Creativity and Tactical Skill Profiles of Handball Players

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the creativity and tactical skill levels of the athletes (n=259) who actively continued their sports life in handball in Turkey in the 2020-2021 season. In order to determine athlete’s creativity levels, we used the “Creativity Questionnaire for Athletes” and for tactical skills, we used the “Tactical Skills Questionnaire for Sports”. We examined the relationships between these two dependent variables and the independent variables of gender, sports age and league category. As a result of the regression analysis, it was determined that the creativity level of the athletes was predicted by tactical skills at a level of approximately 74%. In terms of the variable of the handball players' years of playing handball, a low positive correlation was found in the sub-dimensions of the Tactical Skills Questionnaire. This relationship is statistically significant in other sub-dimensions, except for the Knowledge of Ball Movements sub-dimension of the Tactical Skills Questionnaire. The same variable was examined in terms of the creativity level and a low level of positive correlation was found. This relationship was found to be statistically significant. Appropriate training settings and environments should be designed in order to develop the creativity skills of the athletes. The similarity of the training environment to real competition conditions can greatly contribute to the development and use of creativity and tactical skills in sports. Key Words: Creativity, Tactical skills, Handball.