Relationship between ankle mobility and vertical jump performance across playing positions in professional female...

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between ankle range of motion (ROM), inter-limb ROM asymmetry (ASYM), and countermovement vertical jump (CMJ) force-time metrics across five playing positions in professional female volleyball players (n = 124). Following a standardized warm-up protocol, ankle ROM was assessed bilaterally during a weight-bearing front lunge using a digital goniometer. Then, each athlete performed three CMJs with no arm swing while standing on a uni-axial force plate system. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used to measure the strength of linear regressions (p < 0.05). When analyzed across all playing positions, ankle ROM demonstrated moderate inverse associations with both eccentric (r = -0.297) and concentric peak force (r = -0.362). However, the direction and magnitude of the associations tended to differ by playing position. Setters revealed inverse relationship between ROM and eccentric (r = -0.442) and concentric peak force (r = -0.452), concentric peak power (r = -0.497), and jump height (r = -0.390). Opposite hitters showed inverse associations between ROM and concentric peak velocity (r = -0.631), peak force (r = -0.466), peak power (r = -0.559), and jump height (r = -0.630). Liberos displayed longer eccentric (r = 0.390) and concentric phase durations (r = 0.469) with greater ankle ROM, alongside lower eccentric (r = -0.640) and concentric peak force (r = -0.697). No significant associations were observed in outside hitters or middle blockers. Also, ASYM showed no significant relationships with any CMJ force-time metric of interest, cumulatively and within each playing position. Overall, the findings indicate that associations between ankle ROM and CMJ performance varied across playing positions, suggesting that ankle mobility should be interpreted within the context of positional demands rather than as a universal performance determinant.