The effect of maximal intensity skill-based conditioning on age-related physical performance characteristics in female volleyball players

In sports, skill-based training is crucial for training efficiency because of its impact on the simultaneous development of technical skills and conditioning attributes. While there have been numerous studies on the effects of skill-based training on the physical performance characteristics of athletes, there is a lack of comparative research, especially across different age groups of adolescent female volleyball players. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effects of maximal intensity skill-based training on the physical performance characteristics of adolescent female volleyball players and whether these effects differ between age groups. A total of 36 healthy female volleyball players from the U19 (n=12), U17 (n=12) and U15 (n=12) age groups with at least two years of training and competitive experience voluntarily participated in this study. During the 12-week preparation period, each group underwent a maximal intensity skill-based training program, three days a week for 90 minutes a day, under the supervision of their team coaches. A series of tests were performed on non-consecutive days one week before and after the training programme, including vertical jump, medicine ball throw, sit-ups, push-ups, T-test, 20 m shuttle run and 6x35 m running anaerobic sprint (RAST). The data were evaluated using a two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the age-related pre-posttest changes were calculated with the Pearson correlation coefficient. This study showed that there were significant differences in physical performance measures in terms of both time and group factors (p<0.05). This intervention program resulted in substantial improvements of 13.89 %, 14.54 %, 15.16 % in push-ups, 10.92 %, 13.24 %, 13 % in sit-ups, 5 %, 5.62 %, 5.31 % in vertical jumps, 9.19 %, 7.47 %, 7.89 % in explosive power, 2.03 %, 2.08 %, 2.92 % in change of direction, 4.14 %, 5.16 %, 5.49 % in medicine ball throwing, 5.03%, 7.03%, 7.20% in VO2max and 12.27%, 17%, 25% in anaerobic power for the U15, U17 and U19 groups, respectively. In addition, statistically significant interaction effects and age-related correlations were found in the pre-post tests change for push-ups (F= 567.2; r= .54, p<0.05), sit-ups (F= 826.1; r= .52, p<0.05), medicine ball throw (F= 467.3; r= .60, p<0.05), change of direction (F= 368.5; r= .39, p<0.05), VO2max (F= 1760,2; r= .71, p<0.05) and anaerobic power (F= 417.4; r= .77, p<0.05), excluding vertical jump height and explosive power. This study concluded that 12 weeks of maximal intensity skill-based training had a substantial effect on improving the physical performance characteristics of young female volleyball players and that this effect differed significantly with age-related in all tested physical performance characteristics, except for vertical jump and explosive power. The findings suggest that it may be important in terms of taking into consideration age-related factors into account when designing training programs for young female volleyball players.