The purpose of this study was to determine if an external attention focus was more effective than an internal attention focus for college female volleyball players practicing the complex open skill of the jump float serve. Sixteen college females with prior competitive volleyball playing experience were matched into either an internal or external attention focus group, each serving a total of 30 balls in three blocks of ten serves. After the pre-test, two days of practice and day off, a post-test was conducted for both groups. Results demonstrated a 25% improvement for the internal focus group and a 26.8% improvement for the external focus group. These results suggest that both internal and external focuses of attention are beneficial for practicing the complex jump float serve. However, a paired t-test from the improvement scores of both groups demonstrated no significant difference between the two practice conditions suggesting that either an internal focus or an external focus of attention is effective for practicing the complex jump float serve. In this particular study, external focus of attention was not found to be more effective than an internal focus of attention. Since these results do not support much of the research done with attention focus and sport skills, additional studies are needed comparing internal and external focus of attention, especially when practicing open sport skills.
Thinking Outside the Block: External Focus of Attention Improves Reaction Times and Movement Preparation Times in Collegiate Track Sprinters
