Upper and Lower Body Power Are Strong Predictors for Selection of Male Junior National Volleyball Team Players. Issue 10 (October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tsoukos, Athanasios; Drikos, Sotirios; Brown, Lee E.; Sotiropoulos, Konstantinos; Veligekas, Panagiotis; Bogdanis, Gregory C.
• Is Part Of: Journal of strength and conditioning research. Volume 33:Issue 10(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-10
• Subjects: vertical jump -- medicine ball throw -- discriminant analysis -- stepwise regression; Physical education and training -- Periodicals; Weight training -- Physiological aspects -- Periodicals; Physical fitness -- Periodicals; 613.7
• DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002472
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1064-8011

Abstract

Abstract : Abstract: Tsoukos, A, Drikos, S, Brown, LE, Sotiropoulos, K, Veligekas, P, and Bogdanis, GC. Upper and lower body power are strong predictors for selection of male junior National volleyball team players. J Strength Cond Res 33(10): 2760–2767, 2019—The purpose of this study was to determine whether a battery of anthropometric and lower and upper body strength and speed and power tests predicted selection of young volleyball players for a Junior National Team by expert coaches. Fifty-two male junior volleyball players (14.8 ± 0.5 years, height: 1.84 ± 0.05 m, body mass: 72.5 ± 7.1 kg) took part in a training camp and underwent a selection procedure by expert coaches' of the junior national team. Anthropometric data and fitness tests results were obtained and players were graded on a scale from 0 to 100 on the basis of their performance in a volleyball tournament. Selected players were superior in the majority of measured variables ( p ⩽ 0.017) and had higher grading scores compared with nonselected players (85.3 ± 4.1 vs. 70.5 ± 5.6, respectively, p < 0.01). The combination of spike jump and reach (SJR) test and 3-kg medicine ball throw (MB3) velocity explained 63.5% of the variance in expert coaches' grading ( p < 0.001). A multivariate discriminant analysis yielded a significant discriminant function (Wilk's lambda = 0.55, χ 2 = 29.324, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.82). Spike jump and reach and MB3 were the only variables that contributed to the discriminant function (standardized function coefficients: SJR = 0.68, MB3 = 0.67). Cross-validation results showed that selection was correctly predicted in 14 of the 16 selected players (predictive accuracy: 87.5%) and in 32 of the 36 nonselected players (predictive accuracy: 88.9%). The SJR and MB3 fitness tests can predict a large portion of the variance of expert coaches' grading and successfully discriminate elite young male volleyball players for selection vs. nonselection for a junior national team. This result is very important as performance testing during a selection process may be reduced to only 2 measurements.