The serve is a crucial skill in tennis. Young athletes' serve training is usually based on observing a model, where the athlete is asked to reproduce a standard performance shown by the instructor or by an expert player. The self-modeling is also used as a training strategy in tennis, where athletes watch their own performance recorded on a videotape. But, are visual models the most effective way to improve a motor skill, like the tennis serve? From experimental sport psychology literature we know that acoustic representations of motor actions can be useful models for improving both the performance and its learning. A systematic use of self-models based on a rhythmical acoustic representation highlighted a standardization of the motor performance. In the present research we investigated the effect of different self-model-based trainings by manipulating the perceptual information: We tested a video only model, an audio only model, and an audio-video one. Twenty young tennis players participated to the experiment. They were asked to perform a series of serves (100 trials). Each individual performance was videotaped and then edited to produce the three different models of the “best” serve performed by each athlete, that was chosen according to the suggestions of the instructor. Results show significant differences in the learning rate among athletes trained with the different kinds of models: The best result is obtained after acoustic stimulation only, the worst one with a video only model, while the audio-video model led to intermediate results. As it can be found in previous literature, data show also a strong tendency to a performance timing standardization. Therefore, young tennis players' data suggest that self-model trainings based on acoustic stimulation can be used as effective strategies to learn a motor action like the tennis serve.

Training the serve in tennis: The efficacy of different kinds of models

GALMONTE, Alessandra;
2010-01-01

Abstract

The serve is a crucial skill in tennis. Young athletes' serve training is usually based on observing a model, where the athlete is asked to reproduce a standard performance shown by the instructor or by an expert player. The self-modeling is also used as a training strategy in tennis, where athletes watch their own performance recorded on a videotape. But, are visual models the most effective way to improve a motor skill, like the tennis serve? From experimental sport psychology literature we know that acoustic representations of motor actions can be useful models for improving both the performance and its learning. A systematic use of self-models based on a rhythmical acoustic representation highlighted a standardization of the motor performance. In the present research we investigated the effect of different self-model-based trainings by manipulating the perceptual information: We tested a video only model, an audio only model, and an audio-video one. Twenty young tennis players participated to the experiment. They were asked to perform a series of serves (100 trials). Each individual performance was videotaped and then edited to produce the three different models of the “best” serve performed by each athlete, that was chosen according to the suggestions of the instructor. Results show significant differences in the learning rate among athletes trained with the different kinds of models: The best result is obtained after acoustic stimulation only, the worst one with a video only model, while the audio-video model led to intermediate results. As it can be found in previous literature, data show also a strong tendency to a performance timing standardization. Therefore, young tennis players' data suggest that self-model trainings based on acoustic stimulation can be used as effective strategies to learn a motor action like the tennis serve.
2010
sport psychology; motor learning; acoustic models
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/345996
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