Purpose: Most high-intensity bouts of exercise in volleyball consist of jumping activities, which are responsible for inducing muscle damage, high levels of fatigue, and muscle soreness. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to quantify and analyze the training loads, neuromuscular fatigue, and perceptual well-being of a 5-week in-season mesocycle carried out by a professional male volleyball team. Methods: Fifteen volleyball players (age 28.51 [5.39] y; height 193.19 [9.87] cm; body mass 88.46 [13.18] kg) participated in this study. Internal training load assessed through the rating of perceived exertion, external training load (ETL; evaluated using an inertial motion unit), countermovement jump (CMJ) height and peak power, and wellness questionnaire responses were obtained from all athletes. Results: Results indicated a progressive decrease of the internal training load during the week and by the undulatory pattern of the ETL during the microcycles. Moreover, training monotony increased across the microcycles and was negatively associated with CMJ peak power (r = −.681, P 

The objective of the present study was to analyze and compare the setter's decision-making (DM) in the offensive construction of the side-out (attack from the reception) in high-level men's volleyball. The sample consisted of the analysis of 132 games of the Brazilian men's volleyball Super-League 2021/2022, with 22 games for each team. The results showed that the eigenvector values were higher for setting to position 3, central attacker next to the setter, simple block, and obtaining the attack point. In addition, the setter's DM was similar between teams, suggesting that the game strategies aim to provide subsidies for the setter to make the decisions according to the game context in a flexible way and generate benefits for the attackers about the number of blockers, being that under ideal conditions and due to the lifter's correct choices in distribution, central blockers avoid anticipating the setting, and this fact allows the conditions of a single block or double-broken blocks in most cases. As a practical application, setting for the central attacker in position 3 becomes an interesting option for point acquisition and is capable of influencing the number of blockers, as well as the optimal blocking condition. Another application would be for the central attacker to position themselves close to the setter, a strategy that would enable the use of the "pipe" attack in other areas of the court with lower defensive blocking power. Keywords: Expert Decision-Making; Performance Analysis; Team Sports; Action Choices; Constraints.

Football is one of the sports with more audience and women’s football has undergone a notable evolution at all levels. Scoring goals is the most relevant indicator of success in football. The aims of this study were to analyse, looking for patterns and/or differences in how gools are obtained through European elite women's teams. The goals were analysed through: way of obtaining the goal, type of finishing, type of assistance, time interval in which the goal was scored, assistance zone and finishing zone. A frequency analyses was performed through total number of actions of 174 goals from French and English teams in the respective national championships. The highest percentage of goals was obtained through offensive organization, also giving importance to the number of goals through tactical schemes (set balls). The zone where most goal submissions occur was in the penalty area, and the time interval of the games where the most goals were scored was defined between the 31 and 61 minutes. Differently from men’s, elite women’s football teams obtain the highest percentage of goals through the offensive organization, with a substantial number of goals also being scored through tactical schemes.

The present study aimed to investigate the validity of a small inertial sensor (Vert IMU) for measuring vertical displacement and jump count in young female artistic roller skating athletes. Two separate investigations were completed. In the first, 12 subjects were asked to perform 24 jumps each, and jump heights were simultaneously assessed by the Optojump photocells (criterion instrument) and by the Vert IMU and compared to evaluate concurrent validity of this latter system. The second investigation evaluated the capacity of the Vert to correctly identify jumps during training sessions. The correlation between the Vert device and the Optojump was strong for all jump types ( r = 0.84–0.95), except for the double Salchow which had a moderate correlation ( r = 0.55). All 288 jumps in Investigation One had a significant ( p 

Our aim in this study was to analyze: (i) the presence of the relative age effect (RAE) on the Brazilian elite female futsal athletes according to their team’s final position in the National Championship, and (ii) the relationship between the presence of the RAE and the athletes’ tactical individual performance. Participants were 77 female Brazilian elite futsal athletes that competed in the 2021 National Championship. Data included their dates of birth aggrupation by quartiles (Q1-Q4), their team’s final position in the National Championship, and their tactical individual performance indicators (time played, goals scored, assists, steals, shots on goal, unbalanced passes, and challenges won in 1vs1). Analyses of the overall sample indicated that RAE was not prevalent in this context since the observed birthdate distribution was not different from the expected one (p=.796). When the final placement in the championship was considered, the birthdate distributions were also not different from the expected for both the top-ranked (p=.572) and low-ranked (p=.679) team athletes. Regarding athletes’ tactical individual performance, no differences were found between the athletes with early and late birthdates for any of the variables analysed (p>.05). Our results suggest that RAE has no impact on this specific sport context, which should be interpreted as a positive factor since female futsal athletes seem to have the same chance of achieving the elite level in Brazil, regardless of their birthdates.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to use an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to analyze variations in the jump outcomes concerning weekly training days, and the dependencies between the number of jumps per minute and the jump height. An experimental research design was adopted across three weeks of the final play-off of a volleyball championship. Through an IMU, the external load of seven male elite volleyball athletes of a top rating team from Portuguese 1st Division (age: 30.5 ± 3.5 years; height: 200.2 ± 6.3 cm; body mass: 93.0 ± 8.1 kg; BMI: 23.1 ± 2.3 kg/m2) was monitored. Repeated measures ANOVA was executed to compare the outcomes between training days. It was observed a similar density of jumps during the week. However, when comparing MD-1 to MD-2, a more significant average number of jumps per minute was observed in MD-1 (1.3 ± 0.2 vs. 1.0 ± 0.2). Additionally, a positive, large and significant correlation was registered between the number of jumps and the height of the jump. Those results highlight the benefits of the specific training, leading to greater stimulation and improvement, in a game-like context, of the stretching-shortening cycle, observed in every jump action in volleyball.

The aim of the present study was twofold: (i) to analyze the relationship between weekly variations in ACWR, training monotony (TM), training strain (TS), s-RPE and the number of jumps; and (ii) to explore the association between tests based on the external and internal training intensity (TI) measures across weeks. An observational cohort study was conducted. Ten female elite volleyball players (two setters, three middle-blockers, three outside hitters, and two opposites) of a first Division Portuguese team (24.1  ±  6.12 years old; 66.48  ±  6.85 kg; and 175.4  ±  6.52 cm) participated in this study. Players were monitored for external and internal TI measures. The correlation coefficients between internal and external TI measures were determined using Pearson's r. The results showed a moderate relationship between weekly variations of ACWR, TM, TS, s-RPE, and the number of jumps. Additionally, a moderate association between external and internal TI measures were detected. In conclusion, s-RPE seems to be a more sensible measure than the number of jumps, since its percentage of variation was higher.