Real-time changes in player-perceived psychological momentum across scoring runs in volleyball: a single-match case...

Psychological momentum (PM) has been proposed to be associated with athletic performance, yet athletes' real-time experiences of PM during competition remain understudied. This single-match case study examined changes in male high school volleyball players' perceived PM across scoring runs and whether these patterns differed between two teams.

Seventeen players (Team A, n = 8; Team B, n = 9) participated in a research-organized intra-squad match. After each rally, players verbally rated their own team's PM on a 7-point scale. Immediate within-player PM changes following the first, second, and third points of scoring runs were analyzed using a cross-classified linear mixed-effects model with participant and team-by-rally event as random effects. An AR(1) sensitivity analysis and an exploratory analysis of cumulative PM change were also conducted.

In the primary analysis, Team, Run position, and their interaction were not significant, and no between-team differences were observed at any run position. Thus, the hypothesis that the eventual winning team would show greater PM increases was not supported. Immediate PM changes were descriptively positive following own-team scoring. The AR(1) sensitivity analysis showed a significant Run-position effect, indicating model-dependent inference. Exploratorily, cumulative PM change increased across scoring-run positions, with no Team or interaction effects.

In this single-match case, PM changes were not clearly differentiated by eventual match outcome. PM may instead reflect proximal scoring events and accumulate across successive successes, although these findings should be interpreted cautiously given the limited number of independent scoring events.