Avaliação de atletas jovens e profissionais de voleibol com testes funcionais na pré-temporada

Abstract

The aim was to evaluate athletes from youth and professional categories, considering the impact of position on the court and gender on functional tests during pre-season assessment. A total of 108 athletes of both genders participated, aged between 15 and 41 years, covering all court positions. The performance of the following functional tests was analyzed: Lunge Test, Hip Passive Stiffness Test (Hip Stiffness), Single Leg Hamstring Bridge (SLHB), Single Leg Hop Test (SLH), and Side Plank. ANCOVA test was used to verify the factors: gender and positions in the groups. For the Lunge Test, female athletes showed higher values compared to males, with higher asymmetry values, depending on the court position, where the opposite was greater than the setter and outside hitter. For Hip Stiffness, female athletes showed higher values than males, as well as higher values in the setter and middle blocker positions. In the SLHB and SLH tests, females performed worse than males, with no difference in positions. The court position effect was also significant for the SLH test on the dominant side, with setters performing worse than outside hitters, and liberos performing worse than middle blockers, opposites, and outside hitters. On the non-dominant side, the libero performed worse than the opposite and outside hitter. In the Side Plank, the main significant effect was for gender, where females showed worse performance than males. We understand that gender had a significant effect on all functional tests, with females showing higher values in the Lunge Test and Hip Stiffness, and males showing higher values in the SLHB, SLH, and Side Plank tests. The court position effect was relevant for the SLHB and SLH tests, with higher values for males. Therefore, we confirm that it is important to consider gender and court position variables in pre-season assessment tests for injury prevention and sports performance throughout the season.