August 22, 2026 | Storytime | ~10min read time
Volleyball is a very dynamic sport, with a lot of jumping, landing, sprinting and sudden changes of direction. Improving these skills and helping an athlete reach their full physical potential is both a science and an art. Our scientartist dr. Begüm Okudan explains how injury prevention, treatment and exercising at No Blockers looks like.
Walk us through your experience and your connection to No Blockers
I am a physiotherapist with a PhD in Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, and I have experience working with different patients in both clinical and academic settings. Currently, my main clinical focus is on orthopaedic and sports injuries. I use a combination of manual therapy and therapeutic exercise to help patients reduce pain, restore movement and strength, and return to their daily activities or sport.
Although sports rehabilitation is one of my main areas of interest, my clinical experience covers a much broader range of musculoskeletal conditions. I work with people of different ages and activity levels, from recreational athletes to people dealing with everyday pain or recovering from an injury or surgery.
Apart from my practice, I also contribute to No Blockers with my professional expertise. As No Blockers grew, I grabbed the chance to propose and initiate the pilot Injury Prevention Program (IPP), with the aim of helping our players stay healthy, perform at their best, and prevent injuries before they happen.
This coming season, we’re taking the next step through our new collaboration with TALENTA+, introducing a more structured and planned training approach. I’m excited to see how this new approach will influence the players’ adaptation, physical development, performance, and injury risk throughout the season.
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Tell us more about the connection between volleyball and physiotherapy.
What effects do warm-up/cool-down have?
Physiotherapy is not only about treating injuries. It is also about optimising performance by understanding how an athlete’s biomechanics, physical capacity, training load and individual characteristics interact. Volleyball demands a lot from ankles, knees, shoulders and lower back. When the demands exceed an athlete’s capacity to adapt and recover, the risk of injury increases. In short, there is a very fine line between pushing an athlete to improve and pushing them beyond their limits.
Finding that balance is one of the most important roles of physiotherapy in sport. And of course, good performance starts with good preparation. A structured warm-up prepares the body and nervous system for the demands of the game, while appropriate cooldown helps support recovery. But these are only small parts of a much bigger picture.
Which muscle groups do we focus on?
We mainly focus on the lower limb, especially the calves, quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteal muscles, because volleyball involves a lot of jumping and landing. We also work on the core and the shoulder complex, including the rotator cuff and scapular stabilising muscles.
We place a strong emphasis on motor control and joint stability. In simple terms, this means teaching the body to control its movements better and creating a strong and stable base from which to produce force.
For example, during a volleyball spike, force needs to be transferred efficiently from the legs through the trunk and into the arm. At the same time, the smaller stabilising muscles around the shoulder need to keep the joint controlled while the larger muscles generate explosive force. This combination of stability, control and power is important for both performance and injury prevention.
What is your biggest challenge at No Blockers?
Every player has different strengths, weaknesses and individual vulnerabilities. As a physiotherapist working with a team, the goal is to use sports science to meet these individual needs while still creating a practical program that works for the whole team. That is why measuring and observing are so important. Objective data gives us valuable information, but it is equally important to understand what we see on the court and how each player responds to training. Combining data with clinical observation allows us to make more informed decisions about training, recovery and injury prevention. I also monitor players for signs of overload, fatigue or recurring problems and adapt exercises when necessary.
What are the top 5 pitfalls in volleyball and how do we overcome them?
- Poor physical capacity and movement quality, such as weakness, muscular imbalance or stiffness, ie. around the ankle, knee and shoulder.
- Poor technique and movement strategies, especially with jumping and landing. This can be particularly important for positions with high jumping demands, such as middle blockers and opposites.
- Limited knowledge of load management and recovery. Players need to understand how to manage their training load, when to push, when to recover and when to stop. They should also be aware of the importance of footwear, nutrition, hydration, sleep and other recovery habits, and most importantly, they should feel comfortable asking when they are unsure or need guidance.
- Returning to sport too early or without the right criteria after an injury. This decision should be based on physical and mental readiness and functional capacity, rather than simply tissue healing or the number of days since the injury.
- Mental and cognitive readiness, concentration, arousal level, confidence and the ability to stay focused, particularly under fatigue or pressure, can all influence performance and injury risk.
We work on these through volleyball-specific warm-ups, strength and conditioning, balance and landing drills, progressive loading, recovery strategies and regular monitoring. We also use controlled game situations, such as friendly matches and different rotations, to help players develop confidence and make better decisions under pressure. Some of these aspects come about naturally between the physiotherapist, coaching staff and the players themselves.
What can we expect from you in the upcoming season?
At the moment, I am analysing the data we collected during our last season following the pilot Injury Prevention Program (IPP) at No Blockers. I am currently working on a scientific paper based on these preliminary findings.
Upcoming season, the focus will be on following the players longitudinally throughout the season, with close monitoring of their adaptation to our new training approach, injury occurrence, recovery, and physical/mental readiness. This will allow us to better understand injury patterns over time and explore how a structured injury prevention approach may contribute to healthier and more consistent participation in volleyball.
Another important focus will be health and injury-prevention education, helping players to better understand recovery, training load, fatigue, common volleyball-related injuries and how to recognise early warning signs.
For me, the most exciting part is building a culture where physiotherapy is not only something you need when you are injured, but an integral part of staying healthy, adapting to training demands, and performing at your best.