NCAA division I women's vollyball players' perceptions of psychological momentum

The purpose of this study was to investigate NCAA Division I women's volleyball players' perceptions of psychological momentum. Due to scheduling conflicts, two subjects withdrew from participation and only four athletes were included in this investigation. All four athletes have completed at least two years of NCAA Division I volleyball at the same university. Three of the athletes were juniors and one athlete was a sophomore. All four athletes were white and ranged in age from 18 to 20 years. All of the athletes experienced the same change in the coaching staff during their college career. One athlete was a setter, one athlete was a middle hitter, and two athletes were back row specialists. All four athletes had full-ride scholarships. None of the athletes were from the same area of the United States. All of their backgrounds were similar in that they all participated in some athletic activity when they were younger. However, they began playing volleyball at different ages.

All four athletes acknowledged that psychological momentum was evident in volleyball. Each athlete has had prior knowledge about psychological momentum either by listening to the coach talk about it or briefly mentioning it as a phenomenon that occurs during sport. None of the athletes had ever discussed psychological momentum in such great detail.

The following conclusions represent the consistent perceptions that the female volleyball players had given throughout the study. Psychological momentum: a) was not a tangible concept, but it does exist; b) was a known concept, but it was not conceptually defined the same by each athlete; c) can be a team or an individual concept, but it was most effective when the whole team recognized the existence; and d) was described as a positive feeling state. In addition, psychological momentum: a) may be with either team, or with neither team, but not with both teams at the same time; b) was not effective unless one of the teams recognized the existence of momentum; and c) was related to making points, winning, and making good plays. The athlete's also perceived that a shift in psychological momentum did not necessarily mean momentum shifted from one team to the other. Rather, it may be shifted from neither team having momentum to one team having momentum.

The results revealed that psychological momentum was related to positive feelings of intensity and adrenaline, winning points, long rallies, and matches are probable results of having psychological momentum, and recognition by the teams was crucial for psychological momentum to have an effect on the game. Though the findings of this study are not generalizable to other sports, the information gathered provides a greater understanding of athletes' perceptions of psychological momentum.