The effectiveness of Catch-Volleyball as an introduction to Net-Type games

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effectiveness of catch-volleyball as an introduction to nettype games, in which the aim game is to put together a series of ball catches in the home court and to master of skill of the ball flip. The subjects in this research were 4th graders, and the game was played by the following rules. Children serve the ball by throwing it into the opponent’s court with both hands. Within their court, the players had to pass the ball three consecutive times, consisting of catches and passes, after which they had to return the ball into the opponent’s court by either throwing the ball with both hands or by flipping it. From the results of the study, the following points had become clear: 1) Being able to serve the ball into the opponent’s court with both hands increased the serve success rate. 2) Since children were able to pass the balls that they caught, they were successfully able to perform reliable a strong sequence of catches and passes within their home court. Furthermore, the mean time per one attack decreased and the game became faster. 3) Since children were given the choice of returning the ball to the opponent’s court by either throwing the ball with two hands or flipping the ball, the attack methods naturally diversified. This also increased the number of attacking points scored. 4) Since children became keenly aware of the role of the setter and were able to double the points scored with flipped attacks, they increased the ratio of flipped attacks and as a result were able to acquire those skills more efficiently during game play. 5) Children developed the ability to move from their positions to cover their teammates or attack their opponents. From the above results, we concluded that catch-volleyball is effective as an introduction to net-type games.