Biomechanics Summary

The aim of this report is to analyse my overhand volleyball serve from a biomechanical perspective and compare it to an elite athlete’s overhand volleyball serve. Biomechanics is the sport science field that applies the laws of mechanics and physics to human performance, in order to gain a greater understanding of performance in athletic events through modelling, simulation and measurement. It is also necessary to have a good understanding of the application of physics to sport. In volleyball the applications of summation of forces, projectile motion and balance and stability have a major influence on the success and accuracy of an overhead serve.

“The analysis of movement provides an athlete with optimal development as well as minimising the risk of developing injuries through the incorrect execution of a movement” (Ackland, Elliott & Bloomfield, 2009, p 301).

Biomechanics is the study concerned with the internal and external forces acting on the human body and the effects produced by these forces (BrianMac Sports Coach, 2014). The purpose of this report is to biomechanically analyse a partner’s Oztag grubber kick by comparing the kick to that of a skilled performer. Oztag is a popular Australian sport, played by many. The grubber kick is a short kick ground, used as an attacking ploy when the player is near the try line. This report will focus on the force summation, Newton’s Laws, levers and balance in relation to the performance of my partner’s kick and will suggest recommendations to improve the success of her kick.

Bonnechere and all’s purpose of writing this article was to “ [share] a biomechanical analysis of three different sprint start patterns to

Biomechanical Principles Applied to the Soccer Kick Principal One: Stability increases when there is a low centre of mass, when there is a wide base of support, the centre of gravity is within the base of support and there is a large mass. Unstable balance occurs when an athlete needs to be balanced but ready to move quickly and become unstable. The player is unstable as she flexes her hips over the ball during the backswing/recovery. She is slightly balancing herself as she extends her hip and puts her arms outward on her sides so that she will not completely fall over.

Soccer is one of the best sports ever, it has fans all over the world, it’s such a difficult game, and involves many muscles that is required to complete this sport competently and efficiency, according to the “Muscles Used to Play Soccer”, the author explains that: “ the primary muscles used in soccer is no doubt the legs, players should have strong legs for many reasons such as to have a powerful kick which can give him an advantage in scoring more goals, to run faster, jump higher for headers and to not get injured easily since players are so prone to heavy tackles. Other than the leg muscles, the glute and hip muscles play a huge secondary role in soccer, it gives explosive power and additional speed for the foot. Arms neck and shoulders

I find this as an extremely important factor as it was found by Lord (2014) the dominant leg therefore usually the kicking leg in soccer had a higher fatigue response which make sense as when players change direction while running they usually rely on that dominate leg to stabilise that change (Williams 1985), whereas the non- dominate leg could produce greater forces while fatigued. Lord (2014) is suggesting that there is a significantly higher risk of injury to the dominant to the non- dominant leg in soccer

The external and internal forces acting on the human body and the effects produced by these forces is known as the study of biomechanics, it is a very crucial part in sports as it can help detect inadequacy of any physical technique performed, result in enhancing an athlete’s performance. I will be biomechanically analyzing my own volleyball spike.

Young healthy men (age: 22 4 years) participated in the study, 66 in total (48 students, 18 athletes). Isokinetic knee extensor strength was measured on the non-dominant leg only, at 60/s. The loading conditions for the countermovement jumps were 70%, 85%, 100%, 115%, and 130% of bodyweight.

Figure 2. A photo of professional soccer player David Beckham in both stages of the instep kick demonstrating flexion of the knee and plating of the foot. Taken from: O’leary, C. (n.d) Retrieved fromhttp://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Soccer/Essays/FreeKickMechanics_DavidBeckham.html.

1. Soccer is one of the most demanding of all sports. The game is played on one of the largest fields of any sport, for the longest sustained time and with the least amount of breaks. Players in a soccer team are in continuous activity as they compete for loose balls, move to encourage teammates, rotate positions and run to make a space or test opponents. Running, jumping, sprinting movements in relation with sudden changes of acceleration and route outweigh the play. The power of the game ranges between low-level activities such as walking or jogging to ones of high intensity such as sprinting . This is what is known as intermittent exercise. The rhythm of soccer is dynamic and constantly changing, which is a characteristic that divides it from other endurance sports , this suggests that in order for a midfielder to successfully endure for the entire 90 minutes all three energy systems assist in different stages although the ATP/PC system is dominant.

3D Gait Biomechanical Analysis System was used. 3D biomechanical gait analysis techniques help professionals to diagnose, plan and make decisions for patients and athletes who have an impairment or are suffering from an injury. 3D biomechanics are very common in sporting and clinical applications. As such,

The first phase regarding a player kicking a ball is to start from the hinge joint, which is the knee joint, including bones such as; the femur, fibula and tibia. When movement within the leg is active, the player is activating three of the muscle groups within the leg that is used to kick the ball. The muscles being activated are the quadriceps, hamstrings and the calf. Each of these joints and muscle groups are made up of distinct functions that will help aid movement, which will include flexing, a kicking motion and an extending motion.

With speed being a primary element of fitness for soccer players, developing the proper types of speed is important. In soccer, developing both acceleration and linear speed is significant in the first few steps. According to research, sprints in soccer are mainly performed over short distances, involving repeated acceleration up and down the field (Milinkovic, Sporiš, Trajković, James, & Šamija, 2013). This explains why various components of speed such as running speed, reaction speed, and acceleration speed need development in soccer players. The next area of focus would be quickness. Both speed and quickness go hand and hand in most sports especially soccer. When developing quickness in soccer players, ensuring the athlete can produce a rapid response time during training and competition is

The sport of soccer (called football in most of the world) is considered to be the world’s most popular sport. In soccer there are two teams of eleven players. Soccer is played in a large grass field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to get the soccer ball into the opposing team’s goal. The key to soccer is that, with the exception of the goalie, players must not touch the ball with their hands or arms. They can however, use any other part of the