The PlayerScore: A Systematic Game Observation Tool to Determine Individual Player Performance in Team Handball Competition

Featured Application The presented team handball PlayerScore can be applied to determine the individual player performance in team handball competition. In team handball, the individual match performance of each player is essential for winning games; however, a validated match analysis system is still lacking. Consequently, the aim of the study was to justify (1) the different relevant variables and their scoring within the individual match analysis (PlayerScore), (2) to determine the intra-rater reliability and validity of the PlayerScore, and (3) to determine the influence of the rater in relation to their degree of expertise level. Six games (three games each of Spain and Brazil, one game twice) of the 2021 World Championship were analyzed by six different raters. The PlayerScore was calculated for each field player of Spain and Brazil in all seven analyzed games. We found a high intra-rater reliability (ICC = 0.97) for the two rated games (Spain against Germany), a highly significant difference (p < 0.001) between the summarized team PlayerScore of Spain and Brazil, as well as significant differences (p < 0.001) for the factor "game" and "rater" (p < 0.05), but no significant interaction for "game x rater" (p = 0.90) in the two-way repeated measures ANOVA. We conclude that the PlayerScore is a reliable and valid rating tool to determine the individual players' performance in team handball; however, the raters should have sufficient experience in the different techniques and tactics in team handball.