INTRODUCTION: Beach Volleyball (BVB) is a high intensity sport that requires sprinting and jumping. A BVB tournament often involves several consecutive days of multiple games a day, separated by as few as 2 hours, in which case fatigue might impair performance. METHODS: 12 national team adult BVB players (8 males: height 190.9±5.1 cm, weight 83.9±8.7 kg, %fat 8.7±0.6, age 22.5±5.3 years; 4 females: height 175.3±10.9 cm, weight 68.2±10.4 kg, %fat 18.3±2.2, age 19.5±1.9 years) were tested for blood lactate (La), countermovement vertical jump (CMJ; with shoes on hard floor, hands on hips) and 4m and 8m sprint (barefoot on sand) before and after 2 games separated by 2 hours to simulate a single day tournament. Total number of jumps and RPE (Borg 1-10) was also recorded. Teams were instructed to strategically attack the same opponent player throughout all matches to increase that player`s physiological load. A repeated measures ANOVA test was used to reveal differences in CMJ, 4m, 8m sprint times, and La between pre and post-match 1 and 2, between pre match 1 and pre match 2, and between pre-match1 and post-match 2. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in CMJ height or sprint speed between any of the time points sampled. No differences were found between males and females, between defenders and blockers, and between the 2 players in the same team. La was higher post-match 2 compared to pre-match 1 (3.1 vs 1.2 ml/L, p<0.001, Cohen`s d=1.2) and post-match 2 compared to pre-match 2 (3.1 vs 1.9, p<0.05. d=0.81). RPE was higher post-match 2 compared to post-match 1 (6.9 vs 5.2, p<0.005, d=1.18). Total number of jumps was significantly higher during the second match compared to the first match (63.7±18.06 vs 56.1±20.25, p=0.008, d=1.08). CONCLUSION: Discussion: Although higher La and RPE values were recorded, both performance measures were not significantly affected by a simulated BVB tournament. CMJ is often used as a measure of neuromuscular fatigue (NMF). NMF may also be detected by more sensitive tests, however, these performance indices were selected as they reflect the required actions performed in a VB match and may influence match success. Our results support results from previous studies in BVB. Conclusions: We concluded that NMF was not apparent following 2 BVB matches, and performance was not significantly hindered. Future studies should investigate NMF and performance during a longer tournament (2-3 days) and ideally be performed during a real tournament and not a simulated one.
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