The 6th Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences

Train Like You Fight: Volleyball Errors during Practice and Games

Elizabeth Sanli Heather Carnahan
School of Maritime Studies, Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Background: Currently, theoretical predictions regarding the role of errors in practice and gameplay over time do not distinguish between drill-like and scrimmage-type practice in sport. Recent work has looked at the relationship between the number of errors produced by athletes during volleyball scrimmage-type practice and games, and found that those with high error scores in scrimmage were more likely to produce high error scores in gameplay as well. Training the same way you compete can facilitate better prediction of errors.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to determine if the relationship between errors in scrimmage and gameplay differed across a competitive volleyball season.

Methods: Scrimmage during practice and official gameplay were recorded over the 5-month competitive varsity volleyball season. Videos were obtained through the official sport organization website and were provided by the institution’s team coaches. Clips were recorded from behind the service line. Practice and game clip pairs were created, and three pairs were chosen for each gender to represent performance early, mid, and late in the competitive season. Coders recorded incidences of serve receive, serve, blocking, defence, and attack errors.

Results: Coder agreement met a priori intra-class correlation criteria. Spearman’s rho was used to determine the relationship between errors in scrimmage and gameplay. When player position and percent time on the court for both practice and games were controlled for the relationship between errors in practice and errors in gameplay, we found a third-order partial correlation of r = -.71, p = .022 for the females, and a third-order partial correlation of r = .89, p .001 for the males early in the season. Mid and late season partial correlations were not statically significant at the p=.05 level for either gender (Females: r = -.13, p = .73 mid-season and r = .48, p = .17 late season; Males: r = .11, p = .74 mid-season and r = .19, p = .58 late season).

Discussion: The relationship between error score ranks for scrimmage and gameplay did differ across a competitive season. While partial correlations for both genders were significant during the early season, this was not the case mid and late season. The significant partial correlation for females was negative, while the significant partial correlation for males was positive. We propose that this may be due to differences in how coaches approached scrimmage. These results suggest that the role of error during practice in sport may change over time, and that training as you would compete is of benefit.

Conclusion: In the context of sport, the role of error in practice may not be constant over the course of a competitive season. This has implications for both motor learning theory and coaching practice.

Elizabeth Sanli
Elizabeth Sanli
Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland
An Instructor (Research) in Ocean Safety, my current research focus is on the understanding of how attention, motivation, and learner involvement during training influences complex skill performance and retention. I aim to understand realistic, situation-based training and its impact on performance and retention of movement skills in a safety and survival context. My research areas encompass offshore safety and survival, acquisition of complex skills, feedback and learning, motor skills, practice and safety, attention, motivation, and learner involvement.








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