By Brittney Valenzano

KIN 486 Motor Learning

Fall 2010

Volleyball Passing

What is volleyball passing?• Not to be confused with

“bumping” a volleyball, passing is exactly what it seems—passing the ball from one player to the next.

• Passing is directing the ball with a purpose

• This is a motor skill because it requires voluntary movement of the body to achieve a goal (Magill, 2007).

Purpose of the study• The purpose of the study is to teach a novice learner the skill of

passing.

• She will practice and develop proper passing techniques to successfully pass the ball to a target

• She will learn to accurately pass to the target in open and closed environments

• The learner will understand the correct stance, frame, and posture to enhance passing and eliminate injury

• She will understand the importance of passing the volleyball to a target, an essential part of defense.

The Learner• Antoinette Leung

• 15 year old female

• Height: 5’1’’

• Weight: 110lobs

• Right-handed

• She has very little background in volleyball and team sports in general

• Her personal goal is to feel confident enough to try out for club volleyball, a traveling league that requires a higher level of skill than high school volleyball

Learning Principles• Learning principles will be incorporated to enhance the

learning process of a new skill

• 1) Verbal Cues

• 2) Modeling

• 3) Knowledge of Results (KR) & Knowledge of Performance (KP)

Verbal Cues• Verbal cues are short, concise phrases that are used to direct and prompt the

learner concurrently during practice (Magill, 2007)

• They will be used to motivate and guide the learner’s movements

• Some examples:

• “Bend your knees”

• “Straight platform”

• “Good eye”

• “Good pass”

• A study by Corfield, Al-Issa and Johnson (1976) supports this learning principle.

• Corfield et al (1976) suggests that verbal cues should not suggest reward-driven demands like “win” or “score”

Modeling• Modeling is a demonstration of how to perform

a skill that needs to be learned(Magill, 2007)

• The learner will see a live demonstration of what proper passing looks like

• She will use this image as a mental guide to position her body while passing

• It is an effective form of instruction

• A study by Reo and Mercer (2004) found that live modeling, or even videotaped instruction, is more effective than verbal or printed instruction alone

KR & KP• KR (Knowledge of Results) provides feedback

of the learner’s body position and movements

• KP (Knowledge of Performance) provides

feedback about the learner’s actual results

and outcome of their performance

• KR & KP will be used randomly throughout

the study sometimes paired together or alone

• It is important for the learner to receive feedback about her body movement to correct any errors in passing

• Feedback about her results will allow her to understand if she is improving

• Brisson and Alain (1997) conducted a study to find that the use of KR and KP were the most effective together as opposed to KP or KR alone, or combined with a criterion template

Passing Point System

• It is ideal for the ball to be passed to the target for a clean set or play

• It is okay for the ball to miss the target occasionally, as long as the ball can be reached by the target a nearby zone

• Offensive plays by the opponent may cause difficulty in passing to the target, so getting the ball up is still a success

• As long as the ball is touched, there is potential for a play

• If there is no touch, no play can be made resulting in zero points

• The passing point system is a qualitative system used to rate each pass the player makes.

Volleyball Training Program Data• The data is based on a 5 week training program

• Each week consists of 3 practices days

• Week 1 example:

• Day 1: Trials 1 & 2

• Day 2: Trials 3 & 4

• Day 3: Retention Test

• The data provides the average trial score and retention score for each week

Average Trials• Data shows that trials during week 1 and 3 begin to increase

• The use of verbal cues, modeling, and KR & KP were used sporadically during trials

• A decrease occurs in week 4

• Modeling was excluded and verbal cues and KR & KP were kept to a minimum

• Average of week 5 increases

• Modeling was minimal and the use of verbal cues and KR & KP were used

• Overall, the learner improved over the five week period when the use of verbal cues and KR & KP were in effect

Retention Test

• Results display that the learning principles were effective during the trials

• The retention results correlate with the data of the training program

• Proves that the learner had retained information to perform the skill better each week

Conclusion

• The training program allowed the learner to retain information in order to perform a new skill

• The use of modeling, verbal cues, and KR & KP were effective in the learning of volleyball passing

• Results allow us to hypothesize that if the learner continues this program at the same rate, she will successfully continue to increase her performance level

Antoinette’s Experience

• “I thought the most effective [learning principles] were verbal cues because they were really motivating. When I was scared to mess up, Brittney’s verbal cues told me how I should be passing.”

• “I didn’t like KP too much because I was always scared to get my results and was afraid they were bad. If I do bad, then it makes me nervous and want to give up.”

• “KR was helpful when I was messing up. Brittney used KR a lot to help me correct my errors. It worked because after she told me exactly how I should be positioned, I did a lot better.”

• “I feel a lot more confident with passing now and unlike a lot of people, I know why it’s important to the game. It’s defense…and games can’t be won without defense.”