Needs Analysis

Volleyball is a complex game of simple skills requiring good power, height, speed and agility throughout, depending on the position played, these skills may be more or less vital.

Evaluation of the Sport

Injury analysis

Volleyball is subject to both instantaneous and overuse injuries to the lower and predominantly upper body (Verhagen et al., 2004), whereby Briner et al. (1997) claimed that shoulder injuries contribute between 8 and 20% of all injuries within volleyball, which is typical of attacking positions e.g. the outside hitter (Reeser et al., 2010).  The common sites of injury include ACL and MCL in the knee, tendonitis in the rotator cuff and AC joint sprain in the shoulder.

Physiological analysis

The physiological components required for volleyball include power, strength and also an element of muscular endurance.  Actions such as spiking and serving rely heavily on the fast twitch muscle fibers, and therefore an enhanced muscular hypertrophy will improve force production and the speed at which the action can be carried out (Earle & Baechle, 2004).  For optimal performance, strength of the upper body is favoured, additionally, power can facilitate this (Zatsiorsky & Kraemer , 2006).

Movement Analysis

Being a multidirectional sport, movements that take place within the sport of volleyball include; jumping, blocking, passing and unilateral movements; serving and spiking, which require the use of the shoulder, hip and knee joints  (Khan et al., 2001).  There are various components of the spike approach, namely: The preparatory, Movement, Follow-through and recovery stages.  This is also true of the blocking and serving manoeuvres.  Most heavily recruited muscles include the shoulder extensors, triceps brachii, quadriceps, gastrocnemius, soleus, gluteals.

                       Figure 1. Diagram of a spike from the shoulder, elbow to wrist.

Evaluation of the Athlete

Movement Assessments

Results from the movement assessment indicated that the athlete was strong in her reactive ability, and also basic strength tests, however failed to perform the agility drills to a high standard due to poor acceleration and deceleration. 

Training Status

The athlete is currently at the start of the ‘In-season’ playing at National level as an ‘Outside hitter’. The athlete suffered an acromioclavicular (AC) joint sprain in her left arm six months ago and began a resistance training programme as part of the rehabilitation process.  The athlete is currently free of injury, but needs to be aware of the potential weakness from this previous injury.

Primary Goals

The athlete's coach proposed that an increase in upper body strength would improve her spiking technique, which plays a vital role in the position of outside hitter.  Therefore the athlete’s primary goal would be to increase her muscular strength of the upper body in order to enhance performance. This may also facilitate in the strengthening of the muscles post the AC sprain and prevent re-occurrence.

Secondary Goals

The athlete’s secondary goal is to increase her agility and speed to enable rapid movements and change of direction around the court during the game, both which were acknowledged from the movement assessment.