The purpose of this study was to investigate the patterns of motion of the strikng arm during the the arm swing phase of the volleyball spike.


Seven elite male volleyball players served as subjects. The subjects were filmed using the Direct Linear Transformation (DLT) method of three-dimentional (3D) cinematography, and film analysis procedures were used to obtain 3D coordinates of the ball and of 21 body landmarks.


The kinematic parameters investigated were the temporal phases of the spike, the ball speed, the speed of the hand and the contributing factors, and the angular positions and angular velocities of the shoulder and elbow joints.


During the backswing phase, most subjects had the arm motion of elbow flexion, horizontal abduction and external rotation at the shoulder, and no elevation at the shoulder. During the forward swing phase,the arm motion was dominated by elbow extension, horizontal adduction and elevation at the shoulder.

The speed of the hand during the forward swing phase was contributed by the descending order of the somersault rotation at the shoulder, the twisting of the trunk, the elbow extension, the velocity of the center of mass of the body, and the forward rotation of the trunk.