The effects of goal-setting interventions on three volleyball skills: a single-subject design

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a goal setting intervention program, on basic components of volleyball performance over a competitive season. A multiple-baseline, single-subject design was used with video observations on three performance components (serving, serve-receiving and attacking), collected for three woman volleyball players, in amateur level-six years experience. Every skill evaluated using three symbols: 0 = the lost (a point lost by player), + = the perfect (a point won by player) and − = the neutral (continued the phase). This method evaluates the effectiveness of individual components of performance. At the midseason break, participants selected one skill of their play that they felt would benefit from improvement. A goal-setting program was designed based on the goal attainment scaling procedure recommended by Smith (1988). According to the program participants generated numerical targets for their chosen skills. Performance skills were assessed for the next seven matches as they had been in the pre-intervention phase. Participants showed no significant improvements in their targeted area of performance. The findings suggest that amateur athletes cannot enhance their performance by using the goal attainment scaling as an intervention strategy during the games of the competitive season.