Analysis Of A Volleyball Spiker

Many sports at local levels are offered at elite levels, including volleyball. During this investigation I will analyse and evaluate the sport volleyball and in particular the spikers position. I have chosen this because I am heavily involved in volleyball and also currently involved in a volleyball development squad within the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI), along with playing for a State League Junior team and becoming a reserve for the Un19’s State Volleyball team. To demonstrate the full potential of a volleyball spiker I will discuss the link between energy systems, fitness components and training methods. I will than compare local and elite athlete schedules.

The skills and movement skills for a volleyball spiker could include,

For example, in Appendix A, referring specifically to the elite training program, it shows that the number of reps that must be completed in addition to the tempo of how the activity should be at. These tempos will generally require a higher level of fitness.

The predominant energy systems used for a volleyball spiker, is the Aerobic energy system and the ATP-CP system.

As a spiker, positioning can be hard work and fast paced with the duration of a point potentially making the player fatigue, but prolonged breaks in between points enable a spiker to keep their stamina up, by enabling the dominant energy system, ATP-PC being able to recover during these breaks, therefore preventing fatigue. Moving around the court and getting into position is generally where the aerobic system becomes most dominant, when the spiker is in position to spike, this is where an interplay of energy systems commence. When the spiker commences their run up, a sequence of fast paced movements, requiring a high levels of oxygen intake, allows the ATP-PC energy system to become the dominant energy system. After finishing the spike an interplay of energy systems are used with the Aerobic System slowly becoming dominant again until another fast paced movement is required. This would again include, jumping and hitting the ball whilst in the air, look at Picture 1, inserted