What is Biomechanics

Biomechanics is a science concerned with forces and the effect of these forces on and within the human body. A knowledge in biomechanics helps to: identify errors to improve technique, identify sound aspects of performance, justify changes to technique and improve the efficiency of movement. (Hill,2016)

Biomechanics in Volleyball

The movements of Volleyball are a complex combination of strength, power, agility, and finesse. Each of these components is comprised of intricate, small movements, the summation of which are coordinated acts of striking the volleyball in a desired fashion. Due to the many aspects related to the biomechanics of volleyball, not every strike of the ball is perfect. Many times, mistakes made by athletes are due to the impossibility of executing hundreds of tiny movements perfectly every single time. My performance of the volleyball serve will be analysed and evaluated. To do this, video footage was taken and then compared against a skills checklist to identify strengths and weaknesses in each phase. There are four different phases of the serve that will be assessed. These phases include the set up, swing, contact and the follow through. The most important phase out of the them all is the set up as it sets up the rest of the serve. Contact is just as important as it is what everything else is leading up to and depending on.

Checklist

My Set Up

The set up is just before the swing and sets up the rest of the serve. The techniques that will be evaluated within the set up include, feet shoulder width apart and staggered, weight on the back foot, body 45 degrees to the net and the knees slightly bent. All of these different skills adjust the final result in the set up overall. As you can see my feet are shoulder width apart and staggered and my knees are bent. This positively impacts the centre of gravity and stability as which leads to a greater force and faster velocity to be achieved in later phases.

My Body being 45 degrees to the net is very important as it has a tremendous impact on my alignment and accuracy. Alignment and accuracy have an immense impact on the consecutive phases, which then ultimately distorts the serve in the long-term.My weight being on my back foot is a very important factor that makes a tremendous impact on the serve. The weight being on my back foot positively helps with my simulation of forces, power, centre of gravity, balance and stability. As shown in image one, my weight is all planted on my back foot. My momentum is impacted by this as when I go to swing through all of my momentum and force will swing through my arm. Along with my swinging arm, my balance, stability and centre will aid with my following phases. With my lower centre of gravity, it will all help towards my stability and balance.

My knees being slightly bent makes a colossal impact on my serve. The biomechanical elements that are concerned with this technique is accuracy. Accuracy is an extremely important component within this skill phase. Knees being slightly bent helps with accuracy as it helps with the swing of the arm going to where it is aimed at. Without the accuracy, it can also affect the momentum of the set up at the time. My recommended skill practice for this phase would just to simply repeat the skill, and watch footage of the skill to see what needs to be improved upon. Repeat this process until a dramatic difference has been noticed within yourself and peers.

My Swing

The swing is the second most important phase out of the serve. This sets up the contact which is the most important as it puts all of the phases into action. The techniques that will be evaluated include, front arm fully extended, slight forward lean in down swing, all movements towards target and smooth and natural. My arm not being fully extended majorly affects the levers and force inside the serve. As my arm is not fully extended the levers are no longer applicable, and due to this I can not provoke enough force.

A slight forward lean in the down swing is critical in my serve as it severely impacts my momentum up towards and onto the ball. Momentum is most critical in the swing stage as it leads up to the contact of the ball. The momentum is also extremely impacted by all movements moving towards the target, as well as force. If I do not have enough momentum and force going into the contact of the ball, the serve will not be successful. As shown I could be more effective if I had more of a lean towards the ball and if all of the movements were directed towards the target.

The swing being smooth and natural is related to stability and accuracy, as if the arm movement towards the ball is too forced upon the ball and my arm will not have the required efficiency for the swing and contact to go as smooth as possible. My recommendations for this section of the serve would be any type of drill that makes you or peers constantly swing at the ball. Such as, splitting into two teams and seeing who can do the most correct swings.

My Contact

The contact of the ball is the most important phase in the serve. If the elements of the contact is not executed properly it leads to an unsuccessful serve. The techniques that will be assessed are, weight is on the front foot, contact is made at the back of the ball, contact is made with the heel of a half closed fist and contact is made with a fully extended arm.

Weight being on the front foot dramatically impacts the momentum of the ball. As you step into the contact of the ball, the weight must shift from the back foot to the front for full momentum onto the ball it will also affect the force of the ball once it leaves the hands. But as you can see in image three my weight has been transferred onto my front foot. Contact must be made onto the back of the ball with the heel of a half closed fist. Accuracy, levers and force are all associated with this technique in the phase. If done correctly as seen in image three, the accuracy will also aid with the trajectory of the ball along with the force. All of these biomechanic functions have a major affect on the overall serve if not completed correctly.

Contact is made with a fully extended arm. Contact must be made with a fully extended arm, because if it is not done so it has an extensive effect on the accuracy of the serve. If contact is made with the extended arm the serve has a better chance of going where it was intended to go, which thus can also alter the trajectory for the good. Recommendations to strengthen this skill would be to stand in front of a brick wall and serve the ball onto the wall repeatedly without catching it, this will help with the constant contact of the ball and will correct the technique after repeated frequently.

My Follow Through

The follow through is the last phase in the serve. This is one of the lesser important phases as it is just about watching the ball go where it goes to and getting back on court for the offense of the ball. The techniques that will be evaluated within this section include, hands finish together and in front of chest and towards the target, step forward onto the court and assume the defensive position once on court with bent knees.

All three of these techniques were not performed correctly by myself, and they all affect the accuracy of my serves. Even though this phase may not be as important as others in the serve, it still makes an impact. If I had correctly performed these techniques my accuracy would have been better than it was in my serves. Accuracy plays a major part in the follow through, accuracy also affects the trajectory of the serve. My recommendations for all of these follow through techniques is, king of the court. King of the court is a past paced knock out game of volleyball. Three teams play, two playing and one off, once one team loses the other has to change as fast as possible and the servers have to go fast other wise they will lose. This will help with efficiently moving on and off the court, also with arm movements and defensive positions.

Conclusion

Biomechanics is not only efficient and accessible for sporting professionals. Biomechanics is extremely important to better your technique in any sport, from handball to rugby league. Biomechanics can be extremely useful in volleyball. As we evaluated my volleyball serves, I learned about my strengths and weakness’ of my serves. It also showed that there are many things that can be approved upon, and that one small thing such as not changing my weight onto my front foot can severely hurt my accuracy and momentum. Therefore my volleyball has many things to improve upon and biomechanics is the solution to them all.