The Effects of Three Types of Goal Setting Conditions on Tennis Performance: A Field-Based Study

Utilizing a two-stage random sampling technique, this study investigated the effect of three types of goal setting conditions (self-set, instructor-set, and “do your best” control) on tennis serving performance of college students ( N = 156) in nine beginning tennis classes. A 3 × 2 × 5 (goal setting conditions × gender × trials) ANCOVA with repeated measures on the last factor and baseline performance as the covariate was computed. A significant interaction of goal setting conditions by trials was revealed ( p < .003) with follow-up procedures favoring the instructor-set and self-set goal groups over the “do your best" group at the second and fourth trials. Further, at trial two, the instructor-set group was statistically superior to the self-set group. From this significant interaction, it appeared that the instructor-set and self-set goals enhanced students’ performance on the tennis serving task.