Repetition without Repetition or Differential Learning of Multiple Techniques in Volleyball?

Julius B Apidogo,Wolfgang I Schöllhorn,Johannes Burdack

doi:10.3390/ijerph181910499

Abstract

A variety of approaches have been proposed for teaching several volleyball techniques to beginners, ranging from general ball familiarization to model-oriented repetition to highly variable learning. This study compared the effects of acquiring three volleyball techniques in parallel with three approaches. Female secondary school students (N = 42; 15.6 ± 0.54 years) participated in a pretest for three different volleyball techniques (underhand pass, overhand pass, and overhead serve) with an emphasis on accuracy. Based on their results, they were parallelized into three practice protocols, a repetitive learning group (RG), a differential learning group (DG), and a control group (CG). After a period of six weeks with 12 intervention sessions, all participants attended a posttest. An additional retention test after two weeks revealed a statistically significant difference between DG, RG, and CG for all single techniques as well as the combined multiple technique. In each technique—the overhand pass, the underhand pass, the overhand service, and the combination of the three techniques—DG performed best (each p < 0.001).

Highlights

Coaches and physical education teachers are always faced with the challenge of teaching multiple techniques and fostering athlete performance in the most time efficient manner
For the overhand pass technique, the posttest showed a significant difference with a medium effect size between the differential learning group (DG) and the control group (CG) (p = 0.042, r = 0.465), whereas for the retention test, the DG performed significantly better than the repetitive learning group (RG) (p = 0.013, r = 0.550) and the CG (p < 0.001, r = 0.732) with each a strong effect size
The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of the repetition-oriented learning (RG) approach with the differential learning (DG) approach of teaching three volleyball techniques to adolescent female novices in parallel, compared to general ball familiarization exercises (CG)

Summary

Introduction

Coaches and physical education teachers are always faced with the challenge of teaching multiple techniques and fostering athlete performance in the most time efficient manner To achieve this goal, coaches and athletic trainers are always looking for the most effective and efficient learning approaches. The repetitive method approach is based on the assumption that there is an ideal type of movement that can be perfected by several repetitions of the target movement during the learning process. This method is still considered the method of choice by many physical education teachers and coaches

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion