The Importance of Strength, Speed, and Body Size for Team Success in Women's Intercollegiate Volleyball

Various anthropometric, strength, and speed variables were obtained on 180 intercollegiate women volleyball players who participated in a regional round-robin tournament. The purpose of the study was to determine the factors underlying the motor performance of the women and then determine if there was any relationship between the factors and team success. Factor analysis of the measured variables showed that the variables could be dimensioned as body size, speed/fat, and strength. Multiple discriminant analysis showed that the teams were significantly different on the factors of strength and speed/fat. Team centroids were plotted in two-dimensional discriminant space, and this graphic representation showed that the stronger, faster, and leaner teams were the most successful in tournament play. The results showed that the basic factors of speed/fat and strength were related to team success. Multiple discriminant analysis helped to identify the two most important individual variables for team success. Upper body strength and fat weight were identified as most important in differentiating between players of the most and least successful teams.