The Effectiveness of External Cues on Learning Spiking In Volleyball

The present study investigated the hypotheses that beginners in volleyball can attain and retain higher levels of precision in spiking if their training includes external cues, especially variable verbal cues. To this purpose 64 subjects were divided into the control, visual, auditory, and variable auditory groups, based on the results of the initial measurement and were trained accordingly for 12 one-hour sessions. The subjects were tested at the end of training and five days after that for the evaluation of the retention of learning. Each measurement included two batteries of six spikes at random targets, issued with visual and auditory cues. The parameter analyzed was the success ratio. The results indicated that performance improvement and retention of learning of the spiking skill for beginners in volleyball is significantly enhanced if their training includes external cues. Practicing with variable auditory cues demonstrated the best results, thus providing validation for the variability-of-practice hypothesis. Furthermore the appearance of the phenomenon of reminiscence was adequately explained within the framework of the existence of a generalized motor program, which is a basic concept of the schema theory. Apart from providing positive evidence for a number of crucial hypotheses in motor learning, the present results may also prove useful to volleyball coaches and players.