volleyball serves - speed vs. accuracy sunset ridge middle...

Running Head SPEED VS.ACCURACY 1

Volleyball Serves - Speed vs. Accuracy

Sunset Ridge Middle School

SPEED VS. ACCURACY 2

Contents

Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 4

Methods............................................................................................................................... 5

Apparatus ............................................................................................................................ 6

Procedure ............................................................................................................................ 7

Results ................................................................................................................................. 9

Discussions ....................................................................................................................... 13

Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 15

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 16

Underhand Serves ............................................................................................................. 17

Standing Serves ................................................................................................................. 18

Jump Serves ...................................................................................................................... 19

Group Results.................................................................................................................... 20

Individual Results ............................................................................................................. 23


Abstract

Recently, an experiment was conducted to prove the idea of F.I.T.T.S law. The law

simply states that one must give up accuracy for speed or speed for accuracy. The hypothesis

presented for this experiment was, “F.I.T.T.S law will be proven incorrect because it is possible

to serve with speed and still be able to hit a target with accuracy.” The procedure used to perform

this experiment was to first create at least two tables, one for speed and one for accuracy. Next

find access to several volleyballs, test subjects, a radar gun, and a target that is about the size of

two volleyballs wide and long. Step three would be to place the target somewhere on the court.

Have each person serve underhand four times trying to hit the target while using the radar gun to

track the speed of the serve. Do this for each type of serve and record the speed of the serve.

Next mark whether or not the target was hit. This step will be repeated for underhand serving,

standing serves, and jump serves. The fourth and final step for the experiment is to take all of the

recorded data from each serve for each person and compare the results to other people who were

tested, and compare the results to F.I.T.T.S law to support or refute the hypothesis.


Introduction

The purpose of the research was to determine whether or not an athlete participating in a

sport can perform a certain skill with both speed and accuracy at the same time. Presented was a

question or hypothesis which was used to help determine whether or not a person playing a sport,

in this case volleyball, can serve with both speed and accuracy. This project was prompted at a

volleyball practice while a team was practicing serves. The topic came up when two athletes

were practicing serves and comparing speeds or who could hit the target. The hypothesis

presented for this experiment was, “F.I.T.T.S law will be proven incorrect because it is possible

to serve fast and still be able to hit a target.” The other purpose of this experiment is to help

athletes be able to perform better. When there are tricks or loopholes that an athlete finds in a

game, usually they take them. Being able to know that it is possible to perform a task or skill

with speed and accuracy could benefit how an athlete plays.


Methods

Subjects/ Participants:

1- Chad Collotzi 6- Dan Eardley 11- Garret

2- Paul 7- Chris Jones 12- Trent Sanders

3- Cameron Willes 8- Kit Erickson 13- Mark Hiller

4- Evan Hiller 9- Emily Richardson 14- Scott Ricks

5- Jen Baumann 10-Brian Bay

The participants listed above volunteered or were willing to participate in the following

experiment. The participants participated in the experiment as a favor, and to help someone out.

Also some thought it would be fun to see how fast of a serve they themselves had as well as

others.


Apparatus

For this experiment, many items were used. In this experiment, fourteen people1 of both

genders were tested. Also for this particular experiment, three NCAA men’s volleyballs2,

pumped to the required or recommended pressure, were used for the participants to serve with. A

target3 was measured 1’ 10” x 2” and placed somewhere on a volleyball court. The net that was

served over was set at men’s height which is 7' 11-5/8”.To record speeds, a radar gun4 was used

to get the correct speeds rather than an estimation. The speeds were then recorded on tables that

were previously drawn on a paper5. The items previously described were all used to conduct this

experiment.

1 Test subjects

2 Volleyballs

3 Target

4 Radar Gun

5 Paper and Pencil


Procedure

In order for this experiment to occur, many steps had to be taken. The first thing that is

needed for this experiment is access to a couple things. These things are several volleyballs, a

radar gun, an open gym with a volleyball court painted, and willing test subjects.

The next thing that needs to be done before the experiment occurs is a place to record all

of the data that is collected from the experiment. Page fifteen has an example of what the layout

was for the tables. Two tables need to be made, one for speed and the other for accuracy. The

table also needs to have space to record four serves per serve type which results in twelve total

spots available to record data. For this experiment to be more accurate, have the test subjects or

participants play a game or two to warm up their muscles.

The next thing to do for the experiment would be to place the target somewhere on the

court. The target doesn’t necessarily need to be a certain place on the court, but for this

experiment the target was placed where a person would stand or play after they had served. This

spot is otherwise known to volleyball players as zone one.

Next have the first participant or test subject grab a ball and serve underhand as fast as

they can trying to hit the target. While the participant is serving, take the radar gun and point it at

the ball to find the speed. Repeat this three more times so there are a total of four recorded serve

speeds for that participants underhand serves. If the participant hits the target, simply place an X

on the serve number that the target was hit. Continue to do this until all of the participants have

underhand served a total of four times.


Now go back through the line starting with the first participant but this time having them

serve an overhand or otherwise called a standing serve. These serves will also have the speed

taken and all of the data needs to be recorded on the tables. Also the participants will serve like

this trying to hit the target while trying to serve as fast as they can four times.

The next serve type is a jump serve. All of the same steps used from the underhand and

standing serves will be used. If the participants are not physically able to jump serve or are not

willing to try, simply write NA in the spot where the speeds would be written down. As for the

accuracy table, the same thing applies.

When each participant has served a total of twelve times and all of the data has been

collected, the participants can resume their games. With all of the data that has been collected,

both the speeds and accuracies need to be compared to support of refute the hypothesis that was

presented. This can easily be done by writing the speed on one line and the accuracy right under

it. This way it is easy to identify whether or not the highest speed of serve hit the target or not.


Results

From this experiment, many things were observed, compared, and analyzed. This

experiment led to the conclusion that some participants were able to hit the target with their

highest speed of serve. In this experiment, participants served four times for each of the three

serve types preformed. The three serve types were underhand, overhand or standing, and jump

serves. For some participants, the serves that went the fastest, were the ones that hit the target. In

the overall experiment, the average speeds for underhand serves ranged from 16.8 to 17.9 miles

per hour. For more detailed results, look at pages 9-12 for group results and pages 17-36 for

individual results.

For overhand or standing serves, the middle or average speed hit the target more

than the serves with the highest speed or the lowest speed. The ability to serve with great speeds

and be able to control where it goes varied within the people who participated in this experiment.

The speeds ranged from about 29.9 to 31.78 miles per hour but that is just the average. Some

were able to serve up to 47 MPH but the average was lower because of all of the other

participants. The more detailed results can be found on the pages 9o-12 and 17-36 of this report.

As far as the jump serves go, some people were not able to perform a jump serve. This is

because they were either not physically able to jump serve, were not comfortable with it, or were

not willing to try. For these situations, the charts have N/A which means that participant could

not jump serve for one of the previously stated reasons. For those that could jump serve, most

were only able to hit the target twice. The speeds that hit the target were those like the standing

serves in the way that it was usually the middle or average speed serve that hit the target. The

jump serve speeds averaged from about 41 to 44 miles per hour. Also pages 9-12 and 17-36

contain the detailed results for individual and group jump serves.


With the different serve types it is possible to serve with both speed and accuracy. These

results showed that there are a lot of different ways to play volleyball just with serves. Through

this experiment and even these results, people who are really into this sport are better able to

improve their game by seeing what works best. The evidence gathered from this experiment is

shown in the charts included in this report. From the charts below, most participants stayed

within the standard deviation.

Standard Deviation is a measure of the spread of the data. For example, on from this

data for serve 1, the underhand the average speed is 17 and the standard deviation is

3.78. This shows that most of the participant's number of underhand serves will lie within 1

standard deviation of the average or between 13.22 and 20.78.

Jen Baumann’s second underhand serve was one standard deviation below the average

which was 17.9. Dan Eardley had two underhand serves, two and three, that were also below

the standard deviation. Chris Jones’ second serve however was one standard deviation above

the average of 17.9.This data also shows Kit Erickson had serves two, three, and four under

more than 1 standard deviation below the average. Emily Richardson’s serves one, three, and

four were also under the average of about 16.8. Brian Bay and Mark Hiller have their third

serve above the standard deviation. Trent Sanders has his second and fourth serve above the

standard deviation. Also Scott Ricks had a 22 mph underhand serve, which is more than 1

standard deviation above the average. The third and fourth serves were also more than 1

standard deviation above the average.


Results for standing serves were found with more participants under the standard

deviation. For serve 1, the average speed was 31.7 mph and the standard deviation is 5.93. This

displays that most of the participant's number of standing serves will lie within 1 standard

deviation of the average or between 36.62 and 51.38. All of Chris Jones’ serves were 1 standard

deviation below the average. Kit Erickson was again below the standard deviation average but

with serves three and four this time. All of Paul’s standing serves were above the standard

deviation average by one if not two. Also Scott Ricks had his first, third, and fourth serves over

the standard deviation again.


For jump serves, not a lot of participants were not able to or not willing to attempt a

jump serve. So there were six people who participated in the jump serve part of the

experiment. For serve 1, the jump the average speed was 44 mph and the standard deviation is

7.38. This goes to show that most of the participant's number of jump serves will lie within 1

standard deviation of the average or between 36.62 and 51.38. Mark Hiller’s first, second, and

fourth serves were below the standard deviation average by 1 standard deviation. Paul and

Trent Sanders both had speeds 1 standard deviation above the average. Both Paul and Trent

were above the average with serves one, two and three, with Paul having serve four as well.

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

STANDING

SERVE 1 SERVE 2 SERVE 3 SERVE 4

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

JUMP

SERVE 1 SERVE 2 SERVE 3 SERVE 4


Discussions

The results that were expected were different than what was expected for some of the

participants. This is because through watching these participants play for a long time, their

speeds and accuracy results were different than were thought. Through this experiment, what

was thought for serving speeds and accuracy percentages was proven wrong. Possible error could

have occurred during the experiment. A possible error could be writing down the wrong speed or

possible foot faults. Another possible error possible in this experiment could be the net not at the

right height giving a possible advantage to some of the participants. Something which could have

made the data collected and recorded from this project unreliable would be not hearing the speed

correctly, and then written down incorrectly. If this project were to be repeated, it is suggested

that the participants are told with more detail what to do, and stay more organized.

Other experiments that could be conducted to further investigate this topic could be

things like passing accuracy of serves, which serve is harder to pass accurately. Another could be

whether hits are better to a certain spot (accuracy) or whether speed determines the kill/hit

(speed). The results from this experiment conclude that speed and accuracy can both occur

together. For some people it may differ depending on the person and skill set that they have. The

importance of the findings in this experiment would be for athletes looking for ways to improve

both their mental and physical play. Knowing as they practice and their skill level increases,

speed and accuracy can both play a key role in how the athlete preforms during a game situation.

Through this experiment, it has been shown that a person or athlete can serve with both speed

and accuracy. From the results that can be found on pages 9-12 and 17-36 displayed through the

data that a person or athlete can serve with speed and accuracy at the same time. F.I.T.T.S. law

was disproven through this experiment. The data that was recorded through the experiment,


supports the hypothesis presented for this experiment and refutes or argues against F.I.T.T.S.

law. Through a lot of research and analyzing of data, the conclusion was made that most people

with more experience or advanced skills in a specific skill were better able to serve with speed

and accuracy. Because some of the participants have had a lot of experience either just playing

regularly for fun or have actually played in a competitive league, this gives them a more distinct

advantage over other who just play sometimes and have never really taken it seriously.


Conclusions

The results of this project showed that it is possible for a person or athlete to serve with

both speed and accuracy. Based on the data that was collected and the analyzed, the statement

previously presented is accurate. The hypothesis stated for this project proven correct because it

stated that it is possible to be able to serve with speed and accuracy. The results are shown on

page 7 of this report and the tables are also shown on pages 11-13. Ten people out of the 14 were

able to prove or support the hypothesis for this experiment. This is over half of the participants

tested and all of them showed results that contributed to the experiment to that it is able to be

statistically significant. Many of the participants showed surprising results that also contributed

to the experiment in great ways.

Based on how the participants have been viewed playing outside of the experiment, this

made the results seem surprising. The speeds were faster than thought for the participants who

were previously recognized for being over the standard deviation average. Some of the speeds

were opposite and were slower than thought. And these people also were previously recognized

in the results part of this paper. When attempting to pass one of Paul’s serves, it might be thought

that it is coming faster than it really does which makes it seem faster and harder to pass.

Compared to one of Kit’s serves, which can come over slower than thought, which makes it

easier to pass.


Acknowledgements

Chad Collotzi Kit Erickson

Paul Ottson Emily Richardson

Cameron Willes Brian Bay

Evan Hiller Garrett

Jen Baumann Trent Sanders

Dan Eardley Mark Hiller

Chris Jones Scott Ricks

Thank you to all of the participants listed above for their cooperation and willingness to

participate in this experiment. Thank you to Clayton Ostler for donating his radar gun for the use

of this experiment. Also thanks to Scott Ricks for being willing to help track speeds and get

everyone to help out. Thanks to all of the listed participants, F.I.T.T.S Law was able to be put to

the test and proven to be incorrect. This experiment would not have been possible and so

accurate if none of these people were willing to help out. The method that was used for this

experiment can be found on page five of this report. Page five of the report goes into more detail

about the methods used and materials used.


Underhand Serves

NAME SERVE 1 SERVE 2 SERVE 3 SERVE 4 Average

(MPH) (MPH) (MPH) (MPH) (MPH)

1- Chad Collotzi 15 18 17 17 16.75 2- Paul 16 17 17 16 16.5 3- Cameron Willes 22 20 18 18 19.5 4- Evan Hiller 17 16 17 17 16.75 5- Jen Baumann 16 14 16 17 15.75 6- Dan Eardley 10 13 13 15 12.75 7- Chris Jones 20 22 20 18 20 8- Kit Erickson 11 13 10 11 11.25 9- Emily Richardson 13 15 11 12 12.75 10- Brian Bay 18 20 21 19 19.5 11- Garret 18 20 19 17 18.5 12- Trent Sanders 20 23 19 20 20.5 13- Mark Hiller 20 20 22 18 20 14- Scott Ricks 22 20 21 20 20.75

Average (MPH) 17 17.9 17.2 16.8

(X=Hit the target)

NAME SERVE 1 SERVE 2 SERVE 3 SERVE 4 Percentage

1- Chad Collotzi

x x

50

2- Paul

x x 50

3- Cameron Willes

x x

50

4- Evan Hiller

x

x 50

5- Jen Baumann x

x x 75

6- Dan Eardley

x x

50

7- Chris Jones

x x 50

8- Kit Erickson x x x

75

9- Emily Richardson

x x 50

10- Brian Bay x x

x 75

11- Garret

x

x 50

12- Trent Sanders

x

25

13- Mark Hiller x

x x 75

14- Scott Ricks

x x x 75

Percentage 28.6 57.1 78.6 64.3


Standing Serves


(MPH) (MPH) (MPH) (MPH) (MPH) 1- Chad Collotzi 27 25 26 27 26.25 2- Paul 47 46 47 45 46.25 3- Cameron Willes 29 28 24 26 26.75 4- Evan Hiller 36 33 34 35 34.5 5- Jen Baumann 32 30 32 31 31.25 6- Dan Eardley 32 31 31 32 31.5 7- Chris Jones 23 21 22 22 22 8- Kit Erickson 26 24 22 25 24.25 9- Emily Richardson 27 25 27 26 26.25 10- Brian Bay 32 30 31 31 31 11- Garret 30 29 30 30 29.75 12- Trent Sanders 33 30 31 32 31.5 13- Mark Hiller 32 32 31 32 31.75 14- Scott Ricks 38 35 37 37 36.75

Average (MPH) 31.7 29.9 30.4 30.8

(X=Hit the target) NAME SERVE 1 SERVE 2 SERVE 3 SERVE 4 Percentage

1- Chad Collotzi x

x x 75

2- Paul x x

50

3- Cameron Willes

x x 50

4- Evan Hiller

x x

50

5- Jen Baumann x

x x 75

6- Dan Eardley x

x x 75

7- Chris Jones

x x

50

8- Kit Erickson

x

25 9- Emily Richardson

x

x 50

10- Brian Bay

x x 50

11- Garret x

x

50

12- Trent Sanders

x

x 50

13- Mark Hiller

x x

50

14- Scott Ricks x x

x 75

Percentage 42.9 50 71.4 57.1


Jump Serves


(MPH) (MPH) (MPH) (MPH) (MPH)

1- Chad Collotzi NA NA NA NA 2- Paul 53 53 52 53 52.75

3- Cameron Willes 45 42 40 43 42.5 4- Evan Hiller 38 35 32 36 35.25 5- Jen Baumann NA NA NA NA

6- Dan Eardley NA NA NA NA 7- Chris Jones NA NA NA NA 8- Kit Erickson NA NA NA NA 9- Emily Richardson NA NA NA NA 10- Brian Bay NA NA NA NA 11- Garret 41 37 39 40 39.25

12- Trent Sanders 52 52 50 47 50.25 13- Mark Hiller 35 33 33 34 33.75 14- Scott Ricks NA NA NA NA

Average (MPH) 44 42 41 42.2

NAME SERVE 1 SERVE 2 SERVE 3 SERVE 4 Percentage

NA NA NA NA NA

1- Chad Collotzi NA NA NA NA NA

2- Paul

x x

50

3- Cameron Willes

x 25

4- Evan Hiller

x 25

5- Jen Baumann NA NA NA NA NA

6- Dan Eardley NA NA NA NA NA

7- Chris Jones NA NA NA NA NA

8- Kit Erickson NA NA NA NA NA

9- Emily Richardson NA NA NA NA NA

10- Brian Bay NA NA NA NA NA

11- Garret

x

x 50

12- Trent Sanders

x

25

13- Mark Hiller

x

x 50

14- Scott Ricks NA NA NA NA NA

Percentage

21.4 14.3 28.6


Group Results

0

5

10

15

20

25

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

e (

MP

H)

Underhand

1- Chad Collotzi

2- Paul

3- Cameron Willes

4- Evan Hiller

5- Jen Baumann

6- Dan Eardley

7- Chris Jones

8- Kit Erickson

9- Emily Richardson

10- Brian Bay

11- Garret

12- Trent Sanders

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

e (

MP

H)

Standing

1- Chad Collotzi

2- Paul

3- Cameron Willes

4- Evan Hiller

5- Jen Baumann

6- Dan Eardley

7- Chris Jones

8- Kit Erickson

9- Emily Richardson

10- Brian Bay

11- Garret

12- Trent Sanders


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

e (

MP

H)

Jump Serve

2- Paul

3- Cameron Willes

4- Evan Hiller

11- Garret

12- Trent Sanders

13- Mark Hiller

0 20 40 60 80

Percentage hit

Underhand

14- Scott Ricks

13- Mark Hiller

12- Trent Sanders

11- Garret

10- Brian Bay

9- Emily Richardson

8- Kit Erickson

7- Chris Jones

6- Dan Eardley

5- Jen Baumann

4- Evan Hiller


0 20 40 60 80

Percentage Hit

Standing

14- Scott Ricks

13- Mark Hiller

12- Trent Sanders

11- Garret

10- Brian Bay

9- Emily Richardson

8- Kit Erickson

7- Chris Jones

6- Dan Eardley

5- Jen Baumann

4- Evan Hiller

0 10 20 30 40 50 60Percentage Hit

Jump

13- Mark Hiller

12- Trent Sanders

11- Garret

4- Evan Hiller

3- Cameron Willes

2- Paul


Individual Results

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

e (

MP

H)

Chad collotzi

Underhand

Standing

0 20 40 60 80

Accuracy

Chad Collotzi

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

serv

e (

MP

H)

Paul

Underhand

Standing

Jump

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Accuracy

Paul

JUMP

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

e (

MP

H)

Camern Willes

Underhand

Standing

Jump

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Accuracy

Cameron Willes

JUMP

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

e (

MP

H)

Evan Hiller

Underhand

Standing

Jump

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Accuracy

Evan Hiller

JUMP

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

e (

MP

H)

Jen Baumann

Underhand

Standing

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Accuracy

Jen Baumann

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

es

(MP

H)

Dan Eardley

Underhand

Standing

0 20 40 60 80

Accuracy

Dan Eardley

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

es

(MP

H)

Chris Jones

Underhand

Standing

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Accuracy

Chris Jones

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

es

(MP

H)

Kit Erickson

Underhand

Standing

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Accuracy

Kit Erickson

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

the

Se

rve

(M

PH

)

Emily Richardson

Underhand

Standing

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Accuracy

Emily Richardson

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

es

(MP

H)

Brian Bay

Underhand

Standing

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Accuracy

Brian Bay

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

the

Se

rve

(M

PH

)

Garrett

Underhand

Standing

Jump

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Accuracy

Garrett

JUMP

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

es

(MP

H)

Trent Sanders

Underhand

Standing

Jump

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Accuracy

Trent Sanders

JUMP

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

es

(MP

H)

Mark Hiller

Underhand

Standing

Jump

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Accuracy

Mark Hiller

JUMP

STANDING

UNDERHAND


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1 2 3 4

Spe

ed

of

Serv

es

(MP

H)

Scott Ricks

Underhand

Standing

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Accuracy

Scott Ricks

STANDING

UNDERHAND

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