Resumen de Physiological Demands of Team-Handball Referees During Games
Juliano Fernandes da Silva, Carlo Castagna, Lorival J. Carminatti, Valdeci Foza, Luiz Guilhermo Antonacci Guglielmo, Fernando Roberto de Oliveira
The objective of the present study was to examine the aerobic fitness and the physiological demands during competitive games in elite handball referees. Sixteen referees (age: 34.9 ± 3.4 years, body mass: 77.4 ± 10.6 kg, height: 173.5 ± 7.5 cm, percent fat: 22.3 ± 6.6%) of national and international levels (14 men and 2 women) were submitted to a multistage fitness test, to determine peak velocity (PV) and maximal heart rate (HR). After 48 hours, referees performed a submaximal intermittent shuttle-running test (3 minutes at 75 and 90% PV with 1-minute recovery), to determine speeds and HR at selected blood-lactate concentrations (2.0 and 4.0 mmol·L-1). Game intensities were arbitrarily established as follows:
HR4mmol (severe). Eight referees (2 per game) were monitored in 4 national level games. The mean [latin capital V with dot above]O2max of the referees was 48.5 ± 6.1 ml·kg-1·min-1. Maximal HR, HR2mmol, and HR4mmol were 193 ± 10, 154 ± 13, and 167 ± 10 b·min-1, respectively. The percent time spent in the moderate intensity domain was predominant (moderate 96.4%, heavy 2.3%, and severe 1.3% of total time, p < 0.05). These findings indicate that handball refereeing is of moderate intensity. In light of this study, results aerobic fitness does not seem to be a limiting factor in handball refereeing.
