Impact of mini volleyball training on playing skills of elementary students

This study investigates whether 12 weeks of mini volleyball training programs could enhance the playing skills of elementary students aged 9 to 12. The experimental group 1 underwent Integrated drill and game-based mini volleyball training (IDGBMVT) and experimental group 2 underwent Drill based mini volleyball training (DBMVT) and the Control group received no training from the investigator. To study the effects of the program, all three groups, DBMVT, DBMVT and the Control group, have been compared based on the results obtained from each. The participants were 60 elementary students aged 9 to 12. The experimental group 1 (n = 20), experimental group 2 (n = 20) and Control group (n = 20) - all these groups, except the Control group, received 36 training sessions in 12 weeks, 3 sessions per week and 48 hours of recovery period after every training session. A mini volleyball skill test was used to measure the playing skills (underhand pass, underhand serve and overhand pass). The data were examined with paired-samples t-tests, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with pre-test scores as the covariate, and Bonferroni post hoc tests at the .05 level. Both training groups shows improvement significantly on all three skills (d = 2.56 to 4.18 for IDGBMVT and 1.00 to 1.77 for DBMVT), while the control group showed no significant change (p = .186 to .577). After adjusting for pre-test scores, the groups differed significantly on the underhand pass, F(2,56)=68.09, η2 = .71, the underhand serve, F(2,56)=121.88, η2 = .81, and the overhand pass, F(2,56)=63.31, η2 = .69 (all p < .001). IDGBMVT scored higher than DBMVT and the control group on playing skills, and DBMVT scored higher than the control group. These results suggest that combining modified drills with mini games develops mini-volleyball skills more effectively than drills alone.