The volleyball season is long for the players. When the club season is finished, most of them still have obligations with the national team. As a result, male and female volleyball players are overwhelmed and must take care of themselves throughout the year to stay healthy and uninjured. Everyone, except the libero, is exposed to various jumps; when serving, setting, blocking and attacking.
There has been some research on this topic before, but each with a different database and method of measurement. The purpose of our research was to analyze the jumps in terms of volleyball positions during training sessions and matches, and to determine the relationship between the number of jumps and injuries. Seventeen Japanese players from the JT Thunders team were included in the survey: three setters, two opposites, six receivers and four middle blockers. During each training session and match, each player wore a MyVert device, through which data on the number, frequency and intensity of jumps was obtained. We used the OSTRC Overuse Injury Questionnaire to determine the connection between the jumps and injuries.
The analysis showed that during training sessions and matches, setters make the most jumps, followed by middle blockers, then receivers, and lastly, opposites. Middle blockers and receivers have the highest jump intensity and the maximum jump height during training sessions – more than 70%, while during matches that level of intensity is reached only by middle blockers. Receivers have the highest share of high-intensity jumps in competitions. On average, more than half (53%) of their jumps are carried out with high-intensity, the rest with low. They make an average of more than half (53%) of high-intensity jumps per match, the rest with low. Due to insufficient samples of injuries, the thesis on the association between the number of jumps and injuries of the lower limb was neither confirmed nor refuted in the study.
In the future, we expect even more research on this topic and hope that we will start using such devices in Slovenia as well, so that volleyball coaches will have more accurate data for planning the training process and for monitoring the workload of each individual player, their playing position, and preventing injuries.
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