INTRODUCTION: The teams use the block as a first defensive action that could also bring to a direct-point realization (Mesquita and César, 2007). The purpose of this study was to analyse a selection of technical/tactical aspects of volleyball blocking with particular focus on the single hand involved in the block. This analysis would allow to elucidate some key characteristics of blocking and to study the strategies used by attackers against the block. METHODS: The study sample consisted of 2128 blocks from 65 matches during the Women`s Volleyball World Championship - Italy 2014. Only attacks from zone 2 and zone 4 were examined. The considered variables were: The contact between the ball and the two blockers, for which a code was specifically created to distinguish every single hand (1-4 for the external hand of the outside or middle-blocker respectively, 3-6 for the internal hand), and both hands of one player hit simultaneously (2-5). Block outcome (Peña et al 2013): winning (direct point), positive (ball played again by the home team), poor (ball played again by the opponents), and error block (opponents` point). To test the relation between the variables, chi-square tests were used. RESULTS: When the attack was performed from zone 2, the external blocker was hit more frequently than the internal one (p<0.01); specifically, in most cases, his hands were hit individually rather than simultaneously (p<0.01). Conversely, there wasn`t a large difference between the number of times the ball touched each blockers when the attack was from zone 4. In the first case, when the external hand of the outside blocker was hit, a blocking error often occurred (58%), whereas in fewer cases there was a direct point (11%). Conversely, when the internal hand was hit, the more frequent block outcome was winning (33%)(p<0.01). With reference to attacks from zone 4, the less searched direction was clearly the one leading to hit both hands of the middle blocker (p<0.01). When the external hand of the outside blocker was hit, the block outcome was in most cases a blocking error (57%), while poor blocks (11%), positive blocks (16%) and winning blocks (16%) occurred in fewer cases (p<0.01). Moreover, when the attackers hit both hands of the outside blocker, they were less likely to make a point. DISCUSSION: The effectiveness of the block changes depends on which hand is hit by the attacking player. The hand hit more often by attackers, regardless of their position, is always the external one of the outside blocker since it`s closer to the side-line of the court. In this case, more than 50% of times the attacker scores. In practice, these observations can be employed to improve the block technical/tactical and the attack strategies, knowing the best attack direction.
© Copyright 2016 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Vienna, 6. -9. July 2016. Veröffentlicht von University of Vienna. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.