Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare the effect of visual search and skill-level on the spatial occlusion anticipation in handball players. Thirty skilled and thirty unskilled handball players aged 20 to 35 years anticipated the situation of seven handball attack video movies. Visual search behavior was measured by using validated researcher made questionnaire. The results of anticipation illustrated that, skilled players were better than unskilled players in all of the situations but the important point was that skilled players anticipated situations based on their roles and position in game. Also, there were significant difference between skilled and unskilled players in regard to anticipation, skill- level and visual search behavior. In summary, the results indicated that visual attention of skilled players was on the attacker player’s upper body. In general, consideration of involved factors in sports performance can reveal substantial cues in exercise and training of different sports to facilitate and be effective in executing different handball skills.

Key words: Anticipation, visual search, spatial occlusion.