The Effect of Different Levels of Mental Fatigue on the Performance of Throwing of Skilled Handball Players

Background: The speed and accuracy of performance are affected by various factors, including mental fatigue. The current study investigated the effect of two durations of 15 and 30 minutes’ mental fatigue on the speed and accuracy of throwing performance in skilled men handball players.  

Methods: The present study was semi-experimental with the participating of 45 skilled players (24.98 ± 3.66 years) who were randomly assigned to 15-minute, 30-minute mental fatigue, and the control group. Mental fatigue was induced by the Stroop task, and the accuracy of the throwing, hit percent, and speed of performance were measured before and after the induction of mental fatigue. Data were analyzed using mixed analysis of variance with repeated measure.  

Results: Throwing speed and accuracy, as well as the Hit percent, decreased in both groups after 15 and 30 minutes of mental fatigue (P<0.05).  In the two groups of 30 and 15 minutes of mental fatigue, no significant difference was observed in the decrement of throwing accuracy (P<0.05). 

Conclusion: The impact of mental fatigue goes beyond specialized technical performance in a sport, and any decline in performance due to mental fatigue is likely related to motivational issues. Also, mental fatigue causes attention to be diverted from target stimuli to stimuli that are irrelevant to task performance, leading to a reduced capacity to tight control over the primary task. To protecting the accuracy of performance in tasks require speed, mental activity of the athlete should be avoided before the performance.