AUTHOR=Link Daniel , Wenninger Sebastian 

TITLE=Performance Streaks in Elite Beach Volleyball - Does Failure in One Sideout Affect Attacking in the Next?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2019

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00919

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00919

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=This study explores the influence of sideout failure on performance in the next sideout in beach volleyball. The sample comprises 965 elite matches in the FIVB World Series 2012-2016 and in the Olympic Games 2012/2016 including 28,974 sideout sequences (12,755 for men and 16,219 for women). A sideout sequence consists of two sideouts by the same player during the same set in a timeframe of four rallies. The first sideout in this sequence is referred as the previous sideout and the second sideout as the next sideout. After misses, 2-tests indicate a significantly higher technique change rate (from spike to shot or vice versa) in the next sideouts both for men (+32.7%) and women (+40.4%) compared to the next sideouts after hits. After shot misses, the share of shots in next sideouts was -12.9% lower for men and -8.3% lower for women compared to next sideouts after shot hits. After spike misses, the share of shots in next sideouts by female players was +5.5% significantly higher and shot hit rate was -6.5% lower compared to the next sideouts after spike hits. These findings support the belief that tactical decisions and performance in top-level beach volleyball are influenced by failure in previous sideouts. They might support coaches and players when analysing matches and developing game strategies.