Technical Analysis
Focusing on the serve, I can perform a technical assessment.
This looks at 4 different components which make up the serve; footwork, toss,
ball contact, body position. After analysing our own athlete, the results will
them be compared to a video called ‘Skill development Drills: Serving’ by
ChampionshipProductions on 26/03/2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQZGk1KfWeI&t=37s
) which shows an elite performing serving over the net and with the coach- a
former Olympian- explaining what the right techniques are. This will allow us
to see whether our athlete is performing the skill correctly or if she needs to
work on any areas.
Ball contact:
Looking at the videos that were taken during a training
session, I am able to see and analyse where our athlete contacts the ball on
her serve. The video shows that she contacts the ball high and in front of the
body. This is a strong component as it allows her enough time to get a good arm
swing to create power to hit the ball. However, her actual hand contact on the
ball is an area to be improved on. This is because her whole hand doesn’t touch
the ball, but instead just the side does which means the ball will deflect off
and travel sideways. The full force of energy will not be transferred into the
ball, reducing the power and speed decreasing the chances of it going over the
net.
Figure 1 shows exactly where the contact on the ball
should be before it’s released. We can see that her whole palm is contacting
the ball which will allow control. The coach is stating that the hand should be
going through the ball which will create the float on the serve. He states that
if the hand goes through the ball in any other way it will send it in that
direction which is the reason why our athletes ball went off to the side as
their hand wasn’t going through the ball, instead it was just sending it
sideways.
Toss:
The toss is the most important component of the serve.
Getting a toss allows an athlete to perform everything else well such as the
arm swing, footwork etc. If the toss is off, then it often takes a lot of adjustment
and the movements will not flow resulting in a negative outcome. When looking
at our athletes toss in the video we can see it has a lot of height on it which
gives her time to prepare the rest of the body for the following movements. She
also tosses the ball in front of her body so it can transfer the power forwards
helping it travel over the net instead of tossing it above where the power
would be transferred upwards. When
watching the video of the elite performer, the coach states that, if the ball
dropped, it should land right in front of the foot which shows it was in front
of the body. Our athletes ball would do this as her toss is very straight. The coach
also states that it should be high to allow time for the weight of the feet to
shift and power to be created.
Figure 2 shows the ball should travel in a vertical line
down the body if the toss is perfect as this will allow contact to be in front
and not behind which will send the ball upwards.
Figure 3 shows that when the ball is released by the
athlete is stays straight upwards and is in front of the body.
Arm swing:
When our athlete serves she brings her arm from the bottom
of the body and swings it around in a circular motion. This causes the arm to
have a longer way to travel however is a slower movement which in turn doesn’t
create as much power. Her arm is also quite relaxed meaning that the wrist will
be floppy on contact. This technical component is being performed incorrectly
according to The Inspiring Female volleyball players article ("The Volleyball Overhand Serve") which states that
on the arm swing, the arm should be high to avoid hitting the ball into the
net. This high arm swing will help contact the ball at a higher point,
especially helpful if the athlete is smaller than the net. The reason out
athlete’s serves were so unsuccessful was because she was bringing her arm from
down low which caused a lower contact point and because she is small, there was
no way the ball could make it over the net.
Figure 4: The video of the athlete shows that
on her arm swing, the arm should start from up above the head and should be
brought forwards in a straight motion. This differs to our athlete who’s arm
started from a lower position and was brought around the whole body before
contacting the ball. Thar m swing should be one straight forwards motions which
will allow a positive contact rather than a blind aim which would happen if the
arm becomes off track.
Figure 5: The arm is moving straight and not heading off track.
Footwork:
Our athlete starts
with her leading foot in front of the other, this would be the left, angling
the body slightly. This creates space for the arm swing. When the ball is
tossed she opens up the feet and then starts to shift the weight onto the front
foot. When the ball is contacted all weight is shifted whilst the back leg
lifts up off the ground to transfer the power in the forwards direction.
Figure 6: The athletes footwork in series as the serve is demonstrated
When looking at the athlete
athlete’s video to compare we can see firstly that she also starts with her
leading foot, once again the left, to create space to travel forward. During
the second picture, the toss phase, we can see that the weight is beginning to
shift as the back foot is starting to lift up ready for the contact point.
Although as this is a tutorial video the athlete doesn’t actually complete the
serve, when she is demonstrating the contact point almost all of her back foot
is off the ground as this allows her to transform her weight fully. Our
athletes and the athlete in the video have very similar footwork showing that it’s
a strong component for her and will help guarantee a positive serve.
Numerical Model:
Angle of release:
The angle of release is the angel
of the balls path from the first point of contact until the last. The figure
above shows the measurements used in this calculation. Using Kenova, it shows
up that on a standing serve our athletes angle of release was 43 degrees. When
looking to compare this against elite athletes I found an article called ‘Biomechanical principles involved in
the Volleyball serve’ (Harris, Harris and profile 2017) which looks at all the
biomechanical elements of an elite volleyballers serve, using different
articles and research to show the best re
sults. It states that when serving
from the ground the optimal angle of release is 45 degrees. This is very
similar to our athletes being only 2 degrees bigger however to make sure that
the ball always travels over the net, the athlete should work on trying to open
up the body, this means a bigger arm swing bringing right back by over the
shoulder to create a bigger angle and therefore transfer more power into the
ball to allow it to reach the opponents side. The fact our athletes angle is
smaller means she is contacting the ball with a slightly bent arm, extending
the arm fully will not only increase the angle, but will also ensure a more
consistent contact point and generate more power. Ensuring the
toss is high in front of her hitting shoulder will allow the full rotation of
occur with a straight swing in front.
Figure 7: The angle of release being calculated using the Kenova software.
Angular
Velocity:
The three pictures show the three
stages in how angular velocity is measured. The first measurement is when the
athlete brings her arm back ready to swing, the second is when she’s making the
swinging motions bringing the arm forward and the third was taken at the first
point of contact. From these results I was able to perform the equation 119
(first angle) – 115 (second angle) = 4 degrees. This equation was then followed
by another; 1.33-1.30 = 0.03. To find the final angular velocity result I then
divided 4 by 0.03 to get 133.33333. Research conducted by : Dr. Tim
Pennings, Hope College (October 14, 2006) says that a good angular velocity
should be around 130 degrees which is similar to our athletes. In order for our
athlete to lower the angular velocity so it’s the same as the elite athletes,
she should not bring the arm from as far back therefore creating a smaller
angle and more power.
Figure 8: The first angle that was measured during the back swing.
Figure 9: The second angle measured during the forward swinging motion
Figure 10: The final angle measured during the ball contact
Ball velocity:
To calculate the athletes ball
velocity the equation distance divide time (D/T) was used. Using Kenova, the
ball was measured at first point of contact to the last point which resulted in
0.16m divided by how long that travel took which was 0.02m/s (0.16/0.02). The
athlete’s ball velocity was 8 m/s. To have an idea of whether this is good or
not it can be compared to an elite athlete’s ball velocity serve. An online
article named ‘5 Velocity & Acceleration in Volleyball’ states that the
average ball velocity for an elite volleyball player is around 5.29m/s. This is
due to distance from the backline to the net is 9 meters and the speed is
around 20-40mph which takes around 1.7 seconds making the equation 9/1.7 =
5.29. When comparing this to our athlete it’s a quicker ball velocity which
will result in more successful serves, making the ball velocity an area to work
on for our athlete. To improve this the athlete can work on their contact as
this can aid in the velocity, this is also down to the toss. Getting a good
contact on the ball, which involves places the whole hand when the ball is at
its highest point in front of the hitting shoulder can help create a topspin on
the ball. This topspin will cause the ball to accelerate towards the ground
once over the net therefore increasing the speed of the journey and increasing
the velocity of the ball. However, its important that the athlete ensures a
high contact so the ball is able to travel over the net first.
Figure 11: The ball velocity being measured on Kenova
Notational Analysis:
Game 1:
Rules broken:
|
|
Foot Fault
|
1
|
Net touch
|
2
|
Double touch
|
0
|
Carry
|
0
|
Antenor touch
|
1
|
Successful
|
Unsuccessful
|
|
Serves
|
10
|
3
|
Spikes
|
17
|
8
|
Game 2:
Rules broken:
|
|
Foot Fault
|
2
|
Net touch
|
3
|
Double touch
|
0
|
Carry
|
0
|
Antenor touch
|
0
|
Successful
|
Unsuccessful
|
|
Serves
|
8
|
2
|
Spike
|
18
|
10
|
Serves
Figure 1 shows the percentage of successful serves in both
game 1 and game 2. We can see that in game 1 the successful percentage rate was
76.9% which is positive as it shows that majority of the athletes serves went
in court. We can also see that in game 2 the athlete had another positive
percentage of 80% showing that they managed more successful serves. In game 1
there were 3 more serves performed due to more continuous serving rallies than
in game 2 meaning in game 1 there was a higher space for error, resulting in a
higher success ratio in game 2. Although game 2 has a higher
Figure 2 shows the percentage of unsuccessful serves in both
games. In game 1 the athlete missed 3/13 serves which equals 21.3% and in game
2 they missed 2/10 which equals to 20%. Both percentages are close together
with only one more missed serve in game 1 due to the higher overall amount of
serves. Although the unsuccessful rate is low, athletes who train regularly
should aim to not miss any serves or 1 at the most as it has a negative outcome
of games due to the automatic loss of points. The reason for the negative
serves was because the toss was too far in front to make a good contact without
stepping over the baseline. The Volleyball Fundamentals book online states that
‘the toss requires a lot of attention as many errors locate from an
inconsistent location of the toss.’ (Joel Dearing, 2003).
As serving is an area I feel could be improved, I would
recommend to do this through regular trainings. Regular training will allow the
athletes body to become familiar with the movements. In training, positive movements
can be achieved through breaking down the skill and taking it basics to basics
e.g. repeating the toss, then arm swing then the contact on the ball before
putting it all together. Repeating these movements will allow the mind to
memorise the correct movements in order to produce a successful outcome when
using it in a game situation. Research has shown that repetitive movements help
with muscle memory and allows the mind to know the difference between a
positive and a negative outcome. VolleyballAdvisors.com state that in order to
learn a skill, you simply need to get enough repetitions done.
Spikes
Figure 3 shows the percentage of successful spikes. In game
1 the athlete has a 68% success rate, completing 17/25 however in game 2 the
athlete only had a success rate of 64.1% which is significantly lower. The
athlete continued to spike out of court as they put too much power on the ball,
showing a weakness in their ball control and overall spike at both are lower
than 70% and caused numerous points to be lost. Strength and Power for
volleyball ("Volleyball Spike – Basics To Volleyball
Attacking") state that ‘The
ball is contacted by the hand using a wrist snapping type motion to direct the
ball downward into the opponents court’ to make a successful spike and as the
athlete is not doing this, their spikes aren’t landing inside the court.
To improve this area
I would recommend working on ball contact, which includes reaching the ball at
its peak and with the palm of the hand. Working on this can easily be done at
training and shouldn’t take too long. Snapping the wrist will create ‘a topspin
on the ball causing it to dive’ (How to
Spike A Volleyball, 2017). The reason I would recommend working on this
area is because as long as a player learns how to control their ball contact,
they will be able to spike successfully whether the footwork is on or not.
Figure 4 shows the number of unsuccessful spikes in both
games. We can see that game one had a 32% fail rate while game 2 was slightly
higher at 35.5%. This is a weakness as it causes the team to automatically lose
points and will decrease the confidence of the hitter therefore reducing in
them getting less sets overall. A way to resolve this weakness was mentioned
when looking at the percentage of successful spikes which was also identified
as a weakness.
Rules broken
Figure 5 shows how many rules were broken in both game 1 and
game 2. The rules were a foot fault, net touch, double touch, carry and
touching the arial. As our player was not a setter then it was very unlikely
for them to perform a carry or a double touch, reducing the number of rules
that could have been broken. In game 1 there was 1 foot fault, 2 net touches
and 1 arial touch. In game 2 there was one extra error with two foot faults and
3 net touches. Although it’s not a major weakness as many are just accidents, I
am going to suggest that the athlete works on the vertical jump of their block
as their net touching caused the most errors with an error percentage of 30%
out of 55.5% in game 2.
The main reason people will touch the net is on their block
because they don’t get their footwork right and end up drifting therefore
moving forwards rather than up. The footwork should go step out to the side,
cross over with the other leg then bring the first one round so that your hips
are square with the net. ‘How to make an effective dig in volleyball’ (2017) mentions
the correct techniques of how to block and refers to the squaring of the hips,
not drifting and also how to bring the hands up so they don’t touch the net.
All of these contribute towards a successful block which involves not touching
the net. These techniques can be practised in training by following a ball on
the other side of the net, focusing on the footwork towards it and the arm
movement.
When looking at the overall rules broken, one reason may be
due to over arousal or being nervous which can cause a player to lose
concentration and make mistakes which they wouldn’t usually do. This is because
adrenaline will be released which will cause the heart to beat faster. The
inverted U Theory (Yerkes & Dodson 1908) backs this point up with the
theory that an athlete has an optimal arousal level. Up to this level their
performance will increase however as soon as they hit this their performance
will decrease and more errors will be made. (Inverted
U Theory | a2-level-level-revision, pe-physical-education, arousal,
inverted-u-theory | Revision World, 2017). A way to reduce this arousal
levels caused by playing can be to gain more game situations or set some up in
training as a way to get used to the environments and factors involved in them
such as the crowed, pressure etc.
Methodology:
The methodology will look at how I collected my data used in the numerical and technical model i.e. the video of an athlete serving. In order to start the right equipment had to be booked out from our college tutor as there was no other access to it. This was done 3 days in advance. Before the data could begin to be collected I organised a time and date with the college volleyball academy coach to make sure it was okay to interrupt a training session and borrow an athlete to be part of our research; we agreed on Thursday at 4pm.
The equipment used in the research included:
1) Tripod - To angle the camera correctly
2) GO PRO camera- To record
3) Marking tape - To place on the athletes joints so they can be visibly seen on the camera
4) An athlete- From the academy to perform a serve
5) Meter stick- To get the correct distance from camera/ to know what scale we're using
6) Volleyball
7) Laptop
8) Kenova- The system used to analyse the data/collect measurements
9) Sports Hall
10) Volleyball net and court
First of all the tape had to be placed on the athlete. There was a cross placed on the right side of the body (because she served with her right arm) on the ankle joint, hip joint, knee joint, elbow and shoulder as this allowed us to clearly identify which areas were being focused on during analyses e.g. the elbow joint for angular velocity and ankles for footwork. Once that was all sorted the camera was placed on the tripod and turned on. Having the camera on meant that we were able to see clearly when setting up the meter stick for the correct scaling. To set this up correctly, the meter stick was placed horizontally behind the baseline of the court so the athlete knew the correct position to stand in order to get the best video analysis results. The camera was placed parallel to the athlete at this point and only focused on her right side, not showing the net or the outcome of the serve.
After everything was set up correctly, the athlete was ready to start her serve. I started with a practice shot to make sure everything was clear on camera and there were no issues with the positioning. The athlete performed 3 serves overall, each shot on a different clip. Before each serve began a member of my group counted down 3,2,1 with their fingers, then performed a thumbs up when we were ready, in front of the camera to make sure everyone was ready. The athlete was told to perform her match serve in order to make it as close to a realistic game situation.
Once the results had all been collected, the best video was uploaded to a programming software called Kenova. This allows you to analyse any errors you wish to look at through drawing lines, calculating angles, showing the speed and time etc. From this software I was able to calculate the angular velocity, ball velocity and angle of release. This was done through cutting clips, pausing them at certain moments and looking at the speed of one frame to another.
As the camera did not move at any point during collecting the data and the athlete stayed in the same place the whole time, it reduced any risk of perspective error which could effect results by making angles bigger or smaller. Also, the athlete as the athlete was always in the same place, their was only one line of sight throughout the three serves which is another reducement of this perspective error. The camera stayed parallel to the athlete, keeping the angle of sight the same reducing parallax error. This could have affected our results as it may have made the angels seem bigger or smaller as parallex error is where an object become displaced or different to the original point of site. This didn't happen as the same view was portrayed for all 3 serves.
Discussion:
For the distinction I am going to analyse the notional
analyses in further depth. From my work earlier I have already have an idea of the
athlete’s strengths and weakness and now I can expand of these points; using
previous research to back up any points. The first component I looked at was serving;
successful or unsuccessful. The serve is the only part in a volleyball game
that the athlete can fully control themselves and is essential to start the
point. Game 1 showed a 76.9% success rate whilst game 2 had an 80% success
rate. For this reason serving wasn’t seen as a major area for development as
the success rates are quite high, however it could be more consistent. These successful
serves meant that the athlete’s team were able to score points in ACE’s where
the opposition were unable to return the point. This affects the game in a
positive way as it means that the athlete can continue serving in order to keep
winning points. If the serve was not an ACE it was still considered successful
going over the net. This meant that their team was able to prepare for defence,
ready to set up an attack and score points, it also made it very difficult for
the opposition to get a good pass and control the ball on their side. This is
backed up by Strength and Power volleyball; Serving strategies (2017) who say
that ‘tough serves can create free ball
situations that allow your team to build confidence passing and executing
offensive plays’.
There
was a small percentage of unsuccessful serves performed by the athlete. In game
1 the percentage came to 21.3% and in game 2 it was 20%.
These are low percentages and meant the athlete only missed around 2/3 serves
in each game. However this helped the opposition as it automatically gave them
a point, giving them the opportunity to apply pressure and have the advantage. It
was seen that this was due to a bad toss and also the footwork of the athlete
not being fluent enough and causing a mess up of the movements. Volleyball Life
(2017) state the toss is ‘a
deceptively vital aspect of the serve that, if not done correctly, makes it
virtually impossible for you to serve well.’ The athlete not performing their
serve correctly will also lead to them becoming annoyed within themselves,
leading a decrease in their performance and success rate. Service errors early can
also set a tone of the game that influences your players' level of overall
confidence and game anxiety ("The Volleyball
Serve: Controlled Aggression Is Key | Momsteam") This means that the
athlete will feel like they are unable to perform a good and consistent serve,
leading them to worry at the service line and not concentrate properly. Other
players will be able to see this lack of confidence and feel like they can use
it, for the example the opposition will begin to target the athlete to knock
their abilities further. The USA men’s volleyball team won the 1984 Oympics
where 2 of their athletes scored 12 aces on their serves, only missing one each
under a very stressful situation. This was due to their immense focus and
confidence in their ability to perform well allowing them to control their
movements. ‘All it takes is deliberate practice, focus and practise’ USA
Volleyball, Serving secrets (2017).
The second technical component I looked at was the spike.
The unsuccessful rates of the spikes were a lot higher than the serves, making
it one of the main areas of improvement for the athlete. In game 1 there are an
unsuccessful percentage rate of 32% and 35.5% in game 2. An unsuccessful spike,
just like a serve, will automatically give the opposition a point giving them
an advantage when wanting to gain the lead. This will start to give them more
confidence as they are able to rely on the mistakes of the other team for easy
points. A successful spike can have a big effect on the game and the athlete. A
powerful movement will cause the ball to directly hit the floor and win a point
straight away as the opposition will be unable to return the ball. If this
isn’t the case, it can still cause difficulty as the defence will have to
adjust and therefore play out of system meaning the movements may not be as
controlled and they will return a free ball, allowing an attack set up once
again- another opportunity to perform a successful spike. The athlete I was
looking at is an outside hitter meaning they get the majority of the sets and
are able to hit to different positions on court. The set is a very important
aspect to the spike as it’s a setup, however the attacker should always be able
to make the most of it. ThoughtCo (2017) say that it’s the outside hitter’s job
to ‘make a good play on the set for the third contact no matter where
the ball is placed’. This can be done through the correct footwork and a good
hand contact on the ball. Hand contact on the ball was an area of development
identified within the unsuccessful serves, working on it will allow the athlete
to position the ball to different areas of court i.e. line and cross. Changing
where the ball is placed will catch the oppositions defence off guard as
they’ll be set up to defend in another area and result in a higher success
percentage rate as they are unable to return the ball. The athlete will begin
to have more confidence in themselves as their setter/team mates will trust
them more and therefore set them more balls to hit and win more points. It also
shows that the athlete is able to make tactical decisions based on the
oppositions set up meaning they have good initiative and are able to analyse
play. ‘The contact should be made reaching directly
above or slightly in front of the body and is contacted by the hand using a
wrist snapping type motion to direct the ball downward into the opponents
court’ (Strength and Power for Volleyball 2017). The athlete had a success
percentage of 68% and 64.1%. This was mainly due to the power they are able to
create causing a strong force on the ball. This power comes from the whole
body, the approach off the ground and then the ability to transfer the energy
up the body, through the arm and into the ball. Volleyball Strength Programme
(2017) state that the body should ‘work together as a "chain" of
muscles and joints’ to provide efficient movements.
The third and final component
looked at was the amount of rules broken over the two games. It looked at foot
faults, net touches, ariel touches, double touches and carries. As my athlete
is an outside hitter some of these rules will be less likely for them to break
such as the double touch and carry, however there was a high rate of net
touches causing an error percentage of
30% out of 55.5% in game 2. Not making mistakes and breaking rules will allow
the game to flow efficiently without continuously stopping. This can increase
performance levels as athletes are able to get into play more to increase their
arousal and perform more successful movements. If the game was continuously
stopping and starting because of net touches or carries etc then players may
find it hard to concentrate on their game due to these distractions. ‘Team synchrony and success on the field
and court often occurs because of game flow and momentum’ ("Association For Applied Sport Psychology: Overcoming
Performance Errors With Resilience"). This will lead to more mistakes being made
because of the high increase in arousal. The athlete broke 4 rules in game 1
and 5 rules in game 2. Game 2 shows a higher amount of net touches which can be
due to skill but can also be due to becoming over-aroused and therefore making
more mistakes as the body isn’t concentrated fully on the movements. The
athlete should work on improving their resilience which can help move on straight
away and avoid repeating the same errors. Solomon and Becker (2004) came
up with a 4 step process to increasing resilience which includes acknowledging
the error, reviewing it, strategizing how to fix it and then executing it. ‘A resilient athlete is one who can let
go of errors and return to the present; s/he uses the error as an opportunity
to learn and improve’ ("Association
For Applied Sport Psychology: Overcoming Performance Errors With
Resilience") which shows that becoming resilient can reduce
the amount of errors the athlete makes in a game therefore allowing them to
build up points in other areas, such as an attack. They also say that resilience
is a skill that can be learnt through practise. An athlete who isn’t resilient will
have an inconsistent performance, resulting in them potentially being substituted
off court by the coach. This can lead to the athlete to believe that their coach
doesn’t have any confidence in them which can have a negative effect on future
performances as they can feel like they may not have the support of the coach
or teammates. A study performed by Brian T. Geary and Melissa A. Murray (2011)
found that athletes who don’t feel like they have the support from their coach
will lack motivation and self-confidence. If rules are continuously broken in a
game it can lead to the coach calling a time out, which is a 30 second break in
the game where athletes can mentally refresh and the coach will talk to them to
explain what they should be doing. Having a time out could have a positive
effect on the athletes performance when they go back on court as they have the
time to re-focus on the game and not worry about previous points lost meaning they’ll
be going in with a fresh mind-set. Time out’s have the ability to ‘take the crowd out of the game and changing
the on-court/field dynamics as a result’ ("Association
For Applied Sport Psychology: Overcoming Performance Errors With Resilience")
meaning
games will flow more and the points will become more efficient.
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