In the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, we witnessed top athletes from around the world competing with each other to snatch the gold medal and make their country proud. From watching popular sports such as soccer to discovering niche sports such as dressage, everyone can watch a sport that interests them in this event. Personally speaking, I am undoubtedly keen on watching volleyball. One of the main reasons is being an avid fan of a well-known anime centred around the sport, Haikyuu. Volleyball is a sport in which the ball is always up in the air, and the objective is to make it hit the floor on the opposing side. Ever since I started watching the sport, I have always wondered how these players can reach such heights when doing their vertical jumps, especially when they are doing their spikes or blocks. So, with this, I wanted to investigate how volleyball players jump so high.
First of all, we need to be able to define what a vertical jump is. According to encyclopedia.com, the vertical jump is the highest point an athlete can touch from a standing jump. It is one of the most physically demanding movements not only in volleyball but sports in general. The jumping ability of an athlete is also an indicator of their overall athletic ability. Furthermore, a certain level of correlation between the ability to jump and the running speed needs to develop in a short amount of time. There are four aspects that I would like to discuss in this article regarding the development and contribution of one's vertical jump ability, including energetics, biomechanics, physics, and physiology.
When I talk about energetics, I would like to refer to the branch of mechanics that deals primarily with energy and transformation. When attempting the vertical jump, a short amount of time is needed for a great majority of the muscles to use the ATP stored in the body and maybe the Phosphocreatine reserves. This aspect of the vertical jump is generally uniform for most people and will not hinder one’s ability to jump. However, for repeated vertical jumps, there will undoubtedly be notable differences spotted.
In biomechanics, two key factors influence the jump, arms swinging and joint quenching. The purpose of swinging your arms is to help the load of your legs when going up and accelerating your torso, maximizing legs to push harder into the ground. Joint quenching is the ability that allows you to coil your legs tight and uncoil them, similar to a spring in proper order. The ideal sequencing for this is from the upper part of the body to the lower part of the body; arms > hips > knees > ankles. With this sequence, an increase in takeoff speed will occur, efficiently using the amount of time you push into the ground.
The role of physics plays a vital role when it comes to doing the vertical jump. To reach maximum height, an athlete will have to accelerate their body vertically as much as possible. Once they jump, there is no possibility of increasing the velocity in the air. When they take off, the acceleration of the earth's gravity will slow down until it hits 0 at its highest point. After that, the downward motion will accelerate by gravity, classified as the ascending phase and the descending phase. Accelerating the body vertically, displacing the centre of mass, is very important to increase velocity. To jump higher, you will need to overcome the earth's gravitational pull of 9.8 m/s^2 by moving faster.
To achieve higher velocity, we need to take a closer look at the aspects of physiology. Speed, strength, flexibility, and tendon reactivity are all physiological factors that could contribute to one's ability to have a faster and higher jump. Speed correlates with how fast one’s body can create a contraction between muscle fibre. A speedy contraction will cause an immense rotation of the body segment around the joint (known as torque) to happen and if, done in the correct sequence, will result in faster movements. Strength is the ability to activate motor neurons to muscle neurons, and we need strength to displace our centre of mass. The combination of speed and strength will result in a more powerful jump. However, when it comes to maximizing jumps, having power is not everything. That is where flexibility and mobility plays a significant role. To have more flexibility means having more range when it comes to your joints, which can be loaded and recoiled tighter to jump higher. Due to tendon reactivity and stiffness, when jumping, tendon movements should be dependent on their shape.
In volleyball, you can witness players jumping to such heights while doing their spikes, blocks, etc. These magnificent jumps are the results of maximizing the roles of energetics, biomechanics, physics, and physiology. With this ability combined with years of practising, players can score points to make their team reach the top and win the Olympics.
Bibliography
“." World of Sports Science. . Encyclopedia.com. 16 Aug. 2021 .” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 25 Aug. 2021, www.encyclopedia.com/sports/sports-fitness-recreation-and-leisure-magazines/vertical-jump.
3, Jacob ToberMay, and Jacob Tober. “Why Can't I Jump High? The Science Behind Vertical Leap.” Blog, 3 May 2017, www.coreadvantage.com.au/blog/why-cant-i-jump-high-the-science-behind-vertical-leap
H., Christina. “Volleyball through Physics.” APlusPhysics Community, 10 Feb. 2020,
aplusphysics.com/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/931-volleyball-through-physics/.
“The Science Behind Your Vertical Leap.” USA Basketball, www.usab.com/youth/news/2012/08/the-science-behind-your-vertical-leap.aspx.
“Vertical Jump Physics.” Topend Sports, Science, Training and Nutrition, www.topendsports.com/testing/vertical-jump-physics.htm.
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