Damjana V. Cabarkapa^1,, Dimitrije Cabarkapa¹, Andrew C. Fry¹

Quantifying training loads as the amount of stress that athletes are exposed to during a practice session and/or game has received increased attention in recent years. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) has become one of the most commonly implemented technologies for monitoring external loads in volleyball. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine differences in the external load variables obtained via Vert^TM IMU between different playing positions (e.g., setter, middle blocker, outside, and opposite hitter) in professional male volleyball players. Eighteen athletes competing in one of the top European volleyball leagues volunteered to participate in the present study. The average of the following external load variables was obtained across three practice sessions: Stress, Jumps, Jumps 15+, Jumps 20+, Highest Jump, and Average Jump Height. The results of the present study indicated that outside hitters had a significantly greater number of Jumps 20+ as well as a greater Highest Jump when compared to the setters, while opposite hitters had significantly greater Highest Jump than both setters and middle blockers. In addition, setters demonstrated lower Average Jump Height when compared to the outsides and opposites. These findings may help strength and conditioning practitioners and volleyball coaches to develop position-specific training regimens and eventually decrease the likelihood of overuse injuries.

team sports, accelerometry, coaching, performance, vertical jump, workload