Så skapade vi ett kognitivt lyft för Hammarby Handboll – ta del av metoder och resultat!

Contents

• Executive summary
• About Capacio
• Handball and the brain
• Research and evidence
• Objective and accurate measurement tools that provide actionable insights and impacts
• What is actually being measured and why
• How does it work
• Activities – What has been done with Hammarby
• Usefulness and implementation of the results
• Continued opportunities for Hammarby handball and Swedish handball

Executive summary

Capacio has tested and profiled Hammarby A and Hammarby junior team. The results have been fed back to the Coach and Sports Director and to individual players. Partly individual profiles, partly team profile. Team part analysis has been carried out on some players. Coach has taken part in digital training material. Workshops and dialog have been held with the aim of knowledge transfer and joint learning around the cognitive handball profile. Implemented activities, approaches and results are shared in this report.

About Capacio

Capacio is co-founded by leading brain and behavioral scientists and combines deep knowledge of brain and behavior with modern technologies such as AI. It has developed a digital platform and offers services to measure, interpret and develop and optimize functioning, performance and well-being.

Handball and the brain – Relevance

Handball is a sport where the ability to adapt to change, make decisions and solve problems quickly and correctly under constant pressure is crucial for success. It is the brain’s so-called executive functions, a set of innate abilities that determine how this process works.

Research and evidence

Measuring and understanding these abilities and processes is now fully possible thanks to over 100 years of brain research (neuroscience) with deep knowledge of brain physiology and structure combined with photography (brain imaging) and behavioral experiments. From here, the measurement tools have been transferred to paper and pencil under the guidance of specially trained psychologists (neuropsychologists) and now finally digitally on mobile phones. The tests involve sampling the strength of the different executive abilities.

Objective and accurate measurement tools that provide actionable insights and impacts

Confidence in results requires objective and accurate measurement tools where results can be translated into actionable interventions that have a perceived and measurable impact. An important part of interpreting results is being able to compare and relate results. In addition to the comparison with other specific players, the so-called norm is important. A norm is a general comparison profile that is statistically valid. The tests are thoroughly validated by neuroscientists and behavioral scientists (that they measure what they should) and normed against the world population. Together with experienced and knowledgeable handball experts, it has also been validated that the tests are correct from both the coach and player perspective, so-called “face validity”. This means that each test of each ability can be compared against the average population, adjusted for age differences. And that by collecting enough data, one can also create a specific handball norm or profile and also position profiles.

What is actually being measured and why

These abilities control and regulate the rest of the brain and also human behavior and performance. Cognitive capacity is measured to assess performance in different environments, situations, tasks and positions.  This allows a deeper understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of individuals and teams, thus improving the entire talent process from selection, matching, to development, coaching and training of individuals, leaders and teams.  The abilities measured are

• Basic attention – Being able to concentrate and focus on a task.
• Controlled attention – The ability to consciously direct and focus one’s attention on a new stimulus or task, especially when something unexpected happens or when distractions are present.
• Short-term memory – perceiving and recording what happened in the here and now
• Working memory – Keeping new and old information up to date, ‘online’ and working with it when analyzing, making decisions and solving problems.
• Impulse control – regulating your impulses and whims. “Gas and brake”. Strong link to ‘timing’ on the pitch.
• Cognitive flexibility – The ability to switch between different mindsets, perspectives, or tasks. Being able to adapt quickly to new rules, tasks or environments without getting stuck in previous thinking patterns.
• Creativity – Finding new, unique solutions to different problems and challenges that arise.
• Conceptualization – The ability to identify, organize, and understand overarching concepts or rules that link different objects, ideas, or tasks. This requires the individual to see connections and abstract similarities, which is essential for complex problem solving, planning and adapting to new situations.
• Strategic thinking – The ability to find the most effective path to a given goal.

How does it work

The background and knowledge is complex but the application is simple.

1. Define the purpose, objectives and scope of the testing
2. Induction training. With selected key persons and players if defined
3. Conduct testing. 45 min per player as instructed and under optimal conditions for maximum quality in the “baseline profile”.
4. Individual profiling. Automatically done with a general standard report. Baseline. Possible retesting in case of anomalous results or problems at the time of testing.
5. Team profiling.  Common strengths and weaknesses of the team
6. Component profiling and interaction analysis
7. Handball profile. Possible creation of handball and position profile
8. Analysis, interpretation and translation into handball terms
9. Feedback on test results
10. Contingency planning and operations
11. Monitoring of impact
12. Ongoing training, testing, interpretation, interventions and support

Activities – What has been done together with Hammarby Handball

Usefulness and implementation of the results

The insights gained can be used to strengthen players and teams in a range of areas.

Continued development

The above table shows opportunities, applications and benefits. Final effect goals can be concretized and quantified in function, performance, interaction and well-being. Suggestions for further concrete activities and initiatives that would benefit Swedish handball

• Continuation mission with Hammarby as Swedish pilot club. Bring the results down to a concrete level and integrate into ongoing coaching and training (separate proposal can be made).
• Repeated testing to establish baseline, min, max (variation). Find more nuances
• Complement the cognitive profile with personality++, research-based questionnaires that capture personality, emotion regulation, etc. and complement the cognitive profile, providing a link between players’ subjective description
• 360 analysis. Coach and others assess the player’s personality, abilities and playing skills. Further strengthen the foundation and find potential for improvement at individual, team and sub-team level
• Correlate psychological data with statistics, training and physical data
• Create a stronger data-driven handball profile by strengthening data collection, e.g. testing all players in the Swedish league and in the national team.
• With strengthened data collection, create position profiles, identify more examples, create example bank to learn from
• Strengthen the translation from cognitive and performance skills to handball.

Appendices

1. PDF, one-pager.
2. PPT, overall description of Capacio tools, background, application.
3. Whitepaper on cognition and game intelligence/game perception in sport (Link in last slide of 2.PPT). Published in conjunction with Linhac.
4. Cognitive handball profile (4 teams, 75 players).
5. Hammarby handball, cognitive profile (Individual, Team, Team part, Examples of challenges and interventions).