A case study of a handball coach coaching wing shots

Abstract

　Wing shots are shots taken by sprinting from the corner of the court and jumping from outside defenders into the goal area. It is crucial to change the throwing arm position from the top to the waist for sliced shots in order to succeed with wing shots. Many players, however, lack such a shooting skill. Therefore, this case study aimed to report a coaching experience in instructing sliced shots that other coaches could apply. The author instructed the player to (1) lean the upper body toward the shooting arm during forward swing, (2) keep the elbow position at the maximum external rotation of the shoulder and ball release position in front of the chest, and (3) take backswing raising from the elbow. As a result, the player was able to take wing shots from beside her waist with great power. With regard to the instructions (1) and (2), since the author plays sliced shots tacitly, he was not able to instruct at the beginning. This indicates that even if coaches themselves can play the technical elements, they may not be able to teach them. Regarding (3), the backswing was improved only after the player had understood its necessity. It is therefore considered crucial for coaches to ensure that players understand the need for the technical elements before instructing them. These findings from this case study can help other coaches in coaching shooting techniques such as sliced shots.