Abstract
Modern volleyball is characterised by a substantial increase of the attack force and regulation changes support defence. This explains the appearance of the “libero” whose use is optional. In this paper, we aimed at establishing a somatic profile of the “libero” based on volleyball players’ parameters that have played in this position in the volleyball teams that participated in the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The subjects of our research were the “liberos” of the 12 volleyball teams that qualified for the competition. We recorded for these players the following parameters: age, height and weight. The study shows that the mean age of a libero was 31.4 years, with the oldest volleyball player in the Brazilian team (39 years) and the youngest one in the British team (24 years). The mean height of a libero was 184.8 cm, with the tallest libero in the volleyball team of the USA (190 cm) and the shortest one in the team of Great Britain (180 cm). The mean weight of a libero is 81.9 kg, with the highest weight in the volleyball of the United States (90 kg) and the lowest one in the Tunisian volleyball team (74 kg). Age - rather high in the liberos of the studied volleyball teams (above 30 years) point to the expertise accumulated in the long years of practicing volleyball.