In seasonal body composition and jump performance variation in a second league male volleyball team

Volleyball has become a sport of the giants. Under these circumstances it is desirable that players of a very large stature also possess a corresponding vertical jump. The aim of the paper was to identify the values of some parameters that we considered crucial in limiting or maximizing the in-game performance of the athletes in the study. Our intention was to verify if the body composition indicators change significantly at different stages of a competition season and if the characteristics of the jump, crucial in performing the actions through which the points arescored, are relevant in determining the level of physical conditioning. Twelve players (n=12) were selected from the second league Romanian male volleyball team CSU UVT. The subjects were tested for body composition and their spike jump and counter movement jump was measured on three separate occasions, each corresponding to a different stage of training.

Study results highlighted a significant increase of 1.15kg (p=0.028) in weight at the intermediate testing compared to the initial values. There were no differences in muscle mass between the initial and the intermediate testing (p=0.88). The results have shown a significant increase of the average skeletal muscle mass in the final test by 0.77 kg over the intermediate test (p=0.012) and 0.81kg over the initial test (p=0.039).We recorded a considerable increase of body fat mass between initial and intermediate testing (p=0.0073) and there was an average decrease of 1.76 kg (p=0.0285) of body fat mass between intermediate and final testing.

We have seen a significant increase in the height of the spike jump at the final test compared to the intermediate testing (p<0.0001) respectively the initial testing (p<0.0001).The counter movement jump recorded a significant decrease in the intermediate test 37.58 cm, compared to the initial test 40.57 cm (p=0.014).. Final measurements of the counter movement jump height increase in relation to intermediate testing (p=0.037).

Measurements also indicate a direct correlation between the height and power developed during the jump in all the three tests: initial (r=0.76), intermediate (r=0.68) and final (r=0.84).