# Situational Analysis and Tactical Decision-Making in Elite Handball Players
## 4 Discussion  
The aim of this study was to analyze the time of responses and its accuracy and technical correctness in processing situational probability and contextual information among handball players belonging to two different tiers (i.e., first and second national tiers). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Game Situation**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Variables**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**First Tier**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Second Tier**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Comparison**} & \\ \cline{3-10}  & & **M** & **DS** & **M** & **DS** & **MD (95\% CD)** & **F** & **_p_ & **ES (95\% CD)** \\ \hline Game Situation & Time (s) & 240.73 & 108.49 & 129.75 & 68.61 & 110.98 (517.4, 170.22) & 14.43 & \(<\)0.001 & 1.36 (0.56, 2.15) \\
1—Ofensive & Accuracy & 1.92 & 0.30 & 1.30 & 0.61 & 0.62 (0.24, 1.00) & 11.22 & 0.002 & 1.16 (0.41, 1.92) \\ Process—Low Complexity & Technical correctness & 1.50 & 1.00 & 1.00 & 0.877 & 0.50 (\(-\)0.14, 1.14) & 2.48 & ns & \\ \hline Game Situation & Time (s) & 207.71 & 86.82 & 119.26 & 45.89 & 88.86 (44.44, 132.07) & 16.92 & \(<\)0.001 & 1.47 (0.66, 2.28) \\
2—Defensive & Accuracy & 1.83 & 0.39 & 1.11 & 0.42 & 0.72 (0.43, 1.01) & 25.32 & \(<\)0.001 & 1.75 (0.93, 2.56) \\ Process—Low Complexity & Technical correctness & 1.33 & 0.89 & 0.65 & 0.85 & 0.68 (0.07, 1.29) & 51.4 & 0.03 & 0.79 (0.6, 1.52) \\ \hline Game Situation & Time (s) & 223.83 & 88.51 & 100.12 & 51.45 & 123.72 (71.65, 175.78) & 23.70 & \(<\)0.001 & 1.84 (0.92, 2.77) \\
3—Defensive & Accuracy & 1.58 & 0.52 & 1.05 & 0.70 & 0.53 (0.05, 1.01) & 5.06 & 0.03 & 0.03 (0.04, 1.62) \\ Process—High Complexity & Technical correctness & 1.27 & 0.90 & 0.79 & 0.85 & 0.48 (\(-\)0.19, 1.61) & 2.13 & ns & \\ \hline Game Situation & Time (s) & 210.04 & 77.12 & 115.94 & 68.23 & 94.09 (42.33, 145.85) & 13.62 & \(<\)0.001 & 1.33 (0.53, 2.13) \\
4—Ofensive & Accuracy & 1.83 & 0.39 & 0.93 & 0.55 & 0.91 (0.55, 1.26) & 26.59 & \(<\)0.001 & 1.79 (0.97, 2.61) \\ Process—High Complexity & Technical correctness & 1.33 & 0.88 & 0.74 & 0.81 & 0.59 (0.01, 1.18) & 4.17 & 0.048 & 0.71 (\(-\)0.01, 1.43) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Note: M = mean; SD = standard deviation; MD = mean difference; ES = effect size (Cohen’s d); CI = confidence interval.  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Comparison of time, accuracy, and technical correctness scores between first- and second-tier players for each match situation. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & **Odds Ratio** & **SE** & **z** & _p-Value_ & **Confidence Interval (95\%)** \\ \hline Game Situation 1 & Accuracy & 4.143 & 2.893 & 2.04 & 0.042 & 1.054 & 16.282 \\  & Technical Correctness & 1.405 & 0.651 & 0.73 & ns & 0.566 & 3.487 \\ \hline Game Situation 2 & Accuracy & 16.548 & 16.631 & 2.79 & 0.005 & 2.308 & 118.644 \\  & Technical Correctness & 0.493 & 0.437 & \(-\)0.80 & ns & 0.087 & 2.797 \\ \hline Game Situation 3 & Accuracy & 3.165 & 1.802 & 2.02 & 0.043 & 1.037 & 9.660 \\  & Technical Correctness & 1.747 & 0.807 & 1.21 & ns & 0.0706 & 4.322 \\ \hline Game Situation 4 & Accuracy & 12.579 & 10.144 & 3.14 & 0.002 & 2.589 & 61.106 \\  & Technical Correctness & 2.735 & 1.34 & 2.05 & 0.040 & 1.047 & 7.145 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Note: ns = not significant; SE = standard error.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Logistic regression coefficients for each model (tiers of logit and accuracy and technical correctness as predictors). First-tier athletes showed greater accuracy in their responses than second-tier athletes, despite spending more time in all the game situations analyzed. The difference between first- and second-tier athletes in technical correctness seems to emerge only in two game situations (i.e., 2 and 4). Therefore, the first hypothesis can only be partially confirmed. The results of this study confirmed that the majority of first-tier athletes processed at least one appropriate option in the processed game situations. It should be noted that the accuracy and technical correctness scores refer to the answers given.