P.E 1.6

Task One

After reviewing my initial Volleyball Serve I identified the following faults in my technique. Having my line of gravity at the back of my body and having a flexed left leg which means my base of support is narrow.

With my line of gravity behind me, I won't be balanced and I'll be unstable, meaning I won't be able to generate as much force as if my line of gravity was directly through my body.

Having a flexed left leg will lessen the amount of force that can be generated, because I am unstable. Because my left leg is flexed I will have a narrow base of support. This means I won't be able to use my larger muscles therefore, my serve won't be able to generate much force. As the lady in the right image has her left leg extended, she is able to contract more muscles to generate more force, meaning she is able to hit the ball more accurately.

In order to fix my technique, I will need to do massed practice so I am able to cultivate this technique to a higher level and keep on practicing it over and over till my technique is at an above-average level.

After reviewing my execution of the Volleyball Serve I identified the following faults in my technique. Having my line of gravity in front of my body and having an unstable base of support.

With my line of gravity in front of me, my base of support will be narrow and I will be unstable, causing me to be unable to generate as much force then if I had my line of gravity going directly through my body.

Having both my legs flexed while leaning forward, my base of support will be unstable and very narrow, meaning that I won't have as much control or force in my serve then if I did have a stable base of support. With my base of support how it is now, my serves will not be efficient or at a high level.

In order to fix my execution, I will need to continuously practice this technique. To improve, I will need to fix my line of gravity and base of support so that my mistakes will be fixed and I my technique would be a at a greater level then it was before.

Task Two

Once I identified the faults in my technique I had to choose different Types of Practice to help me improve. The two Types of Practice I chose were Part and Massed practice. Part practice is where you break down the technique into parts and then bring them together as a whole after practicing them in parts. Part practice is good for breaking down complex skills where you can practice the parts of the skill that aren't at a high level to increase your proficiency and skill for those parts. An example for Part practice is, i.e, tackling in rugby. 

Massed practice is where you constantly practice without taking any breaks till you are able to raise your technique proficiency and you're able to perform this skill at a high level. This practice is good for low energy consuming tasks and simple tasks.

The way I used these Types of Practice's was by continously practicing my throw before continuing trying to master my over arm serve without taking any breaks during this whole thing. This helped me improve my over arm serve technique, showing results of improvement in my skill. Also, I made sure to work on my stance when serving the ball and the way I make contact with the ball. For my stance, I made sure to stand in a way which I was able to have a good center of gravity, have good stability and have correct timing for when the ball is coming down from my throw and I am about to make contact to the ball. The way I practiced my contact with the ball was by throwing the ball and trying to hit the ball on an angle so that the ball will spin on an axis so that it is able to go downwards faster, making it harder for the opposition to be able to receive the ball. Once I made sure that all of my techniques were at a high level, I put them all together to make each three techniques into one, natural and free-flowing serve.

My second strategy I used was knowledge of technique. I used vidalyze to be able to analyze my technique while referring to a professional volleyball player's serve. While referring I was able to analyze the professional's technique which helped me remember to make sure my line of gravity goes through my body and to keep my left leg extended so that I have a good base of support. This helped me when I was trying to get the correct posture while practicing my over arm serve. Because I referred to the professional volleyball players serve, I was able to learn the over arm serve faster and at a higher standard.

The reason I used these strategies is because it would help me learn how to perform the over arm serve faster than any other strategies and I'd also be able to perform the serve at a high level.

My practice sessions were worth the amount of time, due to the skill level my over arm serve is at. I was training hard when practicing my serve, making sure I was able to perform it at a high standard and to show that my practice paid off through my technique when serving. During my practice sessions, I was motivated to succeed in cultivating my technique in over arm serving to a high level, making sure that I wasn't being distracted by others who weren't practicing their technique in over arm serving and were either playing fun games of volleyball or were just playing around with the volleyballs (shooting hoops, etc). This shows that I was able to properly use my practice sessions

Task Three

                         BEFORE                                                                                      AFTER

After six weeks, I was able to see the improvements in my technique when serving the ball. During the six weeks, I was able to stay motivated to correctly serve the ball continuosly to improve my technique to a higher level. As you can see in the photo above, my left leg is flexed, which gives me a greater base of support and center of gravity. 

The way I know that my technique improved was by how I was able to fix my previous faults in serving. Some of my previous faults that I had, like my line of gravity and having a flexed left leg which made my base of support unbalanced.
           Before                                                                     After

When comparing my serving to my "before" picture, I was able to identify that my line of gravity was in front of me. And now looking at my "after" photo I am able to see that I have improved, the evidence is my line of gravity going through my body, which shows that I am more stable than I was in my first serve.

The results on my serve shows evidence of improvement due to my score of 5/5 (now) compared to 2/5 (previously). This improvement in score shows that my time during practical lessons were worthwhile due to my motivation in trying to increase my over arm serve. My motive during practicals, being increasing my over arm serve's technique has been shown through my increase in score and technique.

The strategies I used to increase my over arm serve were able to help and improve my skill in serving. My Part practice was able to increase my skills independently, and through that practice I was able to use each skill proficiently (Throwing up the ball, posture and stance, preparing to strike the ball, etc.) I put them altogether to create one, fluent over arm serve. While practicing my serve, I used Massed practice. Because the over arm serve wasn't a high energy demanding task I was able to use Massed practice proficiently and efficiently for my serving technique and my posture.

The different factors that influenced my result was my motivation to increase my technique, my motivation for wanting to complete the assessment and my motivation to be able to play a proper game of volleyball at above-average level.

If I was to do my practice again, I wouldn't do anything, since I was able to get to a level that I am happy with.