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One of Learn Handball's absolute most important values is that training should always be playful, and preferably always with a ball between your hands. Clean running training falls a little outside this, but because many trainers demand running, we have chosen to meet this desire.

Running training among children and young people in handball is a controversial topic. I therefore want to share my thoughts around this type of exercise.

The Olympic Summit divides into running training for children and adolescents, not in age, but in before, during,and after puberty. This is a good division as children develop at different paces. The section takes into account body changes, reducing congestion and injury risk (read more further down the page).

Until the age of 13 - 14, you can usually cope with the running practice that is part of the handball training itself. From now on, it may be appropriate to supplement with running.

But remember(!), research shows that ball games and ball-play provide very favorable overall training effect. This should therefore in my eyes continue to be the main focus when you are a children's coach.

The running exercises you will find in our practice library. Look through the exercises and see if there's anything that's right for your team. Maybe there are some of you coaches who also end up taking a run?

Wishing everyone a great June, good luck!

Yours sincerely, Bjarte

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Before puberty

Before puberty occurs, there are little or no differences in bodily conditions and in the performance of girls and boys at the same age. During this phase, the training can be dosed equally for girls and boys.

Endurance training can be done as part of handball training and carried out as a session of 10-20minutes. The purpose of the training is to create variety and develop more characteristics and skills in one and the same session. 

• Varied play-based exercises with ball
• Short intervals, preferably shorter breaks than interval races
• Stimulate running movement and motor training
• Girls enter puberty on average 2 years before the boys (11 ±2 to 13 ±2 years)

During puberty

Endurance training continues as part of handball training, and is carried out as a session of 10-30 minutes.

The content of endurance training is more and more similar to the methods and exercises used in adult sport, but it is still important to retain the play aspect.

• Changes in body composition can in girls cause strength and endurance to decrease and injury risk increases.
• To avoid injuries and mistraining, the training in these years should be differentiated between boys and girls.
• Girls enter puberty on average 2 years before the boys (11 ±2 to 13 ±2 years) 

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After puberty

Still use endurance training as part of a workout, but your own run workouts can also be introduced. The specific endurance training is more or less identical to the methods and exercises used in adult sport.

• Own endurance sessions in the form of interval training, long-distance and fast long run
• Introduce and increase heart rate understanding
• Endurance training must be adapted to athlete's total capacity
• Research shows that ball games provide very beneficial holistic training effect
• Long run is 40 min +
• Intervals are carried out with effective training time of 15-30 min
• Girls enter puberty on average 2 years before the boys (11 ±2 to 13 ±2 years)