Inter e intra-variability of the best ranked teams: A network analysis in male high-level volleyball

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 2; p. e0280365
• Main Authors: Rocha, Augusto Cezar Rodrigues, Laporta, Lorenzo, Rodrigues, Geovana Pires, Guimarães, Juracy da Silva, do Nascimento, Marcos Henrique, Rodrigues, Marcelo Couto Jorge, Leonardi, Thiago José, de Lira, Claudio Andre Barbosa, Castro, Henrique de Oliveira, Costa, Gustavo De Conti Teixeira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 02-02-2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Athletic Performance; Biology and Life Sciences; Computer and Information Sciences; Ecology; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Eigenvectors; Engineering and Technology; Evaluation; Humans; Male; Network analysis; Physical Sciences; Social network analysis; Social networks; Social organization; Social Sciences; Teams; Variability; Volleyball; Volleyball teams; Brazil
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280365

The present research objective was to analyze the offensive phase from Complex I in high-level male volleyball teams in a macro- and micro-level view, through the inter e intra-team variability analysis of eight best teams of the 2018 Men's Volleyball World Championship over the social network analysis and eigenvector centrality. The sample consisted of 22 matches and 2,743 offensive actions, resulting in 8 sub-networks with 368 nodes and 6221 edges. The results showed from macro view the variables that presented highest centrality values were Attack Zone 4 (range 0.56-0.90), Attack Tempo 2 (0.65-0.87), Power Attack (0.62-0.94), No Touch Block (0.61-1), Attack Effect Continuity (0.59-0.94), and Middle Blocker Centralized (0.60-0.95). In a micro view, Reception Effect, Play Position, Reception Zone, and Block Composition showed high variability in each sub-network. The intra- and inter-team variability presented the importance of to respect each team idiosyncrasies and to consider the different approaches to the game and success.