Variable practice in learning the forehand drive in tennis.

One of the most important factors that has occupied researchers in motor learning is the method of practicing motor skills. This study examined the effect of variable practice in learning the forehand drive in tennis by children and adolescents. Variability of practice was achieved by the alternation of targets and the distance between the point of execution and the target. 40 male children ages 9 to 10 years and 40 male students ages 18 to 19 years were divided into eight equal groups according to age and training group (No Specific target, 1 target, 4 targets, and 5 targets). After 18 practice sessions over 40 days and similar teaching, the participants performed 60 transfer trials after a rest of 72 hours. The experimental design used was a 2 (age) x 4 (practice group) x 6 (block of trials) with repeated measures on the last factor for absolute and constant error scores. The analysis of variance showed that the children performed more poorly than the adolescents, and variable practice yielded better performance than constant and specialized practice. The results support the variability of practice hypothesis and indicate that the effect of variable and specialized practic was related to age of the groups of trainees.