Development of a repeated-effort test for elite men's volleyball.
OBJECTIVE
The authors conducted a study to develop a repeated-effort test for international men's volleyball. The test involved jumping and movement activity that was specific to volleyball, using durations and rest periods that replicated the demands of a match.


METHODS
A time-motion analysis was performed on a national team and development national team during international matches to determine the demands of competition and thereby form the basis of the rationale in designing the repeated-effort test. An evaluation of the test for reliability and validity in discriminating between elite and sub-elite players was performed.


RESULTS
The test jump height and movement-speed test parameters were highly reliable, with findings of high intraclass correlations (ICCs) and low typical errors of measurement (TE; ICC .93 to .95 and %TE 0.54 to 2.44). The national team's ideal and actual jump height and ideal and actual speeds, mean +/- SD, were 336.88 +/- 8.31 cm, 329.91 +/- 6.70 cm, 6.83 +/- 0.34 s, and 7.14 +/- 0.34 s, respectively. The development national team's ideal and actual jump heights and ideal and actual speeds were 330.88 +/- 9.09 cm, 323.80 +/- 7.74 cm, 7.41 +/- 0.56 s, and 7.66 +/- 0.56 s, respectively. Probabilities of differences between groups for ideal jump, actual jump, ideal time, and actual time were 82%, 95%, 92%, and 96%, respectively, with a Cohen effect-size statistic supporting large magnitudes (0.69, 0.84, 1.34, and 1.13, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study demonstrate that the developed test offers a reliable and valid method of assessing repeated-effort ability in volleyball players.
Sheppard
Jeremy M
JM
Australian Institute of Sport, P O Box 176, Belconne, ACT, Australia.
Gabbett
Tim
T
Taylor
Kristie-Lee
KL
Dorman
Jason
J
Lebedew
Alexis J
AJ
Borgeaud
Russell
R
D000328:Adult; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005080:Exercise Test; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D018763:Muscle Fatigue / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D054798:Volleyball / Q000502:physiology*