The Effect Of Random And Blocked Practice In Volleyball Attack Learning

Abstract

Several practice methods have been used by coaches in order to improve athletes’ performance through the permanent changes in movement performance . Two of the widely used practice tasks are blocked and random schedule. In random schedule, the practice target is unpredictable for the athletes. On the other hand, in blocked practice, the athlete executes the same motor movement repeatedly before moving to the next skill. PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of contextual interference (random, blocked practice) on improving the volleyball attack (spike). METHODS: Thirty six (36) amateur volleyball players ranging in age from 18 to 25 years old volunteered to participate in the study. The participants were randomly assigned into three experimental conditions: (a) random practice, (b) blocked practice, and (c) control group. The intervention program lasted 6 weeks, and each participant underwent two 90 minute training sessions per week. During the training, each participant performed a total of 40 blows per training session. Three measures were applied: The first measure (pre-test) performed just before the commencement of the intervention program, one immediately after its end (post-test), and the third measure a week after the program completion (follow-up). RESULTS: The results indicated a significant improvement in the random schedule experimental group in the post-test compared to the pre-test (p<.001) as well as in the follow-up measure (p<.01). The blocked schedule group showed also an improvement in the post-test and follow-up measure compared to the pre-test (p<.05, p<.05). Additionally, the random group was significant better than blocked and control group in the post-test (p<.01, p<.05). CONCLUSIONS: Practice schedule differentiates the improvement of skill acquisition, indicating that the random practice participants revealed higher improvement and retention of the performed activity.