NCT06364995

Effects of Specialised Physical Education in Volleyball on Middle School Students' Physical Fitness and Performance

Effects of Specialised Physical Education in Volleyball on Middle School Students' Physical Fitness and Performance in Sichuan Province

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 90 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Universiti Putra Malaysia · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 13 Years – 15 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Physical education stands as a collaborative, bilateral activity essential for the development and improvement of young people's physical qualities and plays a pivotal role in youth sports promotion. Volleyball offers a blend of aerobic and anaerobic exercises, developing muscle strength, bone density, cardiovascular health, and fine-tuning the nervous system. It is effective in improving physical attributes such as strength, speed, agility, endurance, and coordination, which are crucial for holistic student development and success in the standardized PE entrance examinations for senior high school. Recent trends have highlighted a decline in physical fitness among youth, as evidenced by rising obesity rates and increasing failure rates in fitness assessments. To counteract this, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China 2021 has initiated a shift towards "specialised physical education," integrating health knowledge with basic and specialised motor skills training. This innovative educational model hopes to improve student physical fitness across educational tiers. Therefore, this study chose volleyball specialised physical education as an intervention to study the effect of physical fitness and The PE entrance examination for senior high school performance of middle school students.

Detailed description

This study employed a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (CRCT) design, conducted across two middle schools in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China. The investigators systematically assigned an experimental group to undergo a meticulously structured 10-week specialised volleyball physical education program, tailored according to rigorous research protocol. Parallel to this, the control group participated in a traditional physical education curriculum. The experimental group engaged in a targeted training regimen focused on elevating volleyball competencies. The program was carefully segmented into four distinct developmental phases, ensuring a gradual and measurable enhancement of skills. Each session maintained strict adherence to a prescribed intensity gradient, incorporating exercises that evolved from low to high intensity, simple to complex executions, and individual techniques to holistic gameplay. The intervention unfolded as follows: Warm-up (10 min): A series of dynamic activities designed to prepare the body for rigorous physical activity, emphasizing mobility and injury prevention. Basic contents of PE lesson (25 min): This segment included a progressive suite of volleyball drills and exercises, fine-tuned to fortify foundational skills during the initial weeks and gradually introducing strategic elements as the weeks advanced. Skill refinement, tactical understanding, and technical proficiency were paramount throughout the phases. Cool-down (5 min): Post-training activities focused on lowering heart rate and stretching to aid recovery, reduce muscle soreness, and improve flexibility. The four progressive phases of the intervention were as follows: Phase 1 (1-2 weeks) Foundational Technique Acquisition Phase 2 (3-5 weeks) Skill Refinement and Expansion Phase 3 (6-8 weeks) Advanced Techniques and Tactical Application Phase 4 (9-10 weeks) Competitive Play and Specialisation. To measure the impact of this intervention, pre-test was conducted to establish baseline data before the experiment, and post-test was delivered after the tenth week. The testing protocol aimed to capture the progression in both physical fitness and proformance, providing a comparative analysis between the specialised physical education intervention and traditional physical education approach.

Conditions

• Physical Fitness
• Performance

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Volleyball	Volleyball Specialised Physical Education Intervention is a step-by-step approach to teaching the intervention. Each lesson was conducted as a Warm-up (10 minutes), Basic contents of the PE lesson (25 minutes), and Cool-down (5 minutes). From the learning of basic skills in the first session to the final Combination Practice underhand service, receive, service, pass, spiking, and block, from the simple to the difficult, the intensity of the training is from weak to strong, Allowing participants to build upon a solid foundation toward mastering intricate volleyball maneuvers. Intensity modulation is key to this intervention; training intensity evolves from moderate to vigorous, aligning with the increasing complexity of skills and the physical demand required to execute them proficiently. The curriculum is thoughtfully designed to transition from basic skill execution to complex gameplay, with each lesson introducing new skills or refining existing ones.
BEHAVIORAL	Traditional Physical Education	Participants participating in the control group will attend traditional physical education classes following the established physical education syllabus. Participants in the control group will attend four 40-minute classes per week over ten weeks. Each session will consist of a warm-up (10 minutes), the basics of PE (25 minutes), and a cool-down (5 minutes). The duration and intensity of the experimental and control groups were the same, which allowed for a better comparison.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-01-10
• Primary completion: 2024-06-28
• Completion: 2024-07-05
• First posted: 2024-04-15
• Last updated: 2024-04-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: China