Associations between visual skills and serve reception performance in elite male volleyball outside hitters

Visual skills are considered important for elite athletic performance, but their association with volleyball-specific performance remains unclear. This study examined the associations between visual skills and match-based serve reception performance in elite male volleyball outside hitters.

Twenty-four elite male volleyball outside hitters were included. Ten visual skills were assessed using the Senaptec Sensory Station, and season-long serve reception performance was analyzed using the Data Volley system. Perfect serve reception rate (#%), defined as the percentage of receptions rated as perfect out of the total number of individual serve receptions, was used as the match-based performance indicator.

Pearson correlation analysis showed that perfect serve reception rate was strongly associated with eye-hand coordination (r = -0.778, p < 0.001), near/far quickness (r = 0.756, p < 0.001), and reaction time (r = -0.746, p < 0.001). A theory-driven parsimonious regression model suggested that these three variables were independently associated with perfect serve reception rate in this sample.

Selected visual skills, particularly eye-hand coordination, near/far quickness, and reaction time, are associated with serve reception performance in elite male volleyball outside hitters. Visual skills assessment may provide supplementary information for understanding individual differences in serve reception performance, although these findings should be interpreted cautiously given the cross-sectional design and small sample size.