Effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on elite volleyball athletes
Savaş Kudaş1
, Seda Biçici Uluşahin2, Hatice Nilden Arslan3, Elif Durukan4
1Faculty of Sport Sciences, Galata University, İstanbul, Türkiye
2Department of Orthopedic Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Türkiye
3Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Türkiye
4Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Başkent University, Ankara, Türkiye
Keywords: COVID-19, volleyball, lockdown
Abstract
Objective: To investigate how elite female and male volleyball players spent their time during lockdown in terms of keeping up their physical training and maintaining wellbeing as well as their beliefs, attitudes and expectation/perceptions about the upcoming season.
Materials and Methods: 331 elite volleyball players took part in the study. A survey, consisted of single and multiple-choice questions was applied. The Chi-square test was used to compare groups’ frequency data. Following Chi-square test, Bonferroni correction was made and the statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.01. The significance level was set as p<0.05 for the rest of statistical analyses.
Results: 147 (44.4%) male and 184 (55.6%) female players participated in the study. The mean age was 24.8±5.0 (15-37). Female athletes (97.3%) stated that they did more physical activity than male athletes (83.7%) (p<0.001), 40.8% of male athletes thought that they could not maintain their physical condition (p: 0.043). Female players participated exercise programs designed by their conditioners more than male counterparts (p<0.001). Sleep quality which was rated as “good” decreased from 89.8% to 44.2% for male athletes, while it has been decreased from 94.6% to 37.5% for females (p<0.001 for both genders).
Conclusion: Majority of athletes had motivation to be physically active during the 9-week lockdown period. Athletes showed that they could overcome training barriers by adapting their exercises and training routines. Female volleyball players were more cautious in terms of being active and avoiding risk of infection.
Cite this article as: Kudas S, Bicici Ulusahin S, Arslan HN, Durukan E. Effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on elite volleyball athletes. Turk J Sports Med. 2022, 57(4):204-9; https://doi.org/10.47447/tjsm.0679
Approval for this study was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee of Başkent University, Türkiye (Decision No: KA20/275, Date:27.06.2020)
Concept SK; Design: SK, SBU; Supervision: SK; Materials SBU; Data Collection and/or Processing SBU, ED; Analyses and Interpretation HNA; Literature Review SBU; Writing Manuscript SK, SBU; Critical Reviews SK
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to authorship and/or publication of the article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or publication of this article.
