ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement
This article is part of the Research TopicEmpowering the Sustainable Future of Handball — from Grassroots to Top-level PlayView all 3 articles
Enhancing children's motivation and enjoyment in playing games: The impact of multi-set game structures in handball-based activities
Provisionally accepted
- German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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In training sessions or physical education units, the outcome of competitive games - winning or losing - directly affects the enjoyment of the game and children's perception of competence. Sports games are typically structured as single-set games with fixed playing times and cumulative results (e.g., handball, basketball) or as multi-set games with independently scored sets (e.g., volleyball, tennis). Multi-set structures allow for the possibility that winning individual sets, even in an overall defeat, can positively influence perceived skills and enjoyment. This exploratory study investigates whether changing the structure of a handball game (single-set into multi-set) influences children's enjoyment and motivation to play game again. A 2x2 design was employed to evaluate the effects of game structure (single-set vs. multi-set) and match outcome (win vs. loss) on enjoyment and motivation. The participating children (N = 122, 50 male, 72 female; age M = 10.91 years, SD = 0.72) played a handball based small-sided game four times: twice in a single-set structure (10-minute playing time) and twice in a three-set structure (2x4min + 1x2min). After each game, participants rated their enjoyment, motivation to play again, and whether they had won or lost on Likert scales. While the effects of winning and losing were similar in both game structures, playing in a three-set structure had a positive impact on overall enjoyment and more participants felt motivated to play the game again. The results suggest a positive effect of playing in multi-set structures. Thus, we recommend structure modifications for conducting small-sided games in team sports like handball in children's competitions, training or physical education settings. However, further research on changes in playing structures is warranted.
Keywords: Sport games, School, Participation, need for competences keyword, team handball
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fasold, Lukac and Klatt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Frowin Fasold, f.fasold@dshs-koeln.de
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