Effects of Student Skill Level on Knowledge, Decision Making, Skill Execution and Game Performance in a Mini-Volleyball Sport Education Season

The purpose of the paper was to examine the effects of student skill level on knowledge, decision making, skill execution and game performance in a mini-volleyball Sport Education season. Forty-eight secondary school students from two classes participated in a 12 lesson season. Knowledge, decision-making and skill execution (components of game play) were evaluated prior to and on completion of the season. Paired t test analysis showed that the game performance components of decision making and game play achieved significant gains. Further, results of the regression analyses detected that the sigmoidal model was indeed superior to the linear model for (a) skill execution, (b) game play, and (c) knowledge, by explaining 4.0, 2.8, and 3.25 times more of the variance respectively. That is, improvements of the highest and lowest skilled students were less significant than those of more moderate levels. This outcome, accompanied by a lack of general improvement in skill execution, suggests that future research should examine in more detail the progressive development of the tasks and learning experiences incorporated during seasons of Sport Education.