What is Biomechanics

In humans, biomechanics often denotes to the study of how the skeletal and musculature systems work under diverse circumstances. Biomechanics examines forces acting on the body, and the effects of these forces. This study is very important in the field of sport because it has the ability to enhance athletic performance, minimize injuries and in turn, promote career durability.

In this presentation the sport that I will be examining is volleyball. This analysis will concentrate on the volleyball serve. There is four phases that contribute to the volleyball serve and these are: the set up, swing, contact and follow through. By analyzing my serve throughout this presentation I will discover areas of my serve that are disadvantaged and therefore analyze how this affects my overall serve. By studying my serve I will recommend ways that this aspect of my volleyball could be enhanced and will recommended drills or activities.

Set Up Phase

The first phase of the volleyball serve is the set up. It is extremely important that in order to perform a good serve that this phase is done well. This is because this is the first phase and if there are errors it will carry on throughout the rest of the phases of the serve and produce a negative domino effect. My set up phase was undoubtedly poor. The reason to this is because three out of the four segments of the set up were performed incorrectly. This consequently affected my overall set up and carries on throughout the rest of my serve. The serve technique that I completed during the set up phase was that I had my knees slightly bent. Because I completed this suitably, it therefore created more stability and balance in my foundation of base. However, because the rest of my set up was inaccurate it carried on and affected the rest of my set up. My feet were not shoulder width apart and staggered which resulted in a lose of stability in my base and consequently affected the force applied.

The position of my body was facing the net directly. The correct way that this skill should have been performed is with your body on a 45-degree angle to the net. This had an affect on my body alignment and accuracy of the target is deprived. As can be shown from the picture below my weight transfer was in the wrong foot. All of my weight is in the front foot when it should realistically be on the back foot. As I failed to complete this correctly it created a lack of momentum and force. As a result of not transferring my weight, this resulted in majority of my serves not passing the net as not enough momentum and force was generated.

Swing Phase

The second phase of the volleyball serve is the swing. This particular section of the serve is most important because this is where majority of the force is generated and will determine how hard/fast the ball travels. Because I failed to generate a substantial amount of force and was unbalanced in the set up phase this affected my swing. I failed to generate enough momentum through my body to create powerful lever acting upon the ball. Four out of 5 segments of the swing were undoubtedly incorrect. The backswing of my arm was not in a direct line backwards; instead it reached about 130 degrees instead of 180 degrees. Because my arm was not fully extended this shortened my lever and less velocity was produced (the velocity of a lever is fastest at the point furthest from the fulcrum). There was no forward lean in my swing, this affected the momentum produced. Also my front arm was not fully extended. It is angled at 90 degrees, which is shortening the lever. The part of this phase I completed correctly was that all my movements were towards the target. However, not enough momentum was produced and by doing one part of this phase correctly was cancelled out by doing four parts wrong. My swing was not smooth and natural. It appears very forced and stiffed. This affected my accuracy. As is shown my swing phase was neither powerful nor productive as I lacked momentum and this therefore carried through to the force that was applied to the ball.

Contact Phase

The third phase of the volleyball serve is the contact phase. This is the part where you hand makes contact with the ball. All of the previous momentum and forces are released. However, with the phase if you make contact with the ball in the incorrect way it will cause the ball to fly in unwanted directions that will affect the accuracy. The serve technique that I completed to a satisfactory standard was that all of my weight was shifted to the front foot. This allowed for more momentum to be generated. This skill is slightly contradicted by the fact that my weight was never fully on my back foot in previous phases so theoretically the momentum generated was minimal. I did not hit the volleyball from the back of it, as evident I hit it from underneath. This very much affected the accuracy and length of my serve as it traveled high but failed to cover enough ground to get over the net. I unsuccessfully hit the volleyball with a half closed fist. Instead I hit the ball with the top of my hand in the positioning of a ‘thumbs up’. This is a bad contact technique, as you do not have as much control over where the ball goes. However I did make contact to the ball with an extended arm. Because of this my lever was lengthened and more force was produced. Conversely the force that was created was not applied to the ball correctly as I hit it from underneath.

Follow Through Phase

The final phase of the volleyball serve is the follow through stage. This phase is not as important as the others however it still serves a purpose. This phase ensures that accuracy is followed through and that the player is ready to get back on the court quickly. My hands did not finish together and they did not finish in front of my chest either. This affected the accuracy of the ball direction. As Is shown in the video I jerk my hands back to beside me and this is incorrect as it is not giving the ball the correct follow through. I also did not complete the other stages of the follow through correctly as I did not then continue to carry on the role of the defender. I did not step onto the court as I hit the ball. If I had of done this more momentum would have been generated. Instead I stayed standing still. This disadvantaged my accuracy of the serve. Overall my follow through is very poor as I lacked precision and did not then continue as a defender.

Recommendation

From the four phases of the volleyball serve it became very apparent that I was not fulfilling each phase to what was necessary. I have recommended techniques below that will assist my serve in the area of the phase that I was having difficulties with.

In phase one ‘the set up’ I predominately had difficulties with Alignment, Momentum and force. I had trouble with these aspects, as my body was not 45 degrees to the net, which affected my accuracy. I had trouble with momentum and force, as I did not shift my weight from my back foot to my front. A drill that could improve this is to stand in a still position with your feet shoulder width apart and throw the ball up in the air and continue this until it is has been competent. This drill will ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart and will emphasize stability.

In phase two ‘the swing’ my major problem was momentum and accuracy. This was due to the fact that I had a shortened lever and I did not lean into the serve that resulted in less momentum. A simple drill that could improve my swing phase is to stand facing a wall or volleyball net at a 45-degree angle and simply just practice stepping into the contact phase. Making sure that you are shifting your weight from your back foot to front will produce momentum. Once practicing this a lot shifting weight will be a natural occurrence and more force will be generated.

In phase three ‘the contact’ I mainly had difficulty with accuracy. This was because I was hitting the ball in the wrong spot and therefore my serve was becoming off centered. A drill to improve my contact accuracy is to bounce the ball to yourself. Making sure that you are making contact to the ball with your inside wrist ensuring your fist is closed. This is the correct way to hit the ball so practicing this will make it a routine.

In phase 4 ‘the follow through’ phase I had problems with all aspects. However there are no real set drills that can be advised as the three sections can only be improved by being conscious of how you are serving. I failed to finish the serve with both hands in front of my chest and the only drill to fix this is to practice serving and after each serve finish in the correct follow through so that it becomes fixed in your brain and it will become natural to serve like that. As for continuing into the court in ready to play that is a conscious act that will obviously become apparent once playing a real game.

Conclusion

From analyzing my volleyball serving technique it has become very ostensible that biomechanics is an extremely effective and useful way to break down a specific sports skill. From studying my serve I have realized where I need to improve in order to ensure that my volleyball serve is correct and powerful. Biomechanics offers insight into factors that can be disadvantaging your serve such as levers, stability, momentum etc. From using biomechanics it is easy to go further and therefore integrate specific skills to help your serve. Biomechanics is a very powerful analysis to achieve maximum performance.