State of Strength and Conditioning in Womens Volleyball in OZ
There is no state of conditioning from what I can see. What seems to be required is a planned developmental scheme for girls from before puberty through to adult status. How can this be achieved? Seems to me that some time has to be put aside to fitness training even though coaches will argue they only have time for skills development which is a valid one. But windows exist for physical devleopment and movement abilities and if missed are hard to catch up on.
loris bertolacci 
So what would a minimal program look like at year 7, year 9, year 11?
[…] Loris’ latest post questions the state of strength and conditioning in women’s volleyball in Oz. There is no state of conditioning from what I can see. more … […]
The key always is that especially at year 7 that they are pursuing a multilateral development. A buzz word now. All that means is a lot of varied sports from netball to soccer to gymnastics and so on. Thus they are developing speed,power and aerobic qualities and also sports skills by playing different sports. Maturation can vary by quite a lot at year 7 but windows start to exist for skills, stamina , speed and finally strength by approximately 12/13. These windows usually present themselves earlier than males. Between 5/6 and 10/12 exists the optimal period for multilateral development and thus skills and speed and suppleness. But females in an ideal world should be into a good strength programme by 13 to 14 years of age. So to answer the question for a “normal” year 7 a programme would involve basic running mechanics like skips and drills with good posture, all the basic change of direction skills ( speed ladder/cutting etc) and with strength and core strength at first using very light weights and bodyweight learning all the techniques which in itself makes kids stronger. Progressive development of the pillar with medicine balls and varied movements that stress the core. I still like these kids to develop stamina to enhance work capacity later but this can be achieved with varied sports participation.