1. Volleyball Passing
By Brittney Valenzano
KIN 486 Motor Learning
Fall 2010

2. What is volleyball passing?
• Not to be confused with
“bumping” a volleyball, passing is
exactly what it seems—passing
the ball from one player to the
next.
• Passing is directing the ball with a
purpose
• This is a motor skill because it
requires voluntary movement of
the body to achieve a goal
(Magill, 2007).

3. Purpose of the study
• The purpose of the study is to teach a novice learner the skill of
passing.
• She will practice and develop proper passing techniques to
successfully pass the ball to a target
• She will learn to accurately pass to the target in open and closed
environments
• The learner will understand the correct stance, frame, and posture
to enhance passing and eliminate injury
• She will understand the importance of passing the volleyball to a
target, an essential part of defense.

4. The Learner
• Antoinette Leung
• 15 year old female
• Height: 5’1’’
• Weight: 110lobs
• Right-handed
• She has very little background in volleyball and team sports in general
• Her personal goal is to feel confident enough to try out for club
volleyball, a traveling league that requires a higher level of skill than
high school volleyball

5. Learning Principles
• Learning principles will be incorporated to enhance the
learning process of a new skill
• 1) Verbal Cues
• 2) Modeling
• 3) Knowledge of Results (KR) & Knowledge of
Performance (KP)

6. Verbal Cues
• Verbal cues are short, concise phrases that are used to direct and prompt the
learner concurrently during practice (Magill, 2007)
• They will be used to motivate and guide the learner’s movements
• Some examples:
• “Bend your knees”
• “Straight platform”
• “Good eye”
• “Good pass”
• A study by Corfield, Al-Issa and Johnson (1976) supports this learning
principle.
• Corfield et al (1976) suggests that verbal cues should not suggest reward-
driven demands like “win” or “score”

7. Modeling
• Modeling is a demonstration of how to perform
a skill that needs to be learned(Magill, 2007)
• The learner will see a live demonstration of
what proper passing looks like
• She will use this image as a mental guide to
position her body while passing
• It is an effective form of instruction
• A study by Reo and Mercer (2004) found that
live modeling, or even videotaped instruction, is
more effective than verbal or printed instruction
alone

8. KR & KP
• KR (Knowledge of Results) provides feedback
of the learner’s body position and movements
• KP (Knowledge of Performance) provides
feedback about the learner’s actual results
and outcome of their performance
• KR & KP will be used randomly throughout
the study sometimes paired together or alone
• It is important for the learner to receive feedback about her body movement to correct
any errors in passing
• Feedback about her results will allow her to understand if she is improving
• Brisson and Alain (1997) conducted a study to find that the use of KR and KP were the
most effective together as opposed to KP or KR alone, or combined with a criterion
template

9. Passing Point System
• The passing point system is a qualitative system used to rate each pass the player makes.
• It is ideal for the ball to be passed to the target for a clean set or play
• It is okay for the ball to miss the target occasionally, as long as the ball can be reached by
the target a nearby zone
• Offensive plays by the opponent may cause difficulty in passing to the target, so getting the
ball up is still a success
• As long as the ball is touched, there is potential for a play
• If there is no touch, no play can be made resulting in zero points

10. Volleyball Training Program Data
• The data is based on a 5 week training program
• Each week consists of 3 practices days
• Week 1 example:
• Day 1: Trials 1 & 2
• Day 2: Trials 3 & 4
• Day 3: Retention Test
• The data provides the average trial score and retention score for each week

11. Average Trials
• Data shows that trials during week 1 and 3 begin to increase
• The use of verbal cues, modeling, and KR & KP were used sporadically during trials
• A decrease occurs in week 4
• Modeling was excluded and verbal cues and KR & KP were kept to a minimum
• Average of week 5 increases
• Modeling was minimal and the use of verbal cues and KR & KP were used
• Overall, the learner improved over the five week period when the use of verbal cues and KR & KP
were in effect

12. Retention Test
• Results display that the learning principles were effective during the trials
• The retention results correlate with the data of the training program
• Proves that the learner had retained information to perform the skill better each week

13. Conclusion
• The training program allowed the learner to
retain information in order to perform a new
skill
• The use of modeling, verbal cues, and KR
& KP were effective in the learning of
volleyball passing
• Results allow us to hypothesize that if the
learner continues this program at the same
rate, she will successfully continue to
increase her performance level

14. Antoinette’s Experience
• “I thought the most effective [learning principles] were verbal cues because they
were really motivating. When I was scared to mess up, Brittney’s verbal cues
told me how I should be passing.”
• “I didn’t like KP too much because I was always scared to get my results and
was afraid they were bad. If I do bad, then it makes me nervous and want to
give up.”
• “KR was helpful when I was messing up. Brittney used KR a lot to help me
correct my errors. It worked because after she told me exactly how I should be
positioned, I did a lot better.”
• “I feel a lot more confident with passing now and unlike a lot of people, I know
why it’s important to the game. It’s defense…and games can’t be won without
defense.”