The Effect of Personal Goals in a Service Skill on Volleyball

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the effect of personal goals in a service skill on volleyball. For this purpose, eighty (n=80) university students (male=40, female=40), 19 to 22 year of age (M=19.54, SD=0.79), voluntarily participated in an experiment. It was used the Russel’s and Lange’s test for a volleyball service performance (1940). The subjects organized into two groups (experimental group, and control group) and performed twenty trials of a specific service skill. After the tenth trial, the experimental group (n=40) set specific, personal goals and continue their performance trying to achieve the goal. The control group (n=40) set no goals after the tenth trial. The results showed that the performance of the experimental group was significantly better after the personal goal setting (p<.001). In addition, the control group didn’t manage to enhance their performance in the last ten trials (p>.05). It seems that personal goals enhance performance in sport and exercise.