The effect of directed invention method studies on basic skills and reaction time in volleyball

The main aim of the study was to examine the effect of the directed invention method on basic skills and reaction time in volleyball. A total of 40 students who had not received volleyball training before in the fall semester of the 2024-2025 academic year at Bayburt University participated in the study. The participants were divided into two groups, the control group, which only learned volleyball with traditional training, and the experimental group, in which the guided invention method and traditional training were applied together, with 20 participants in each group. There were 10 male and 10 female students in each group and all participants were included in the 8-week training program. A quasi-experimental research design with pretest-posttest control group was used in the study. As a data collection tool, a "rating scale" and direct observation were used to measure the pre and post-tests of volleyball-specific basic movement skills. Blazepod system and wireless light disks were used to measure reaction times. Descriptive statistics and normality tests were used to analyze the data; Mann Whitney U test (for intergroup comparisons) and Wilcoxon signed-rank test (for intragroup comparisons) were applied for non-normally distributed data. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 26 software. According to the findings of the study, basic skill and reaction time performance scores increased significantly in both groups. In intergroup comparisons, no statistically significant difference was found in block and serve skills; however, it was determined that the participants in the experimental group improved significantly in finger pass, cuff pass, dunk technique and reaction time touch and duration performance. As a result, it was seen that the combination of directed invention and traditional training applied for 8 weeks can be an effective method in improving basic skill performance in volleyball. It was concluded that directed invention training provided a significant increase especially in finger pass, cuff pass, spike skills and reaction time performance; however, there was no significant difference between the groups in block and serve skills.