The Impact of Direct Learning Units on Teaching the Volley Shot Skill in Tennis for Third-Year Students

Abstract

The importance of this research lies in designing educational units for learning the volley shot skill, which is considered one of the advanced skills in tennis that beginner learners should learn using the direct kinesthetic learning method. This method relies on the teacher's subjective opinions and ideas in guiding the learner and providing them with the educational experiences and skills that they deem appropriate. The researcher chose to study this skill and delve into this research for several reasons, including the scarcity of research addressing its teaching, as it is considered an advanced skill. There is also a lack of focus on teaching this skill effectively to beginner students to enable them to perform it with good coordination. Based on the above, the researcher was motivated to prepare educational units using a direct learning method to teach this skill, thereby contributing to the development of the technical performance of some important game skills, including volleyball skills. The research aimed to design educational units using a direct learning method to teach volleyball skills and to identify the impact of these educational units on third-year students. The research population and sample consisted of male third-year students (evening studies) at the College of Physical Education and Sports Sciences/University of Wasit, totaling (23) students. The researcher randomly selected a sample of (8) students from section (B), designated for male students only, representing (34.7%) of the original population. The field research procedures included the application of the educational units prepared by the researcher, which comprised (4) educational units for teaching volleyball skills. The study employed a direct learning approach, with one training unit per week, along with pre- and post-tests of the participants' skill performance. Based on the results obtained, the researcher concluded that the exercises used in the direct learning units for teaching the flying stroke skill had a positive impact on improving the skill performance level of the research sample, as demonstrated by the post-test results.