BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF
THE JUMP SERVE IN MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Häyrinen, M.1, Mikkola, T. 1, Honkanen, P.2,
Lahtinen, P.2, Paananen, A.2 & Blomqvist, M.1
1
KIHU - Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Jyväskylä, Finland
2
Finnish Volleyball Association, Helsinki, Finland
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The most used serve technique in
men’s top volleyball is jump serve (JS). The efficiency
of JS is related to the ball velocity (BV) of the serve.
BVs have increased lately and thus a biomechanical
analysis of JS was justified to investigate which ele-
ments have the biggest influence to BV of JS.
DESIGN: Six players of the Finnish men’s national
volleyball team (23.40±2.28 y, 196.50±1.52 cm,
90.67±1.63 kg) served as subjects. 3D-motion analy-
sis (100 Hz) was made from two of the each player’s
JSs (the fastest (FS) and one slower serve (SS)). T-test
for paired samples was used to compare the veloci-
ties of FS and SS. ANOVA was applied to compare
JSs in which the velocity was over 30 m/s (+30S) and
under 30 m/s (-30S). The relationships between
motion analysis variables and BV in all JSs were
examined using Pearson’s correlation coefficient.
RESULTS: The most essential variables in which statis-
tically significant differences between FS and SS and
velocities +30S and -30S were found were: the posi-
tion of the ball and the centre of gravity of the body
at the time of the ball contact, the minimum angle and
the maximal angle velocity of the thigh-trunk joint, the
maximal forward velocities of the shoulder, elbow
and wrist joints of the hitting hand and forward ve-
locities of the elbow and wrist joints and middle
finger at the time of the ball contact. The same vari-
ables correlated significantly with BV.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that in JS a
successful throw is crucial in achieving higher BVs.
Furthermore good power production abilities in the
core, shoulder and arm and optimal function of the
kinetic chain are important elements. The mobility of
the hip joint and the thoracic vertebrae are also
important factors in achieving high BVs.
INTRODUCTION
The importance of the serve is high in
men’s international top volleyball. It is
very difficult to win matches without an
efficient serve (e.g. Fröhner & ball (figure 1), the flight distance during
Zimmermann 1996; Häyrinen et al.
2000; Häyrinen et al. 2004; Palao et al.
2004; Zetou et al. 2006). The most used
serve technique in men’s international top
volleyball is jump serve. The efficiency of
jump serve is related to the velocity of the
serve (Häyrinen et al. 2009). The biome-
chanics of jump serve has been studied
before by Coleman (1997), Huang & Hu
(2007) and Masamura et al. (2007), but
the serve velocities have increased so
there was a need to update earlier find-
ings and to investigate which elements
have the biggest effect to the velocity of
the jump serve.
METHODS
Six players of the Finnish men’s volleyball
team (23.40±2.28 y, 196.50±1.52 cm,
90.67±1.63 kg) served as subjects of this
FIVB Volleyball Medicine Congress, January 13 - 15, 2011, Bled, Slovenia
study. All subjects were right handed.
Each player served five successful serves
in a training situation. From these serves
the fastest (FS, average velocity
109.14±4.75 km/h) and one slower
serve (SS, 102.66±6.81 km/h) for each
player were selected for more detailed
analysis. The serves were recorded using
two (back and right side) high-speed
cameras (100 f/s). 3D-motion analysis
was made using APAS-program. Figure 2. The minimal thigh-trunk joint angle and the
maximal thigh-trunk joint angle velocity for FS vs. SS
21 points of the body and the ball were and +30S vs. -30S (*=p<0.1 and **=p<0.05).
digitized and DLT-method was used for
the construction of the 3D-data. 45 diffe-
rent biomechanical variables were ana-
lyzed. T-test for paired samples was used
to compare the fast serves (FS) to the
slower serves (SS). ANOVA was applied
to compare the serves which velocity was
over 30 m/s (+30S, 111.43±2.31 km/h)
to the serves which velocity was under
30 m/s (-30S, 100.37±3.92 km/h). The
relationships between different variables
and the velocity of the ball were analyzed Figure 3. The maximal forward velocities of the
using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. shoulder, elbow and wrist joints and the forward
velocity of the middle finger of the right hand at the
time of ball contact for FS vs. SS and +30S vs. -30S
RESULTS (*=p<0.1 and **=p<0.05 and ***=p<0.01).
The most essential variables in which The variables that correlated significantly
statistically significant differences be- with the ball velocity were: the position of
tween FS and SS and velocities +30S and the ball (r=0.73; p<0.01) and the posi-
-30S were found were: the velocity of the tion of the centre of gravity (r=0.74;
ball, the position of the ball and centre of p<0.01) at time of the ball contact, the
gravity at the time of the contact to the minimal angle of the thigh-trunk joint
(r=-0.64; p<0.05), the maximal angle
the jump, the minimum angle and the velocity of the thigh-trunk joint (r=0.71;
maximal angle velocity of the thigh-trunk p<0.05) and the maximal forward velo-
joint (figure 2), the maximal forward ve- city of the shoulder (r=0.67; p<0.05),
locities of the shoulder, elbow and wrist elbow (r=0.66; p<0.05) and wrist
joints of the right hand and the forward (r=0.66; p<0.05) joints and middle finger
velocities of the elbow and wrist joints (r=0.67; p<0.05) of the right hand.
and middle finger of the right hand at the
time of the contact to the ball (figure 3). CONCLUSIONS
 Successful well-aimed throw is crucial
to achieving high ball velocities in
jump serve.
 Mobility of the hip joint and the tho-
racic vertebrae are important factors in
achieving high ball velocities in jump
serve.
 Good power production abilities in the
core, shoulder and arm and optimal
function of the kinetic chain are the
Figure 1. The positions of the ball and centre of gra- most important elements in producing
vity at the time of the ball contact for FS vs. SS and
high velocities in jump serve.
+30S vs. -30S (*=p<0.1 and **=p<0.05).
E-mail: mikko.hayrinen@kihu.fi www.kihu.fi