I have chosen Volleyball as my sporting activity for the personal exercise program. The reasons for this are that I have now played volleyball for the school teams for five years and captained the under16 A Team when we won the Northern Ireland U16 league. I have also been a member of the 1st VI team for the past 3 years and in 2004 when we won the Northern Ireland U19 league plate. I enjoy Volleyball very much and I am choosing this sport to progress in my Personal Exercise Program so that I may better myself in the sport.
The main component of fitness I will be concentrating on is Leg Power. The reason for this is that leg power is very important in volleyball and one of the attributes in the sport. The reason for this is because of the take of when blocking or going for a spike or even a jump serve. The minor component of fitness I will be concentrating on is Agility. The reason for this is that agility is also very necessary in volleyball as when a spike is blocked the ball may go anywhere and in order to get to the ball agility is key.
Fitness Testing Performance in any sporting event is the result of a multitude of factors, which include the amount of training performed, the body’s adaptation to the training, motivation level, nutritional status and weather conditions to name a few. As you can see, physiological parameters only account for a portion of any performance, and so the role of any exercise physiologist is also similarly limited. Through fitness testing, the factors involving physiological processes, over which there is some control, can be measured and ultimately improved upon.
Competition is the ultimate test of performance capability, and is therefore the best indication of training success. However, when trying to maximise performance, it is important to determine the athlete’s ability in individual aspects of performance. Fitness testing attempts to measure individual components of performance, with the ultimate aim of studying and maximising the athlete’s ability in each component.
This test is very similar to the shuttle run. This test’s the agility to run and change direction in the shortest time possible to complete the course. Again very specific to volleyball as when you hit a spike you are changing direction to get into a position to block or hit another shot. To present my results I will use a scatter graph. The reason for this is that this will show best if there is any improvement or decline throughout the Personal Exercise Program. I will also present my results in a table alongside a normative table, which will let me see how well I am doing.
To interpret my results I will be using the normative tables, as these will let me see how I compare to people who have taken the test all over the United Kingdom. I will test myself before undertaking the Personal Exercise Program to see what level I am at before I start the PEP. I will then also test myself during to see of any improvements and also after to see again if I have improved or dropped in my results.