Use of specialized relays for cognitive development of young handball players

The purpose of the study is to determine the influence of specially selected relays on the cognitive abilities of young handball players. Material and methods. The study involved 32 handball players aged 12-14 who trained in the usual mode, in accordance with the requirements of the handball curriculum: the control group (CG, n=17) of female athletes trained according to the coach's plans, while the training sessions of the experimental group (EG, n=15) additionally included specially selected relays, which were performed by the athletes once a week for 10 minutes before game training. The main content of the training sessions in both groups corresponded to the curriculum. The following methods were used to conduct the study: analysis of scientific literature, which established the relevance of the proposed question and selected methods for establishing the level of development of the cognitive properties of female athletes; interviewing coaches, which took place remotely by filling out Google Forms. A total of 43 coaches with over 5 years of experience participated in the survey; testing of the cognitive properties of female athletes was carried out using a digital device on which the handball players performed certain actions in a calm state before training, short-term memory, reaction speed, attentiveness and the ability to make a logical decision were determined. Testing was carried out twice - at the beginning of the study and after 3 months of the pedagogical experiment; methods of mathematical and statistical information processing. Results. It was established that there was no consistency in the opinions of coaches regarding the most important type of preparedness for young athletes and regarding the advantages of a certain cognitive property for the players' gaming activities (ʋ˃10%, the group is not homogeneous). The indicators of speed, attention and logical thinking of handball players aged 12-14 (n=32) in the “extra subject” test (579.34±31.41 s), attention in sequences “from 1 to 50” (66.74±10.17), short-term memory (47.07±10.51), memory “memorizing numbers” (5.5±0.61), and the ability to make logical decisions “Escapa” (8.6±1.4) were established. Positive significant changes in the manifestations of cognitive abilities of handball players aged 12-14 were established after 4 months of pedagogical experiment. Conclusion. The proposed relay variants, which combine physical and specific mental activity of handball players in terms of making game decisions, have a positive effect on the development of cognitive properties of young female athletes aged 12-14.