Analysis of Whole-Body Coordination Patterning in Successful and Faulty Spikes Using Self-Organising Map-Based Cluster Analysis: A Secondary Analysis

This study investigated the whole-body coordination patterning in successful and faulty spikes using self-organising map-based cluster analysis. Ten young, elite volleyball players (aged 15.5 ± 0.7 years) performed 60 volleyball spikes in a real-game environment. Adopting the cluster analysis, based on a self-organising map, whole-body coordination patterning was explored between successful and faulty spikes of individual players. The self-organising maps (SOMs) portrayed whole body, lower and upper limb coordination dissimilarities during the jump phase and the ball impact phases between the successful and faulty spikes. The cluster analysis illustrated that the whole body, upper limb and lower limb coordination patterning of each individual’s successful spikes were similar to their faulty spikes. Range of motion patterning also demonstrated no differences in kinematics between spike outcomes. Further, the upper limb angular velocity patterning of the players’ successful/faulty spikes were similar. The SPM analysis portrayed significant differences between the normalized upper limb angular velocities from 35% to 45% and from 76% to 100% of the spike movement. Although the lower limb angular velocities are vital for achieving higher jumps in volleyball spikes, the results of this study portrayed that the upper limb angular velocities distinguish the differences between successful and faulty spikes among the attackers. This confirms the fact that volleyball coaches should shift their focus toward the upper limb velocity and coordination training for higher success rates in spiking for volleyball attackers.