Characterizing the pattern of rally times and complexes in school volleyball

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize the pattern of rally times and complexes in school volleyball. A total of 52 matches were analyzed, all video recorded on a digital camera. Rally times were analyzed along with their intervals, and complexes as well as actions in the rallies were quantified and characterized. Results show that school volleyball has an interval time between rallies 2.5x higher than the rally time, characterizing it as an intermittent sport of short-length high intensity. Younger and female teams performed a lower number of complexes and actions, reducing the rally time, but had more interval times between rallies, promoting lower match density. The pattern of rally times, complex type frequencies and number of actions in volleyball are similar to those of high-performance game. It was also possible to observe that interval time did not change between rally times. However, they differ as to number of complexes per rally and to played time density for presenting longer rally times and shorter intervals. It is concluded that male Under-17 school volleyball has more similarities with the patterns of rallies and complexes as high-performance volleyball.