The volleyball setter’s decision-making on tipping in different game phases

Abstract

This study investigated how information emerging from interpersonal coordination affects the decision-making on tipping in different phases of the volleyball game. Eighty-six sequences of play involving tips performed by players of both sexes were selected from 20 games of a professional championship of volleyball (attack phase, n = 56; counterattack phase, n = 30). The following spatiotemporal measures of interpersonal coordination were calculated from the x and y coordinates of the player’s positioning: area forming a gap between opponents, setter's displacement to the ball, setter's distances to the net and blockers, and passing velocity. A multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were run to compare the tips in the attack vs. counterattack phases, and traditional tips vs. non-traditional tips. The results revealed that the defending area and passing velocity were greater in attacking tips than in counterattacking tips. Setter’s distance and velocity to reach the ball and the blockers were smaller in attacking tips than in the counterattacking ones. It was also revealed that the final distances between the setter and the net and him/her and the blockers were smaller in traditional tips than in non-traditional tips. It was concluded that the interpersonal coordination information based on which volleyball setter players make decisions on tipping differs between attacks and counterattacks, as well as traditional and non-traditional tipping. These findings provide a useful insight for practice tasks, since setters should be instructed to be perceptually attuned to their spatiotemporal relationship with defenders and ball in order to make decision on tipping.