Effect of constraints on volleyball service performance: the role of the experience level

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate how the volleyball service performance of subjects with different levels of experience is influenced by the interaction of different constraints. The study included 36 male volunteers (16.44 ± 0.50 years) allocated into two groups according to the level of experience. Participants performed 10 attempts of the serve volleyball in each of the four experimental conditions. One constraint related to the difficulty of the goal and another related to the physical environment for the execution of the task were manipulated. The performance of the overhand volleyball serve was assessed by means of a movement pattern checklist and of the accuracy to target. The experienced group maintained performance in all conditions, while the inexperienced group showed less consistency of accuracy in conditions with physical constraint and worse score of the movement pattern in the condition of greater difficulty of the goal in interaction with physical constraint. The level of experience had a greater influence on performance than the other constraints. One possible explanation is that it is a constraint capable of maximizing the way that the subject explores the information available by the other constraints.