A THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE VOLLEYBALL ONE-FOOT JUMP SPIKE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Since the Chinese National female volleyball team developed the one-foot jump spike technique during the 1980s, the high percentage of successful spiking has made the skill a powerful offensive weapon on volleyball courts all over the world. But no research has been done on the biomechanical analysis of the female one-foot jump spike. The purpose of this study was to describe the biomechanical characteristics of the techniques of the one-foot jump spike demonstrated by elite Taiwanese female players. METHODS: Four elite female players from the Taiwanese National Volleyball Team served as subjects. Their mean height, weight, and age (and variance) were 1.78 (0.03) m, 63.53 (.11) kg, and 21.50 (.58) years, respectively. Two Peak Performance high speed video cameras operating at 120Hz were synchronized to record the actions employed by the subjects in performing the one-foot jump spike. Three-dimensional object space co-ordinates of digitized image co-ordinates were obtained using a DLT algorithm and 19 calibration points in the video volume. RESULTS: [Table 1] The values of selected variables for the one-foot jump spike by the four female players were calculated (Table 1). The elite female one-foot jump spikers had a shorter takeoff time(0.198s) than the elite male two-foot spikers(0.308s).The female one-foot jump spikers also had a sharper approach angle(27 deg)then the elite male and female two-foot spikers(45- 60 deg) which made it harder for the opponent to block the ball. The results of this study provide valuable information for teachers and coaches teaching players to perform the one-foot jump spike. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that elite female one-foot jump spikers have a shorter takeoff time and a sharper approach angle then the elite male and female two-foot spikers, which contribute to the success of spiking.