuscular Function Research Group, School of Exercise and Sport Sciences (SUISM), Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Piazza Bernini, 12, 10143, Turin, Italy

    Corrado Lupo

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  1. Edin Mirvic
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  2. Faris Rasidagic
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  5. Corrado Lupo
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Correspondence to Corrado Lupo.

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The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the University of Torino (Turin, Italy; prot. 26,831) and performed in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration.

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Mirvic, E., Rasidagic, F., Nurkovic, N. et al. Only unbalanced games are affected by technical and tactical aspects able to discriminate winning and losing performance in women’s water polo Olympic Games. Sport Sci Health 15, 427–434 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-019-00550-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-019-00550-4

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