Personal Inquiry Project  

Stephanie Winder  
University Consultant: David George 
 

Overview 

My personal inquiry project was centered around the question, “What are the overall benefits of 
implementing a fitness program designed for sport specific athletes?” Over the duration of 6 weeks, I 
worked with the female athletes of the junior and senior volleyball team’s at Medicine Hat High School. 
The workouts ran Monday and Wednesday each week before school at 8:00am. The program was designed 
to assist these athletes in several areas which included overall strength, mobility and core muscularity. 
Each workout consisted of specific mobility exercises that were implemented to assist these volleyball 
players with injury prevention and strength retention. Each workout was low impact, which allowed the 
athletes to recover effectively, and were tailored to maintain off-season strength gains. These in-season 
workouts were not designed to specifically improve volleyball skills, instead they were designed to help 
the athletes maintain as much strength gained in the off season as possible.  

Findings/Results: 

After looking at the pre and post-test results, it is evident that each athlete improved over the duration 
of the volleyball season. For the majority of the athletes, there was an increase in their post-test results 
in each area which included personal speed, flexibility, core, lower body strength and endurance. The 
personal fitness testing allowed the athletes to reflect on their own progress throughout the volleyball 
season. Along with this, other positive outcomes from this program included team bonding, maintaining 
overall strength, learning new exercises for future use and being able to perform at a higher level. Since 
the main goal of this program was injury prevention and to cultivate strength, I believe that this program 
was a success. The feedback provided from the participants helped to confirm the benefits experienced 
from implementing this volleyball training program. 

Participant Questionnaire:  

On the final day of training I asked the participants to complete an anonymous survey which included 
several questions related to the workout program. These questions and answers were: 

*​Participant answers in bullet form  

1. How do you feel your fitness levels have improved from the beginning of the season to now? 
(Pick 2 specific areas you feel you improved in most) 
● “Mobility and strength.” 
● “I gained a better overall knowledge of exercising, and some new exercises to take into 
my workouts. I felt better maintaining and improving my strength throughout the 
season, so I didn’t lose the progress I made over the summer.” 
● “Strength and overall knowledge.” 
2. Do you feel that training during your seasons assisted you with your performance in volleyball? 
Why or why not? 
● “Yes, having the workout every morning made me feel like I had done something good 
for the whole day, also my strength increase more than those people who did not 
participate.” 
● “Helped me reach my goals to be stronger.” 
● “Yes because the stronger and more endurance I got the practices got easier.” 
 3. Why did you participate in this program? 
● “To improve my strength and fitness for during volleyball and for club volleyball after.” 
● “To prevent injuries.” 
● “To increase overall fitness levels.” 
4. Please provide a brief reflection of your experience while participating in this workout program?  
● “Was a great way to get myself in the gym and to improve my athletic abilities off the 
court. Very enjoyable.” 
● “I loved it and hope it continues next year.” 
● “It was really good, to be honest it was hard to get up and work out in the morings, but it 
did give me more energy. It was a positive experience.” 

Reflection: 

As a coach of the women’s JV volleyball team, this program allowed me to work individually with some of 
my own players as well as assist athletes on the senior team. I was able to provide the participants with 
new exercises that they can implement within their own workouts. I felt that the athletes participated 
because they valued the importance of in-season training, which was rewarding to see as a coach. I will 
use this program for future teams I coach. I will also encourage all athletes to participate as training is an 
essential component for an athlete of any caliber. In the future, an aspect I would consider changing 
would be to add a slight amount of cardio into this program. From my observations, I have come to the 
understanding that many individuals do not feel as if they are getting an effective workout in unless it 
contains a cardio component. By adding a small amount of cardio into this program it would allow the 
athletes to feel as if they are gaining more from the workouts, while still maintaining the emphasis of 
these workouts around strength and injury prevention. I would also consider changing the time of this 
program since having it before school was a challenge for student athletes who do not drive. One aspect I 
noticed was that near the end of the program the amount of athletes participating went down 
significantly. If these workouts were mandatory, it would give all athletes the same advantage when it 
comes to strength reservation. However, in order to make these workouts mandatory for the athletes the 
program would need to run at a time that works for the collective group. Overall, implementing this 
program and personally training with the athletes for 6 weeks was a very positive experience. I am hoping 
that the program I leave behind at Medicine Hat High School is utilized by other coaches who hope to 
find the same success with their volleyball team(s) that I was able to.