Load Management in Volleyball: Part II

By Hilary Mallinger, Registered Physiotherapist

~Part 2~

Load management and monitoring is important throughout the duration of any season. Particularly, it is important to monitor increases in load for athletes after some time off (such as after an injury, at the start of a season, or perhaps after a COVID lockdown), or when loads may increase due to overlap in seasons (beach and indoor, club and high school, etc).

While wearable technology (such as the VERT wearable device) may be accessible for monitoring jump loads to some athletes at elite levels, a rough estimate from coaches and/or athletes for both jumping and swinging numbers is a good place to start in terms of load monitoring. A helpful suggestion to monitor athlete loads may be using an online platform such as Google sheets or docs, in which the document can be shared online with multiple coaches, parents and the athlete themselves. A daily and weekly jump and swing count can be estimated and input, and a weekly total calculated. Weekly loads should not increase by more than approximately 10%; for example, an athlete should not be increasing from 500 jumps in one week to 1000 jumps in the next week such that a large increase in load is not introduced too quickly. Athletes can also be encouraged to record their “Rating of Perceived Exertion” (RPE) (a 0-10 scale, in which the athlete rates how hard they perceive themselves to be working) within these charts in order to monitor fatigue levels with these loads. High ratings of fatigue by the athlete during low to moderate load weeks may be a good indication that an active recovery period or reduction in load is indicated in order to reduce likelihood of injury.

A sample load monitoring Google sheet may look something like: 

Recovery days and weeks should also be considered in terms of load management. Active recovery days may be training days off court, or on court where jumping and swinging are minimized. Recovery weeks should occur every 4-6 weeks during training season where jumping and swinging loads are significantly reduced to help manage the accumulation of stressors placed on the body with these demanding tasks of the sport throughout the season. 

Additionally, athletes should be encouraged to follow a personalized strength and conditioning program which allows their bodies to be able to manage the high demands of a jumping sport like volleyball. Athletes should seek the advice of an exercise professional, such as a physiotherapist or a strength and conditioning coach, to help with long term management of programming and injury prevention. 

Hilary Mallinger is a Registered Physiotherapist living and working in Toronto, Ontario.

References: 

Soligard T, Schwellnus M, Alonso JM, Bahr R, Clarsen B, Dijkstra HP, et al. How much is too much? (Part 1) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of injury. Br J Sports Med. 2016;

Charlton P, Kenneally-Dabrowski C,  Sheppard J, Spratford W, A simple method for quantifying jump loads in volleyball athletes, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Volume 20, Issue 3, 2017.

Damji F, MacDonald K, Hunt MA, Taunton J, Scott A (2021) Using the VERT wearable device to monitor jumping loads in elite volleyball athletes. PLoS ONE 16(1): e0245299.