PETEZA, Camille R.

May 25, 2018

2014-42200 Ms. CJ Lariosa
SS 170 (Methods of Strength and Conditioning)

Critique and Analysis of the Strength and Conditioning Program of Kings Montessori
High School Women’s Volleyball Team

I. Introduction
Volleyball is a sport played by two teams composed of six players each. The objective of
the game is to ground the ball on the opponent’s court and prevent the same effort done by the
other team (​FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2017-2020​, 2016).
Through the years, volleyball has gained its spot in the sports scene of the Philippines.
The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Volleyball Tournament is one of
the most highly anticipated competitions in the country when it comes to the sport, volleyball.
Various teams that compete in the UAAP put an effort in recruiting new players for their
respective teams, thus, scouting from different competitive high school volleyball teams happen
throughout the year.
The high school women’s volleyball team of Kings Montessori School (KMS) had been
home to a number of collegiate players such as the new members of the University of the
Philippines Women’s Volleyball Team (UPWVT), Remelyn Altomea and Lorie Bernardo.
Although it has only been years since the volleyball team of KMS has been established, they
have made their own name in various competitions. They are considered as one of the most
competitive teams in the secondary level.
Considering the level of athletic performance that the KMS women’s volleyball team has
shown, I primarily chose them as the team I wanted to observe. For the past few weeks, I came to
their training sessions to watch what they do to properly equip themselves to compete in certain
tournaments.

II. Overview of the Program

Last April 2018, 9 members of the KMS women’s volleyball team competed in the
annual ​Palarong Pambansa after being hailed as champion for the regional competition. They
represented the National Capital and won the championship. After a week of competition they
went back to their regular training schedule. The team trains two times a day from Monday to
Saturday. Their first training session in a day starts at 6 AM until 11 AM. The next program is
done in the afternoon from 2PM to 4PM. The morning training is alloted for the skills and
tactical training of the players while the afternoon training is for the strength and conditioning
program.
I focused more on the afternoon session since the primary objective of this paper is to
provide an analysis and constructive criticism on the existing strength and conditioning program
of the team. Interestingly, their program is new to most players because they just recently hired a
new coach specifically for strength and conditioning. Having been able to interview the new
coach, Roy Alcazar, I found out that for years, the team only utilized medicine ball training and
plyometrics for their strength and conditioning program. That is why he wanted to implement
new training methods. At first, the head coach of KMS, Rogelio “Onyok” Getigan, was skeptic
about it because he insisted that the medicine ball and plyometric training have worked for the
team for years already and no change is needed. But later on, he allowed Coach Roy to apply his
new program for the team.
The program included static stretching, medicine ball exercises, suspension training,
battle rope training, and weights training.

III. Exercises and Drills

Each training session starts with a warm-up. The members of the team would do static
stretching on their own for an average of 15 minutes and would proceed to medicine ball
exercises afterwards. The medicine ball exercises included shoulder press, rolling push-up, lunge
with twist, squat press, hip bridge, sit-ups, and circle squat. Only one set is done for each
exercise while the repetitions depends on the weight of the medicine ball they are using. For the
8-pound medicine ball, 10 repetitions is required while 12-15 repetitions are done when the
6-pound is in use.
 Going to the training proper, the team is divided into groups since there are twenty
players with limited equipment to use. The team is divided into two sub-groups - the upper
extremity group and the lower extremity group.
For training the upper extremities, the suspension training and battle rope exercises are
utilized. Under suspension training, players are asked to execute the following exercises for 1 set
each with 15 repetitions, biceps curl, standing fall out, low row, chest fly, and Y-fly. For the
battle rope training, the exercises, alternating waves and double arm slam are done by each
player for 60 seconds with 3 sets each.
Weights training is then used to train the lower extremities. Squats and lunges are done
by players in weights training. The repetitions and weight of the equipment varies according to
the capability of each player but they are required to perform 3 sets of each exercise.

IV. Critique and Analysis

Warming-up the body is important before engaging in any physical activity. Submaximal
aerobic activity, stretching, and a sport-specific activity comprises a typical warm-up program
(​Behm & Chaouachi, 2011). Active warm-up has various benefits in training. It increases athletic
performance, reduce muscle soreness, and prevent injuries by increasing body temperature
(​Brunner-Ziegler et al., 2011). Thus, the type of warm-up exercise should be considered wisely.
During the warm-up of the team, no submaximal exercise was performed prior to the
static stretching. Static stretching is also not the best option to include in the athletes’ warm-up.
According to substantial evidences, static stretching affects strength and power (Taylor et al.,
2009), thus, demonstrating static stretch-induced performance impairments (Behm & Chaouachi,
2011). After the static stretching, the players performed various medicine ball exercises. The
medicine ball exercise is a type of resistance training that can be utilized to enhance and maintain
muscular fitness. Medicine ball exercises are best if done with progression, that is, with a change
in the weight of equipment or number of sets and repetitions done (Faigenbaum & Mediate,
2006). But for three weeks, there were no changes in the weight of medicine balls because of the
availability of equipment and no changes in repetitions or sets were made. Also, I observed that
the players are not well monitored during their warm-up. Thus, there were a lot of mistakes done
in executing the exercises specifically when it came to the players’ exercise form. If not
corrected, these mistakes that I have observed may affect the performance of the athlete and may
lead to potential injuries.
The training proper combined various methods to address the limited equipments that
team have and to maximize the time. The primary objective of the designed program is to train
for muscle hypertrophy and endurance. According to Matveyev’s periodization model, the
exercise intensity should be low to moderate, exercise volume should be very high or moderate,
and the program should last for 1 to 6 weeks in this phase (Haff & Triplett, 2016). When I asked
Coach Roy how long the the program will last, he answered that it would be implemented for 6
weeks before they proceed to enhance the basic strength of the team.
Battle ropes is a type of undulation training. Contrary to popular belief, battle ropes are
not just for the upper body but can also incorporate other parts of the body. Since it can also be
considered as high-intensity interval training, it can enhance aerobic endurance (Mercola, 2015).
But to maximize the benefits of the battle ropes exercises, different movements should be
utilized to further enhance endurance. Also, in performing the battle ropes exercise, small waves
must be done consistently for more than 60 seconds to really train for hypertrophy or endurance
(Beasley, 2017). But when I observed, since there are a lot of sub-groups when training, some
players’ movement are not monitored. The waves they produce are rather big than small. Some
players also stop in the middle of the exercise even if their time is not yet done, thus, velocity is
not maintained properly. In addition to that, since only one rope is available and there are 4
players per group, the recovery time gets longer because they have to wait for others to finish.
For suspension training, it allows players to work against their own body weight.
Compared to other exercises, most athletes performed the suspension exercises correctly, that is,
with proper form but I still saw some difficulty because the four suspension ropes are placed too
close to each other. Also, only one set was done per exercise compared to the number of sets (3-6
sets) that the Matveyev’s model has recommended (Haff & Triplett, 2016).
The most problematic method that I have observed during the training sessions I went to
was the weights program. Coach Roy goes to the different groups throughout the training session
since the methods I have mentioned above occur simultaneously. Only the players of the team
are the ones who adjust how heavy the weight of the equipment will be. In short, the players
decide for themselves. Even if there is no proper progression done, they change the weight
according to their decision. And obviously, this can be a big problem because it may cause
serious injuries among players which defeats the purpose of the strength and conditioning
program. Lastly, there was no proper cool down done after the program which should not be the
case.
V. Conclusion and Recommendation
As mentioned above, the Coach should add a submaximal activity in the warm-up phase.
According to studies, it can be argued that the dynamic stretching can be the most effective type
of stretching to prepare strength or power in a sport-specific activity (Judge et al., 2010). But in
the case that the coach decides to choose static stretching over dynamic stretching, it is
recommended that it is followed by a high-intensity exercise that is specific to the sport (Taylor
et al., 2009). ​Just like the warm-up phase, the cool down phase in exercises must not be
neglected and must be emphasized because it is important to prevent injuries. It also helps in the
recovery of the body especially after a high-intensity exercise (Brad, 2017). Thus, appropriate
exercises must be utilized for the cool down phase.
Since the team is in their off-season, it is best to enhance their endurance to sustain
high-intensity physical activities when there is already a competition. The methods utilized in the
program are generally good in terms of training the endurance while having other additional
benefits. But it must be kept in mind that the execution of these exercises are important to
maximize the benefits it has because if not, it can only defeat its purpose. Also, the safety in
performing the program must also be a top priority among coaches because it may have
detrimental consequences to players if they are not observed and guided properly.
After the observations and being able to analyze it, the program design can improved
further in a lot of ways to enhance the overall performance of the players of the women’s
volleyball team of Kings Montessori School.
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