ABSTRACT
The fundamental problems facing the performer when aiming to co-ordinate and control discrete self-paced interceptive actions have been discussed in the chapters by Button and Summers and by Temprado, both of which focus on the assembly of the effector (action) system during performance. Of equal interest (and importance) are the strategies employed by performers to ensure the successful timing of such actions with an external object or perceptual event, in this case the trajectory of a tossed ball. The essence of this timing problem for the server is the same in a number of sports including: squash, racketball, badminton and table-tennis. However, it is in the sports of tennis and volleyball where most comment can be found relating to the determinants of successful serving. This chapter will examine the nature of co-ordination during serving in volleyball, as a self-paced extrinsic timing task, with a specific view to investigating the implications for the design of practice.
