The attentional focus impact on tennis skills’ technique in 10 and under years old players: Implications for real game situations

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of the internal and external focus of attention instructions on performance and learning of the service, forehand and backhand tennis skills at 8 -9 years old tennis players. 68 participants of 8 -9 years old (M=8.8, SD=0.54), were divided in three groups and followed a 6 weeks intervention program; the internal attentional focus group (N=21), the external attentional group (N=23) and the control group (N=24). Three measurements were implemented (pre, post, retention) in which the participants were video recorded: a) while performing each skill and b) while playing matches in real game situations. Due to the qualitative evaluation of the technique five assessment criteria were used, whilst due to performance outcome evaluation one part of the Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI) was used. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant interaction between groups and measurements and Bonferroni post hoc showed that the athletes of external focus of attention group had better scores in the post-test in the skills' technique and in real game condition. The findings are in line with those of previous studies, which proved the superiority of external focus of attention instructions in performance and learning of object manipulation skills. Moreover, the present research makes an initial attempt to extend the already existing research about attentional focus impact on real game performance.

Attention in physical education classes: Differences between colletive sports (Atención en las clases de educación física: diferencias entre deportes colectivos)

“…In order to combat this attentional lapse, teachers must try other strategies to expose the information and «guide» students' attention, as stated in Ladewig (2017) and Grube, Ryan, Lowell, and Stringer (2018). In addition, the feedback given by the teacher are equally important for better learning, so researchers like Wulf, Chiviacowsky, Schiller and Avila (2010), Wulf (2013), Kim, Jimenez-Diaz, and Chen (2017) and Tsetseli , Zetou, Vernadakis and Mountaki (2018), concluded that the feedbacks directed to an external focus show more benefits and development in completing the task or exercise, than the internally focused group.…”

“…In the specific case of attention, it's considered as an important mediating variable in the teaching/learning process, and therefore this variable has been studied by several researchers (Santos, Petrica, Serrano & Mesquita, 2014;Emad, Neumann & Abel, 2017;Kim, Jimenez-Diaz, & Chen, 2017;Navarro-Patón, Lake-Ballesteros, Basanta-Camino, & Arufe-Giraldez, 2018 ;Tsetseli, Zetou, Vernadakis, & Mountaki, 2018;. Petrica and Tavares (1999) studied students' attention of the 2nd cycle in physical education classes, using an observational method in which the results show that students are aware of the task and the instructions given by the teacher.…”

Influence of different focus of attention instructions on learning volleyball skills for young novices

“…They argue that in studies with more stable (closed) environments, no differences were found between the internal and external attentional focus group, in movements such as golf shot (Wulf et al, 2003) and soccer kick from a fixed ball position (Uehara et al, 2008). This may lead to the conclusion that instructions directing the attention externally may be more effective and beneficial for open skills (Castaneda & Gray 2007;Tsetseli et al 2018).…”

The attention of students during physical education class based on academic performance (La atención de los estudiantes durante la clase de educación física basada en el rendimiento académico)

“…Attention has an important role in the teaching/learning process, as shown on investigations such as Petrica and Tavares (1999), Petrica (2003), Santos (2009), Santos et al, (2020) that measured and plotted attentional profiles during physical education classes. We also found studies with an emphasis on attentional focus, such as Tsetseli, Zetou, Vernadakis and Mountaki (2018) who studied the attentional focus of young people while practicing tennis. They found that students who received feedback from external nature had better results than students who received internal feedbacks.…”