Combined practice and learning of movement pattern and precision of the volleyball serve in beginners

This study aimed to investigate the combined practice schedule on learning both the movement pattern and precision of a complex sports motor skill. Based on pretest performance, sixteen participants (14.19 +/- 1.80 years-old) were counterbalanced into two groups, random practice and combined practice. During the acquisition phase, the participants performed 252 trials of the Japanese volleyball serve divided equally into six sessions. The score of movement pattern and score of serve precision measures were analyzed on the pretest and retention test. The results showed that combined practice led to movement pattern improvement, and random practice improved serve precision. These results give support to the proposition that movement patterns and parameters have distinct structures of control. Also, the results indicate that combined practice needs a higher amount of random practice to promote parameters improvement.