Evaluation of a Mental Skills Program for Serving for an Intercollegiate Volleyball Team

A preseason mental skills program for serving was implemented for the 11 members of an intercollegiate volleyball team (M age = 20.0 yr.; SD = 1.1; years of intercollegiate volleyball experience M = 2.6; SD = 0.9). Key mental skills taught were relaxation, imagery, attentional focus, goal setting, b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPerceptual and motor skills Vol. 107; no. 1; pp. 293 - 306
Main Authors Shoenfelt, Elizabeth L., Griffith, Amber Usry
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2008
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Aptitude
Athletic Performance
Cognitive ability
Humans
Learning
Skill development
Teaching - methods
Teams
Training
Volleyball
Volleyball - education
Volleyball - psychology
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Summary:A preseason mental skills program for serving was implemented for the 11 members of an intercollegiate volleyball team (M age = 20.0 yr.; SD = 1.1; years of intercollegiate volleyball experience M = 2.6; SD = 0.9). Key mental skills taught were relaxation, imagery, attentional focus, goal setting, behavioral modeling, and performance routine. A videotaped behavioral model articulated and demonstrated technical performance keys to effective serving. Players utilized a three-phase service routine to increase automaticity of performance and to incorporate key mental skills. End-of-season reported use of imagery was significantly correlated with Good Serve Percentage, as was reported use of a service routine. The mean Good Serve Percentage for the season was 49% (SD = 7); the team goal was 50%. Serve-specific self-efficacy significantly increased from the pretraining program to the end of the season. Results indicated that implementing the mental skills training program was associated with enhanced service performance.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0031-5125
1558-688X
DOI:10.2466/pms.107.1.293-306