Effects of a Mindfulness Intervention on Volleyball-Specific Performance: A Randomized Trial

Mindfulness-based interventions have gained increasing attention in sport psychology as approaches to enhance attentional control, emotion regulation, and performance consistency under competitive pressure. This study examined the effects of an eight-week mindfulness-based intervention on volleyball-specific technical performance in elite female athletes. Twenty-eight volleyball players aged 17-19 years were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 14), which completed daily mindfulness sessions lasting 30-35 minutes before regular volleyball training, or a control group (n = 14), which continued standard volleyball training only. Training load was standardized across groups and monitored to ensure consistency. Volleyball performance was assessed before and after the intervention using a standardized skill test battery, including forearm pass, overhead pass, serve, spike, and block accuracy measures. The experimental group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in overall technical performance compared with the control group. The largest performance gains were observed in serve and spike accuracy. These findings indicate that mindfulness-based training may serve as an effective complementary approach to technical and physical preparation in volleyball, supporting skill execution and performance consistency in competitive contexts.