Effects of the sport education model on table tennis skills, sport motivation, and social adaptation in high school students

Objective The Sport Education Model is widely regarded as a structured instructional framework capable of enhancing students’ motor skills, motivation to participate in physical activity, and socio-emotional competence. However, most existing studies focus on college students and major team sports. Empirical evidence for high school populations and individual racket sports such as table tennis remains limited. Methods A quasi-experimental design was employed with two parallel classes from one high school. The experimental group received instruction based on the Sport Education Model, while the control group followed the traditional three-part lesson structure. Both groups experienced the same instructional duration and total class hours. After the intervention, students’ performance was assessed using table tennis skill tests, the Sport Motivation Scale, and the Social Adaptation Questionnaire. Independent-samples t -tests were used to compare post-intervention differences between groups. Results In terms of sport skills, the experimental group showed significantly greater improvements in flat serve and backhand push-drive performance ( p < 0.01), as well as significant gains in forehand attack and half-table two-point forehand drills ( p < 0.05). In sport motivation, the experimental group demonstrated highly significant increases in intrinsic motivation for knowledge, accomplishment, and excitement ( p < 0.01). Identified regulation and external regulation also improved significantly ( p < 0.01), and introjected regulation reached a significant level ( p < 0.05). Regarding social adaptation, the experimental group obtained significantly higher total scores than the control group ( p < 0.01). Conclusion Compared with the traditional teaching model, table tennis instruction based on the Sport Education Model substantially enhanced students’ sport-specific skills, learning motivation, self-efficacy, and social adaptation. These results indicate strong feasibility and practical value for implementing and promoting this instructional approach.