Volleyball Skill: Volleyball Set Stage of Learning Cognitive Associative Autonomous What is the stage of learning? How is it used? Why is it used?

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1 Volleyball Skill: Volleyball Set Stage of Learning Cognitive Associative Autonomous What is the stage of learning? How is it used? Why is it used? At the beginning stage of this assessment I was clearly in the cognitive stage of learning for a volleyball set. This is because I could not do a correct set; when I attempted I would loudly slap the ball, it would be terribly controlled and end up in a horrible position for whoever would be attempting (keyword attempting) to spike my set. Roughly 1 in 5 of my set s at the beginning of our volleyball assessment would be successful and correctly performed. This demonstrated to me that I was clearly in the cognitive stage of learning, as I had a lot to learn in terms of how and what to do to be successful in all of my attempts to set the volleyball. Cognitive learning is used to teach a person the basic motions of performing a skill, such as the volleyball set, so that they can individually assess what they are meant to be doing with each of their body parts in order to successfully perform the skill. The cognitive stage of learning is used to rapidly improve a persons skills mainly outside of a game situation, so that they can be better prepared to correctly play a game with performing the right skill s, rather than jumping into a game and not knowing what to do.

2 Biomechanical Principle 1 What is the principle? How is it used in your skill? Why is it used in your skill? So what? The first biomechanical principle used during a set is Balance and Stability. Balance and Stability is a key aspect in the volleyball set skill, as in order to perform an accurate and controlled set the player performing must be in control and balanced themselves. The factor s that influence balance and stability are the person s base of support, centre of gravity and line of gravity. While I was in the cognitive stage of learning, my balance and stability while performing set s were off. This is because I failed to prepare myself beforehand on the set, resulting in not being in the correct position to perform the set in a controlled manner. Also at first I was not widening my stance, or lowering my body. It is important to do this so that I am able to be as stable and balanced as possible in order to perform a controlled set. This is because having a wider base of support, and a lower centre of gravity increases stability vastly compared to having a small base of support (feet together as shown) and a high centre of gravity. During the pretesting stage, such as the video shows, I was not correctly getting into a good position for balance and stability during the set, as seen by my close foot stance and extended height. Balance and stability is a key biomechanical principle to keep in mind while performing a set as the skill must be controlled in order to best position the volleyball for your spiking teammate to get a point in the game.

3 Biomechanical Principle 2 What is the principle? How is it used in your skill? Why is it used in your skill? So what? Biomechanical Principle 3 What is the principle? How is it used in your skill? Why is it used in your skill? So what? The second biomechanical principle that is important when performing a volleyball set is projectile motion. This is because the controlled nature or the volleyball set means that the ball must be placed into a certain position in order to best set up your teammates. This is why an understanding of height of release,angle of release and speed of release are important factors of projectile motion to be kept in mind while performing the set. The two main factor s of projectile motion effecting the set are speed of release and angle, the height is not quite as big of an influence as it can be adjusted with more speed etc. and height of release will vary depending on the pass to your set. Angle of release is very important in performing a correct set, this is because the angle of release will determine where the ball will go, which depends on the position of your teammate for the spike. For example if your teammate is quite close to you your set might be almost vertical at something like degrees, whereas if you re setting to a teammate on the other side of the court your angle might be closer to degrees. Understanding how angle of release effects the projectile motion of the volleyball is a key aspect in performing a successful set. Speed of release also has a great effect on the projectile motion of the volleyball. This is because when setting to a teammate the ball can be positioned at a variety of heights dependent on the spiker. e.g if the spiker has mad hops you can put a lot of power into your set and release the ball higher so the spiker has an advantage by hitting well above the net. However if the spiker wants to hit lower then you can put less power into your set making a slower speed of release and smaller vertical height positioning of the volleyball. The third biomechanical principle involved in a volleyball set is Newton s laws of motion. In this case of the set, all 3 law s are relevant in performing a correct and controlled one. The first and third law s of motion co-relate in terms of the set, this being that the first law stating that an object in uniform motion will continue until an external force is applied, and third being that every action has an opposite and equal reaction. This relates to the volleyball set as the ball will continue in it s motion until your hands come into contact with it (the external force), meaning that the action of the ball meeting your hands creates a reaction of hitting the ball back up. The second law of motion, which is f=ma, is also relevant to the skill of the set as the amount of force applied to the volleyball will effect how far the ball will travel from it s speed of release (relating to projectile motion). An understanding of the biomechanical principle of Newton s law s of motion allow player s to better understand how they can best aim and release the volleyball while performing a controlled set, I guess you could say that the action of learning about this has the equal and opposite reaction of effecting your practice on the skill.

4 What type of practice worked for your skill learning? Whole Part Whole-Part-Whole Massed Distributed Many different variety s of learning can be used in order to improve the persons play at this level of learning, however part learning, or whole part learning would likely be used more than whole learning. This is because of the lack of wholesome knowledge of each volleyball skill, making it hard for players in the cognitive stage of learning to keep a proper game of volleyball going long enough in order to actually practice their desired skill in a game like situation. for example, if I was trying to practice my set in a game like situation while playing with other players in the cognitive stage of learning would be inefficient, as it is hard for me to practice my set if the people who are in my team passing it to me with a bump are unsuccessful in doing so, i am unable to practice my skill. This is why part learning, to go through the footwork, arms, and eye s etc. individually first allows the cognitive learners to rapidly improve their play. Once they have gained an idea of how and what they re meant to do, they can proceed to practice in a whole-part type of learning, in which they put it in a game-like situation in which they might practice setting to a spiker, and repeating (without actually playing a game). This type of learning is beneficial to cognitive learners as well, so that they can become more confident in their ability to perform their skill in a game like situation so that they can advance to the associative stage of learning in which they can confidently play a proper game with the correct techniques while still practicing and learning their skill through experience. I preferred the whole-part learning through this process, as I found it easier to set to someone instead of thin air, this is because I prefer practicing skill s in game-like situations so that I don t freak out under pressure in proper games. I did use a little of part learning in warm ups or when someone gave me a tip, however I picked up the technique fairly quickly, meaning I was able to practice my set in game situations fairly early on which assisted greatly in the advancement of my learning.

5 What factors impacted your skill learning? Facilities Competition Weather Show a comprehensive understanding of 3 of the following: Self-talk Visualisation Mental rehearsal Routines Arousal control Goal setting Confidence concentration Facilities and equipment effected the training of my skill, as Orewa College provide s all of the correct volleyball equipment, from the gym to the balls and the nets, all were in good condition allowing me to best practice my skill without being influenced by any problems. *** The only factor that negatively inhibited my training for the set was if the weather was bad this is because it meant other classes joined us in the gym. This slowed down my learning, as decreasing the available space made it harder for me to practice moving into position for the set, but also because people from other classes joined our class who were unable to hit the volleyball, making it hard for me to practice in the game situation, Visualisation is a key factor in sports psych for performing a set. Thisis because the visualisation of where you are going to set the ball before hand of actually performing the skill will allow you to better aim where you are placing the ball. Also, using the visualisation technique will practicing to visualise the game-like situations while practicing outside of a game is useful in preparing you for when you do finally play a game and practice the skill. This relate s to mental rehearsal.. mental rehearsal and visualisation co-relate in term s of the set as visualising how you are going to set the ball is a form of mental rehearsal to assist you in preparing to perform the skill. Concentration is another key aspect of sports psych in term s of the volleyball set, as in order to best place the ball where you want it in a controlled set the player must be concentrated on where the ball is coming from, and then where they are going to set the ball after the motion. the better the person is at concentrating on the ball will allow for a better controlled set.

6 Anatomy of a Set. When performing a set, a player wants to try and have a fluid motion throughout the movement so that the player can maintain control while setting. This is achieved by lowering the players stance and so the first major movement when performing a set is a flexion at the knee joint, which is a hinge joint this is achieved in an eccentric contraction with both the quadriceps and hamstring. This quadriceps are lengthening, being the antagonist to the agonist hamstring to flex at the knee, however because this is a eccentric contraction the quadriceps are still flexing in order to hold the weight and lower your body carefully. basically, the quadriceps are lengthening, but still under a load of weight.while lowering your body to become stable, the player usually widens their stance, this is achieved with the hip flexors moving the legs out in an abduction movement this hip joint is a ball and socket joint, allowing legs to move out in multiple directions and make the player more stable. As the ball moves in, the player will flex their deltoids, an agonist muscle to the antagonist lattimus dorsi in a concentric contraction at the ball and socket shoulder joint. This results in an abduction movement of the arms, being raised above your head like shown to catch the ball. As the ball comes into your hand, you extend to absorb the momentum of the ball, you then switch the movement around to extend your hand, through using your wrist flexors to flex the gliding joint in your wrist. the wrist flexor s can be varied in power to release the ball in different velocity s. all of this occurs in one fluid, simultaneous motion in order to perform a smooth set, as shown, and successfully place the ball to a good position for your teammate to spike. balance and stability had a huge impact on my learning of the set, so in improving these factors that influence balance and stability i was able to better perform in game situations. focussing on being stable during my training had a great influence on furthering my stage of learning during the assessment, making this the most important biomechanical principle that influenced me. because of the nature of my post test video, it is hard to see how I've improved on my set through practice of projectile motion. However, i believe that projectile motion has more to do with an understanding. In this video, I'm trying to perform a nice and controlled, simple set this is why i do not put a great amount of power into my set, or worry about the angle as it is not being set to anyone however through my training, using the whole type of training, allowed me to put my knowledge of projectile motion to use, this means that in the various required sets throughout the game, i had to adjust my angle and power of release quite often to hit middle, outside, or behind sets also, my height of release had to change sometimes as i jumped up to the ball to set it on occasions where a pass was too high, my understanding of projectile motion was important for me to move on to the associative stage of learning, as it vastly improved my ability to keep a volley going. this is why the biomechanical principal of newtons laws of motion is similar to projectile motion, in the sense that both indirectly effect

7 your performance, i say indirectly as they won t instantaneously make a physical difference to your performance, however gaining an understanding of their use is beneficial to a players set, as they understand the science behind the perfect set, to make their teammates, specifically the spikers, happy with their play. This is why i believe that newtons laws of motion and projectile motion fall short of being the most important biomechanical principal to balance and stability, as they indirectly enhance your performance, they do, however, still have a great impact on your play if you know how to utilise the theory.