Analysis of jump patterns in competition for elite male Beach Volleyball players

The study was designed to develop a method for analysing jump patterns to quantify jump types and their relationship to real competition, during the European Beach Volleyball Championships (Valencia 2005). Method: A quantitative analysis was carried out of 10 players taking part in the European Beach Volleyball Championship held in Valencia (Spain) 2005. Video recordings were made of the 876 jump in four matches played. The finished recordings were analysed using SPSS 13.0. Results: The first significant result of the comparison showed that the mean number of jumps (Mean±SD) was 219.0±7.4 per match, 100.5±19.6 per set and 5.8±0.2 per point. A second group of results showed the percentage spread of the players in different playing actions, with 44% for smash jumps (SSJ), 17% for service jumps (SJ), and 39% for block jumps (BJ). Later analysis related real playing time with the quantification of the number of jumps per match, set and point. In conclusion, an understanding of the number of jumps is necessary for us to establish specific time-related training patterns for beach volleyball.