A paper presented at IACSS09 by Alexis Lebedew (Performance Analysis, AIS(

1. A Reconceptualisation of
Traditional Volleyball Statistics to
Provide a Coaching Tool for Setting
Alexis Lebedew, MAppSc (Sports Coaching)
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

2. Wednesday, 23 September 2009

3. Background
• Complex Data Collection for indoor
Volleyball for 30 years (+?)
• Computerised Data Collection for indoor
Volleyball since mid 1980s (-?)
• Computerised Data Collection for Beach
Volleyball since mid-late 1990s (-?)
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

4. Background
• Many variations evolved, but generally based on
Baacke’s (1981) 4 outcomes for each action
• Action results in direct success
• Action gains or preserves the initiative of the
play
• Action leads to the loss of initiative of the
play
• Action results in a loss of point
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

5. Setting
• Accounts for 30% of all ball contacts a
team makes in a match
• The only skill that doesn’t have an
established form of statistical analysis for
data collected in real time
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

6. Premise
• All other Statistics collected are dependent
on the quality of either the previous or
subsequent play
• Generally by the opposition
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

7. Wednesday, 23 September 2009

8. Premise
• All other Statistics collected are dependent
on the quality of either the previous or
subsequent play
• All other Statistics collected are objective
based on the outcome, but still flawed
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

9. Setting Premise
• Setting Statistics derived from existing data
can be objective, but still flawed
• The only difference is that all it is the play
of the opposition on which all other skills
are dependent
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

10. Fundamental Principles
• The objective of the set is for the
subsequent Spike to be a kill
• By combining with Pass Rate, we can add
context
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11. Process
Outcome Spike Pass Set Rate
3 1 12
Excellent 3 2 11
3 3 10
2 1 9
Good 2 2 8
2 3 7
1 1 6
Average 1 2 5
1 3 4
0 1 3
Poor 0 2 2
0 3 1
Error 0
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

12. Set Rate
• Any Rating based system for Spiking and
Passing can generate a Set Rate using the
same principles
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

13. Data
• Pre-existing
• 159 matches of Beach Volleyball from
World Tour competition or above
• Sets calculated
• 8190 sets analysed
Wednesday, 23 September 2009

14. Rate when
100%
Set (match) WON
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
9+ 8.5+ 8+ 7.5+ 7+ 6.5+ 6+
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15. Distribution
Won 8 Lost 8
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16. Conclusion
• No change is required for coaches’ data
collection processes
• Set Rate of 8 is a good objective target for
setters
• Ultimately coaches will decide if it is a
useful tool
Wednesday, 23 September 2009