Versatile

Volleyball 2022

APRIL 26

QASMT
Authored by: Zachary Sahari

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Contents
Versatile Volleyball: Opening............................................................................................................3
Research Question.......................................................................................................................3
Background Information..............................................................................................................3
Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group......................................................................................................4
Variables......................................................................................................................................4
Materials and Equipment.............................................................................................................4
Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group (cont.)...........................................................................................5
Ethical (Considerations)...........................................................................................................6
Methodology...............................................................................................................................6
Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group (cont.)...........................................................................................5
Safety and Ethical Considerations................................................................................................5
Safety (Risks)...........................................................................................................................5
Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group (cont.)...........................................................................................7
Methodology (cont.)....................................................................................................................7
Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group (cont.)...........................................................................................8
Methodology (cont.)....................................................................................................................8
Versatile Volleyball: Skills Data.........................................................................................................9
Raw Data.....................................................................................................................................9
Versatile Volleyball: Skills Data (cont.)............................................................................................10
Graphs.......................................................................................................................................10
Versatile Volleyball: Player Profiling...............................................................................................11
Positions....................................................................................................................................11
Versatile Volleyball: Player Profiling...............................................................................................12
Positions....................................................................................................................................12
Player U’s Position.....................................................................................................................12
Versatile Volleyball: Closing............................................................................................................13
Discussion..................................................................................................................................13
Versatile Volleyball: References......................................................................................................14

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Versatile Volleyball: Opening
Research Question

“How do QASMT Grade 9 students play volleyball to reflect the

skills and the physical needs to play certain positions by the drills
conducted?”

Background Information

Volleyball is a 6v6, ball game, where the aim is to avoid the ball touching your side of
the court and land in on the opponent's side. There is a maximum of three touches per
side, conducted by passing, setting, and hitting. The opponents get ready for defence,
by either getting ready to block or pass. Passing in volleyball is usually the first contact
made after a serve (a serve is hitting the ball to put the ball in play) and sets up for the
attack. The second touch goes to the setter, who positions the ball for a hitter. The
hitter hits (spikes) the ball into the court, in hopes to land the spike scoring them the
point, but it can be either blocked or received, and then the cycle starts again. There
are more rules and specifications, but this is simply an overview of Volleyball.

The Year 9's at QASMT have played volleyball for a term, and the current grade (Year
10) conducted drills to evaluate their skills and physical capabilities of the Year 9's to
determine which position would suit best for them. To accomplish this through
comparing their statistics to those who play volleyball, and their positions. The combine
consists of Vertical, Reaction time, Speed, Flexibility, and Volleyball skills (Passing,
Spiking, Setting, and Serving), all essential for the game of Volleyball. Our group
conducted the Volleyball skills.

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Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group
Variables
As the Skills Group, we assessed the techniques and execution of core skills in
Volleyball. We did not alter the drills based on the subject, as we are comparing their
skills to current volleyball players of their age. The only alteration between subjects
was level of set which can only be affected by another participant. The dependent
variable in this drill is the performance of the year 9’s, which is represented as a score.
To avoid any faults in our data, we controlled the following: The ball toss to the setter
(a team member shall throw the ball at the same consistency of the other), The ball’s
inflation and weariness (we used multiple balls of the same quality and kept the
inflation as similar as possible), The court used was the same for all players (net height
was the same regardless of the group participating in the drill). However, there were a
few confounding variables we could not control including: The skill and experience of
players (a number of students could have had previous experience in volleyball
whereas several may have just been introduced to the sport recently), The mood,
emotion, wellbeing and resilience of the player (the player may have not performed at
their best due illness or their emotions at the time), The spikers skills could not have
been projected to their best due to ill-placed sets from other participants.

Materials and Equipment

To conduct the skills of Volleyball, the number of materials and equipment used was
minimum and limited to Sports Spot Markers, ten volleyballs, and a court with a net.
The positions defined the spot markers placed where we wanted the participants to
stand during the drills. Volleyballs are essential for all our skills, as every skill in
Volleyball induces ball play.

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Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group (cont.)
Safety and Ethical Considerations
Safety (Risks)
The safety of the participants was valued based on the risks that could have occurred.
The team avoided anything that reaches a high (see Table 1). Anything moderate
and/or unlikely was manageable. Any practices with a higher rating were to be
immediately refuted.
Possible Risks:
 Student with pre-existing injury participating → Might induce injury, resulting
assistance and becoming major. Counter:
 Volleyball tripping hazards → Might endure an ankle injury and prevention of
playing sport for a period of time (major). Counter: recollection of volleyballs
after each participant’s usage to avoid any stray ball tripping hazards.
 Incorrect form when setting and digging → Finger injuries and prevention of
playing sport. Counter: Teach methodology of setting and correct invalid form.
 Ill landing after spiking → Repetitive jumping like this can cause long term
injuries to the foot. Counter: Educate said participants on their technique and
search for solutions.

Risk Rating
Consequence
Table
Likelihood Catastrophic - 5 Major - 4 Moderate - 3 Minor - 2 Insignificant - 1
Almost Certain – 5 Extreme - 5 Extreme - 5 High - 4 Medium – 3 Medium - 3
Likely – 4 Extreme - 5 High - 4 High - 4 Medium - 3 Low - 2
Possible – 3 High - 4 High - 4 Medium - 3 Medium - 3 Low - 2
Unlikely – 2 Medium - 3 Medium - 3 Medium - 3 Low - 2 Low - 2
Rare – 1 Medium - 5 Low - 4 Low - 3 Low - 2 Low – 1

Table 1: Risk Likelihood and Consequence Table

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Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group (cont.)
Ethical (Considerations)
The ethical considerations of the participants were based of the individuality of each
participant. This could be an issue that affects their morals, religions, race, sexuality,
gender, insecurities among some other included. Participants should feel safe and not
challenged to make undesirable decisions.
Considerations:
 The information gained from participants were confidential and names were
avoided. Participants were labelled as a number. They were informed with what
we were going to do with this information and the option to opt out of inputting
their details was valid for all participants.
 Participants in the Health Science Grade 9 class were not forced to participate in
said drills and always had the option to not participate from the start and during
the drills.
 We gained approval from the teacher of said class, allowing us to conduct
research on our participates.

Methodology
In the skills group, we conducted three sets of drills: Serving, Passing, and Setting to
Hitting. The serving drill was conducted by using the full court. One row of participants
ready to serve, taking two serves on their rotation. They are allowed all forms of legal
serving, and scores were based of where they landed on the court (desired in deep
corners). Foot faults by stepping over or on the line or stabbing the net resulted in a 0.
This tested the accuracy and consistency of the serve. Serving essentially opens the
game and allows the
game to be in your favour
when done well. Total
out of twenty (points
gained (highest ten) *
valid trials (highest two)).

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Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group (cont.)
Methodology (cont.)
The next drill was the passing drill, which was conducted by throwing a loopy ball up
for the receiver to dig the ball at a good height, distance, and speed. The form of the
dig is also scored upon. Each pass has a maximum of subtotal mark of three with two
trials (points gained (highest six) * valid trials (highest two)). The ‘thrower’ (a person on
the team) throws a ball to receive, which is then dug by the participants to 2.5
(between positions 2 and 3) where the ‘catcher’ (another person on the team) catches
the ball where the setter should be. The ball is passed to the ‘thrower’ and the
participant who received goes to the back of the line for the next participant. Passing is
one of the most essential skills in volleyball, as it sets up the offence and is the defence
against hits (other than blocking). This drill simulates a free ball given to the team,
allowing the player to receive to the setter to commence the attack on the ball.

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Versatile Volleyball: Skills Group (cont.)
Methodology (cont.)
The last drill was the set to hit drill, both relying on the participants capability to do
both. The set and hit drill are an essential exercise to express the quality of setting and
hitting from athletes. In zone 6, there is a line of' throwers' who throw the ball up to
the setter, who is on zone 3. The setter sets the ball to the hitter who is running
outside of zone 4. When the hitter hits the ball, they collect it and return to throwing
line. The 'thrower' goes to set, and setter goes to hit. The 'thrower' has to throw a high
ball, which reaches the setter hands and allows them to perfectly set the ball. The
setter has to stand, one foot slightly in front of the other, hands above their head. They
push the ball forwards, and the outside hitter runs in with the footing pattern, left right
left, for right-handed and right left right, for left-handed. They hit the ball by rotating
hip, shoulder, elbow, and wrist. This drill recreates the action of attacking the ball in-
game to win the point. The height, technique and accuracy of the ball was assessed for
the setters whereas the force, spin and accuracy of the hit from the outside hitter was
assessed. Each athlete had two trials in each position, both being marked out of five
([for each position] points gained (highest ten) * valid trials (highest two)).

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Versatile Volleyball: Skills Data
Raw Data
Athlete Score for Score for Score for Score for Totals
Serving Passing Setting Hitting
M 20 6 8 10 44
K 12 12 10 8 42
R 5 10 12 12 39
H 3 10 12 10 35
S 6 10 8 8 32
D 20 8 2 0 30
O 5 6 10 8 29
V 0 6 12 10 28
B 3 6 8 10 27
I 3 1 10 12 26
J 5 8 12 0 25
C 3 6 10 6 25
E 8 1 10 2 21
W 4 0 8 8 20
A 12 0 2 6 20
G 0 10 6 3 19
P 0 2 8 8 18
U 16 0 1 0 17
T 2 0 10 4 16
N 0 6 8 2 16
Q 6 6 1 0 13
F 0 4 0 1 5
L 1 0 0 1 2

The data measured was based on skill level of players, making it quantitative data. This
data cannot be provided with averages SD or COV, unlike other tests as it will be
rendered useless.

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Versatile Volleyball: Skills Data (cont.)
Graphs

Health Science Grade 9 Scores for Skills

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
M K R H S D O V B I J C E W A G P U T N Q F L

Score for Serving Score for Passing Score for Setting Score for Hitting

This graph corresponds to the addition of all scores made, out of 52. Majority of the
score were relayed from the setting and serving aspects of the drills. An insight into the
serving drill that may have made the drill to easy or luck-based was the launching of
balls in the air in hopes to have landed in the desired area, as we did not base it off
technique nor speed and effectiveness. The median score for skills was 25, which is
one mark of half of the total 52 (20 from serving, 12 passing, 10 setting, 10 hitting). In
hindsight, the points awarded for serving was too high in comparison to the other
skills.

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Versatile Volleyball: Player Profiling
Positions
Before giving the athlete a valid position, a list and description of the positions in
volleyball to provide insight.
 Setter: The setter is the person who controls the attack. The setter chooses who
to set to, and with a valid set (hittable height, distance etc.) a strong attack can
go down. The setter usually sets in 2.5 and can throw opponents off-balance by
dumping the ball, possibly scoring a point. The setter is the most important
player on the team, requiring agility, speed, accuracy, high reaction time, height
and vertical can vary (dumping and jump-sets)
 Outside Hitter: The outside hitter, or the left-wing spiker, is usually the position
which gets set the most. The outside hitter runs from outside the court and
either spikes or tips depending on the defence. The spikes are aimed to go
downward and fast whereas tips are to place the defence off balance as an
unexpected motion, both allowing the team to win the point. An outside usually
has to both pass and block but specialize in mainly hitting.
 Opposite Hitter: The opposite hitter, or the right-wing spiker, is the second
choice hit. They usually hit for unexpected plays. They obviously hit like the
outside but instead is opposite to the setter and usually receives back sets.
Opposites do not have to pass like its counterpart, but they still block and if the
setter cannot reach the ball they can act as a substitute.
 Middle Blockers: The middle blocker specializes in blocking and defending. To
counter the offence, the middle blocker initiates the block with the opposite or
outside hitter. Middles can also run quick attacks in position 3. Middle Blockers
requires the most stamina as they are often jumping and exerting a lot of force.

The Outside, Opposite and Middle all require stamina, good reaction time, strength,
accuracy, above average vertical and/or height.

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Versatile Volleyball: Player Profiling
Positions
 Libero: Libero’s are unlike the rest of the team. They are limited to the back of
the court and are not allowed to hit. Libero do not serve in most cases and only
specialize in passing. Liberos can act as replacement setters on a rare occasion.
Liberos require stamina, good reaction time, preferably the smallest person on
the team, accuracy and agility.
Volleypedia (2022) provides insight of positions outside the previous there are the
defence specialist (a player who usually gets substituted in to defend other than the
libero) and the pinch server (a player who gets substituted to serve and substitute off
after rotating).

Player U’s Position

Out of the skills, Player U got majority of his points from serving, which can set him to
be a pinch server. Pinch servers need an above average arm span, good technique
(float serve) or intense speed (top spin serve). There has not been research that has
been conducted on pinch serving, as it is not considered a real position. Player U has to
undergo more training and develop their skills to hone serving and specialize in it.
However, it is a dull position, and a pinch server is not needed in a team. Silverman, S.
(2021, October 20) proves the other positions do not suit Player U as their vertical is in
the 30th to 40th percentile, below average. None of their other skills appeal to any
positions and it is concluded that Player U is limited to Pinch Serving.

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Versatile Volleyball: Closing
Discussion
The testing conducted by the Skills group was likely to be slightly inaccurate, as they
were being judged by students and not professionals nor athletes. We yield low results
likely due to the lack of explanation from the team or inaccurate demonstrations. The
training they undertook may have also been inadequate for the skills assessed. Our
drill therefore becomes ineffective almost by overestimating the skills of the Year 9
Health Science Class. For closing notes, the skills of players are out of our control, they
could have been in a weakened state or never played the sport against people who
have been playing for possible years, leading to a wide skill gap. There is not a suitable
position for every player, as they might be destined for other activities outside of
volleyball.

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Versatile Volleyball: References
Silverman, S. (2021, October 20). What's a Good Vertical Jump for High School
Athletes? Livestrong.com. https://www.livestrong.com/article/397014-what-is-a-good-
vertical-jump-for-high-school-athletes/
Volleypedia. (2022). Substitution Rules in Volleyball (Complete Guide). https://volley-
pedia.com/post/substitution-rules-in-volleyball/

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