Virtual Reality Training System for Enhancing Skill Transferability in Volleyball Players

Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly recognized as a valuable tool for sports training, providing immersive environments that support skill acquisition and performance improvement. Comparative studies across hand-intensive sports such as basketball, volleyball, and table tennis show substantial research on VR’s effectiveness in basketball and table tennis, yet volleyball remains relatively underexplored, particularly in terms of skill transfer to real-world play. Research in basketball and table tennis indicates that VR can improve motor coordination, tactical awareness, and user motivation. However, volleyball-specific literature is limited. Existing studies generally focus on areas such as eye–hand coordination and tactical decision-making but provide little evidence on whether VR-acquired skills translate effectively to the court. This paper addresses the gap in volleyball-focused VR research and emphasises the need for further investigation to maximise VR’s potential for volleyball training. Ten beginner-level volleyball players (mean age = 20.4 years) participated in this study, which examined the effectiveness of VR-based serving training. Participants completed an initial physical pre-test to determine their baseline serving performance, followed by a three-week VR training program consisting of structured serving drills. After the program, a post-test assessment was conducted to measure improvement. A paired t-test comparing pre- and post-training results showed a statistically significant improvement in serving performance (p = 0.0147), meeting the 0.05 significance threshold. This indicates that the observed performance gains were unlikely due to chance and demonstrates the positive impact of VR training on serving skills in beginner volleyball players.