Abstract available in the Medicine and Sciences in Sports and Exercise.

A four-year retrospective analysis of injury data was conducted on a collegiate (NCAA Division I) women’s volleyball team. Twenty athletes (Year 1: age = 19.4 ± 0.9 y, height = 175.2 ± 5.1 cm, body mass = 70.5 ± 10.2 kg; Year 2: age = 20.1 ± 1.0 y, height = 175.7 ± 4.7 cm, body mass = 69.5 ± 10.1 kg; Year 3: age = 20.1 ± 1.4 y, height = 173.8 ± 6.3 cm, body mass = 69.9 ± 10.8 kg; Year 4: age = 19.5 ± 1.4 y, height = 174.4 ± 8.6 cm, body mass = 72.7 ± 10.8 kg) participated in this study, accounting for 1483 total training exposures. Injury was defined as any damage to a body part, incurred during volleyball or strength and conditioning-related activities, which interfered with training and/or competition. Injury rate was normalized to the number of athletes and exposure and expressed as injuries per 1000 exposures. A total of 133 injuries were recorded. The most common injury was to the knee (left = 7.5%, right = 12.0%). Injuries occurred most often in volleyball practice (75.2%), followed by competition (20.3%), and strength and conditioning-related activities (4.5%). Non-contact injuries (upper body = 26.3%, lower body = 53.4%) were more common than contact injuries (upper-body = 13.5%, lower-body = 6.8%). An examination of injury rates relative to the training year revealed patterns in injury occurrence. Specifically, spikes in injury rate were consistently observed during periods of increased training volume that were preceded by breaks in organized training, such as the early pre-season and off-season training periods.

<p> <p>&nbsp / </p> <p align="left">&nbsp / </p> </p> <p align="left">In addition to football and basketball, volleyball has become a very popular sport globally over the last 30 years. The International Federation of Volleyball represents about 150 million players in approximately 170 countries. While a large body of research has been conducted regarding the nature and prevalence of volleyball injuries internationally, very little has been done locally or on the African continent to assess the status of injuries incurred at professional or amateur levels. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of injuries sustained by professional volleyball players of a club in the WPVU in one season. An exploratory, descriptive, nonexperimental approach was used for this study on 42 volleyball players at the University of the Western Cape Volleyball Club. A self&ndash / administered questionnaire that was based on a questionnaire used in a Dutch national volleyball study was used in the present study. A response rate of 89.4% was obtained. The collected data were captured and analysed by means of the Statistical Package for Social Science version 14.0 (SPSS). The associations between variables were evaluated by means of the chi-square test and a 5% level of significance was used. The results were displayed using tables, bar chart, and pie chart. Most of the volleyball players sustained one or more injuries in the season, giving a prevalence rate of 88.1%. The incidence rate was 1.2 injuries per player. Injuries prevalence was higher among male players 54.1% than female players 45.9%. Among the injured players, ankle and knee injuries showed the highest injury prevalence with 25.5% for each followed by 19.6% for shoulder injuries. The study revealed 69.2% injury prevalence with a higher significance (p=0.04) that players who are injured in the ankle were in contact. Half of the injuries (50%), which occurred gradually, were prevalent in the shoulder, followed by the knee (28.6%), then the ankle and fingers (14.3%). Players in the left and right front row were significantly (p=0.008) more prone to be injured during spiking. Awareness programmes highlighting prevention strategies and physiotherapy intervention are required for coaches and players at the University of the Western Cape Volleyball Club to assist in the prevention of volleyball injuries.</p>

The principal aim of the present thesis was to prospectively follow (clinical status and ultrasound + Doppler findings) the patellar tendons in the young elite volleyball players at the Swedish National Centre for high school volleyball in Falköping. In an Olympic weightlifter with chronic painful jumper´s knee, the effects of treatment with sclerosing injections followed by early instituted very heavy weightlifting training, was also evaluated. First, in a prevalence study, we demonstrated that the clinical diagnosis patellar tendinopathy-jumper’s knee, together with structural tendon changes and vascularisation in the painful area of the tendon, was demonstrated in 12/114 tendons in Swedish junior elite volleyball players, but not in any tendons of individually matched (age, height and weight) not regularly sports active controls. Structural tendon changes alone was demonstrated among the volleyball players but also among the controls. In a 7 months prospective study of a total of 120 tendons, we demonstrated that the clinical diagnosis patellar tendinopathy-jumper’s knee was associated with neovessels/vascularity in the area with structural tendon changes in 17/19 tendons. Seventy tendons that at start were clinically normal, and had normal ultrasound + Doppler findings, remained clinically normal after 7 months with intensive training and playing volleyball. In a 3-year prospective study it was demonstrated that normal clinical tests and normal ultrasound + Doppler findings at school start, indicated a low risk (8%) for these players to sustain patellar tendinopathy-jumper’s knee during the 3 school years with intensive training and playing. In a case study, involving an Olympic elite weightlifter with chronic painful patellar tendinopathy-jumper’s knee, successful treatment with ultrasound and Doppler-guided injection of the sclerosing agent polidocanol, allowed for pain-free very heavy weight training two weeks after treatment. Further heavy weightlifting training on a daily basis, preparing for European Championships, was done without causing tendon rupture and/or pain. Key words: Jumper’s knee, Patellar tendinopathy, Chronic pain, Ultrasonography, Doppler, Neovascularisation, Volleyball, Weightlifting

Researchers consistently find that mainstream media often represent women athletes in stereotypical ways including trivialization, sexualization, infantilization, passivity, and utilization of camera down-angles. However, research on new media's visual representation of women athletes is still in its infancy. This study adds to the growing literature on new media's representation of women athletes and concurs with previous findings suggesting that new media might be an outlet that can counter old media gender stereotypes. This thesis used mixed methods of qualitative content analysis and photovoice in order to better understand how Big East volleyball players are represented in photographs on websites: Instances of stereotypes were few, action shots were numerous, and "extreme game faces" emerged as a new category for the visual representation of women athletes. These results might suggest that new media, specifically collegiate athletics' websites and volleyball fans, might defy traditional media's stereotypical gender representations. This thesis found that Big East women volleyball players were, overall, visually represented positively by NCAA.com, BigEast.org, Big East member schools' collegiate athletics websites, and fans of the University of South Florida's volleyball team during, and shortly after, the 2010 season.

Summary Currently the problem of aggression is very important in the entire world. Many people think that aggression is more common only in some kinds of sport and that requires analysis and special solution of the problem. The object of the research is expression of sportsmen aggression. The goal of the research is to analyse peculiarities of aggression expression of rugby and volleyball players. Tasks: 1. To investigate dependence of aggression expression of rugby and volleyball sportsmen depending from different kinds of sport. 2. To investigate coherence of aggression expression and sportsmen sex. 3. To analyse and compare measures of pedagogical effect recommended by coaches and sportsmen. The hypothesis is that the level of peculiarities of rugby and volleyball sportsmen aggression expression differs. Conclusions: 1. After the research of rugby and volleyball sportsmen aggression dependence from different kinds of sport, we can state, that the difference of harm expression forms of rugby-volleyball players is significant, statistically reliable (p<0,001). More than volleyball players, rugby players express envy and hate for the people round about. 2. After determination of aggression expression in aspect of sex, the result was a statistically reliable difference among averages of female and male opposition index. Therefore we can state, that female opposition for the people round about is smaller than of male. The results of all forms... [to full text]

<p> <p>&nbsp / </p> <p align="left">&nbsp / </p> </p> <p align="left">In addition to football and basketball, volleyball has become a very popular sport globally over the last 30 years. The International Federation of Volleyball represents about 150 million players in approximately 170 countries. While a large body of research has been conducted regarding the nature and prevalence of volleyball injuries internationally, very little has been done locally or on the African continent to assess the status of injuries incurred at professional or amateur levels. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of injuries sustained by professional volleyball players of a club in the WPVU in one season. An exploratory, descriptive, nonexperimental approach was used for this study on 42 volleyball players at the University of the Western Cape Volleyball Club. A self&ndash / administered questionnaire that was based on a questionnaire used in a Dutch national volleyball study was used in the present study. A response rate of 89.4% was obtained. The collected data were captured and analysed by means of the Statistical Package for Social Science version 14.0 (SPSS). The associations between variables were evaluated by means of the chi-square test and a 5% level of significance was used. The results were displayed using tables, bar chart, and pie chart. Most of the volleyball players sustained one or more injuries in the season, giving a prevalence rate of 88.1%. The incidence rate was 1.2 injuries per player. Injuries prevalence was higher among male players 54.1% than female players 45.9%. Among the injured players, ankle and knee injuries showed the highest injury prevalence with 25.5% for each followed by 19.6% for shoulder injuries. The study revealed 69.2% injury prevalence with a higher significance (p=0.04) that players who are injured in the ankle were in contact. Half of the injuries (50%), which occurred gradually, were prevalent in the shoulder, followed by the knee (28.6%), then the ankle and fingers (14.3%). Players in the left and right front row were significantly (p=0.008) more prone to be injured during spiking. Awareness programmes highlighting prevention strategies and physiotherapy intervention are required for coaches and players at the University of the Western Cape Volleyball Club to assist in the prevention of volleyball injuries.</p>

Nuo 2010 metų Lietuvos paplūdimio rinktinės tinklininkės pasiekė nemažai tarptautinių pergalių: 2011 metais laimėtas Europos jaunių iki 18 metų ir 2012 metais - pasaulio jaunių iki 19 metų auksas bei Europos iki 20 metų bronza. Lietuvoje paplūdimio tinklininkių fizinio parengtumo ir funkcinio pajėgumo rodikliai sistemiškai ir išsamiai nėra tirti. Nežinant sportininkių pajėgumo, rengimo specifikos, sunku tinkamai organizuoti treniruočių procesą, todėl kyla mokslinė problema, koks yra specifinis paplūdimio tinklininkių rengimas, kokie fiziniai ir funkciniai paplūdimio tinklininkių rodikliai yra labiausiai išvystyti, kokia yra fizinio parengtumo ir funkcinio pajėgumo rodiklių kaita metiniame treniruočių cikle ir kokie veiksniai tam turi įtakos bei kuo yra specifiškas paplūdimio tinklininkių sportinis rengimas lyginant su tinklininkėmis. Hipotezė - manome, kad kryptingas 17 - 18 metų paplūdimio tinklininkių sportinis rengimas ypač fiziniai krūviai, turės teigiamos įtakos fizinio parengtumo ir funkcinio pajėgumo rodiklių kaitai metiniu treniruočių ciklu. Išryškės esminiai paplūdimio tinklininkių ir tinklininkių fizinių rodiklių, funkcinių galių ir sportinio rengimo skirtumai varžybų periodu. Tyrimo objektas: Lietuvos didelio meistriškumo 17 – 18 metų paplūdimio tinklininkių fizinio parengtumo ir funkcinio pajėgumo rodiklių kaitos analizė metiniu treniruočių ciklu. Tyrimo subjektas: Lietuvos didelio meistriškumo 17 – 18 metų paplūdimio tinklinio rinktinė (n= 2) ir 16 – 17 metų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Since 2010, Lithuania female beach volleyball players have reached a number of international victories: in 2011, they won gold in the European Youth Championship (U-18) and the World Youth Championship (U-19), and bronze in the European Championship (U-20) in 2012. The rates of physical fitness and functional capacity of Lithuanian female beach volleyball players have not been investigated systematically and comprehensively. Without knowing the athletes' capacity, training specifics, it is difficult to organize the practical training process, so there is a scientific problem, what training is specific for the beach volleyball, what physical and functional indicators of beach volleyball players are most developed, what changes are in physical fitness and functional capacity indicators in the annual training cycle, and what factors have influence and what is specific for the beach volleyball sports training versus indoor volleyball. Hypothesis - we believe that purposeful sports training of the 17-18-year-old beach volleyball players will have a positive impact on physical fitness and functional capacity progress in the annual training cycle. The essential differences in physical indicators, functional abilities and sports training of beach and indoor volleyball players will be highlighted in the competition period. The object of this study: the analysis of physical fitness and functional capacity indicators progress in the annual training cycle of Lithuanian elite 17-1... [to full text]

This study examined how task and ego involvement affected 12-and-under girls’ motivations to play competitive club volleyball. Participants included 25 girls under the age of 12, as well as 31 parents including those of the 25 girls. Parents and players completed the Achievement Goal Scale for Youth Survey (AGSYS), and open ended questions regarding their intention to continue playing and their motivations for trying out for club volleyball. After conducting a Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, findings suggested that the parents and the players both identified as task involved individuals, implying that their motivations lie in improving skills relative to the sport instead of becoming the best athlete relative to others on the court. The study results indicated that parents and daughters ego involvement was positively correlated demonstrating that parental motivations were reflected in player motivations confirming the impact of parental involvement in their daughter’s sport decisions. A second segment included a discussion on the girls’ parents and their reasons for allowing their daughter to play in club volleyball as reflected in a task and ego involvement framework. Previously conducted studies have been completed in an attempt to discover parental motivations for allowing their child to try out for a competitive team. Research has examined specific youth motivations. Most prominent results from youth focused research include the opportunity to build social relations and boost self-efficacy regarding playing competitive sports (Allen, 2003). Minimal research has focused on understanding the relationship between parent and child motivations for youth participation in competitive sports. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between parent and youth motivation for trying out for club volleyball using a task and ego involvement framework. The information collected will be on display for youth development practitioners who assist in programs involving youth, parents and competitive sports. The findings assist in establishing research that provides information to competitive youth club managers so they can establish their club based on research based findings from both the parents and players perspectives.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different joint positions, rotator cuff muscle fatigue and experience on shoulder proprioceptive sense among male volleyball players. The participants of the study were 20 experienced (Mage= 20.7 &amp / #61617 / 2.8) and 20 inexperienced (Mage= 17.1 &amp / #61617 / 1.0) male volleyball players being members of first league volleyball teams. Measurements were made by Biodex System 3 pro (Biodex Medical Systems, Inc., New York, USA) and only dominant extremities were assessed. Shoulder proprioceptive sense was determined by measuring participant&rsquo / s perception of joint position sense with the joint at 90&amp / #61616 / abduction, external rotation and 90&amp / #61616 / abduction, neutral rotation. Participants were tested at a speed of 2 deg/s before and after exercising on an isokinetic testing machine until fatigued. Fatigue protocol was practiced at 60 deg/s and it was terminated when the internal rotation maximal peak torque decreased by 50%. There was significant difference between proprioceptive sense of inexperienced volleyball players at 10&amp / #61616 / -20&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .01) and 15&amp / #61616 / -20&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .05) in external rotation before fatigue. The difference between before and after fatigue proprioceptive sense of experienced volleyball players at 20&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .05) was found statistically significant, whereas the significant difference was observed between before and after fatigue proprioceptive sense of inexperienced players at 10&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .01) and 15&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .05) in internal rotation. It was concluded that the effect of fatigue on proprioceptive sense is related with experience, but experience itself had no effect on proprioceptive sense.