Volleyball-Specific Skills and Cognitive Functions Can Discriminate Players of Different Competitive Levels

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether volleyball-specific skills, physical performance, and general cognitive functions differ between players of different competitive levels. Twenty-six female volleyball players competing at 2 different levels (n 5 13, regional; n 5 13, provincial) were tested on volleyball-specific skills (accuracy and technique of setting, passing, spiking, and serving), change of direction speed (COD) by the modified T-test, countermovement jump (CMJ) and general cognitive functions (executive control by Flanker task and perceptual speed by visual search task). Four machine learning models were tested to detect the best one to predict players' level. Regional players presented higher passing, spiking, serving accuracy (p , 0.05) and setting, passing, spiking, and serving technique (p , 0.05) than provincial players. Regional players had also better performance in COD and CMJ than provincial players (p , 0.05). Regional players presented lower response time than provincial players in both congruent and incongruent conditions of the Flanker task, and in both 10 items and 15 items conditions of the visual search task (p , 0.05). Decision tree classifier was the machine learning model with the highest performance to discriminate regional and provincial players (93% precision and 73% recall) by considering passing technique, congruent and incongruent condition of the Flanker task, 15 items and 10 items condition of the visual search task, and spiking technique. These findings demonstrated the importance of assessing volleyball-specific skills and cognitive functions as playing a role to discriminate players of different competitive levels.

Mental fatigue impairs physical activity, technical and decision-making performance during small-sided games

“…A significance level of 0.05 was chosen. The analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS® Statistics software (v. [ 21 ], New York, U.S.A.). To examine the practical relevance of the difference between MFT and CT in the scouting, decision-making, and GPS outcomes, the magnitude-based inference (MBI) was adopted [ 22 ].…”

“…Additionally, due to the presence of goalkeepers in the present study, it was possible to determine shots accuracy (successful/negative/total), calculated as percentages. Decision-making ability has been investigated using standardized coding criteria previously adopted [20,21]. Passing, shooting, and dribbling decision-making skills were assessed.…”

“…First, given the players' competitive level (sub-elite), generalizations on players with diverse level of play (elite) should be made with caution. Indeed, as players of higher level perform better in cognitive tasks [21], elite players might be less susceptible to mental fatigue [23], even though it remains unclear by the existing literature. Second, mental fatigue was induced by a prolonged computer-based cognitive task, which does not reflect the real-world stimuli anticipating a soccer activity (e.g., players interviews, player-coach interactions).…”

Relationships of the 5-Jump Test (5JT) Performance of Youth Players With Volleyball Specific’ Laboratory Tests for Explosive Power

“…Second, the players performed the CMJ with free countermovement positions while squatting down and extending the knees in a continuous movement, and their hands were freely used while jumping. In volleyball players, the SJ and the CMJ assess volleyball-specific skills ( Berriel et al, 2020 ; Formenti et al, 2020 ). These tests appear more appropriate considering the metabolic pathways and biomechanics properties of spike jump, block jump, and other volleyball-related moves ( Wagner et al, 2009 ).…”

“…These tests are used to evaluate players’ performance at different training times during a championship preseason ( Berriel et al, 2020 ). The CMJ test plays a role in discriminating players of different competitive levels ( Formenti et al, 2020 ).…”