The purpose of this study was to investigate the digging techniques of elite male volleyball players
against spikes in volleyball. 34 occurrences of forearm digging motions in excellent receptions in 6
games (Argentina vs Cuba, Poland vs Iran, Serbia vs Japan, Iran vs Argentina, Cuba vs Serbia, and
Poland vs Japan) from the 2011 Men’s World Cup Volleyball were analyzed by the Direct Linear
Transformation Method.
The results were as follows. First, in 477 occurrences of receiving (blockers did not touch the ball),
receivers touched the ball 200 times, accounting for 42%. However, counter attacks (excellent
receptions) occurred only 69 times, accounting for 14%. Second, 29 dig errors by liberos (24%) caused
lost points, but that was lower than 93 dig errors (76%) by other players. Third, in 18 occurrences, the
positions of liberos at receive impacts were located left-back. Finally, in 18 occurrences, up-down hip
joint movements of liberos became higher close to the moment of spike hit for almost all of the trials. In
addition, liberos made a pre-jump movement prior to hits in almost all the trials.
key words: volleyball, dig, elite male player, libero