Reactive and Pre-planned Agility in Young Tennis Players
Background: In tennis, movement efficiency can be described as agility, which is crucial for adapting to the fast-paced and unpredictable nature of the game and affects a player’s ability to position themselves effectively and react to their opponent’s shots. While most studies focus on pre-planned...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Lithuanian Sports University
2025-04-01
|
| Series: | Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lsu.lt/baltic-journal-of-sport-health/article/view/1571 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850189513687564288 |
|---|---|
| author | Ales Germic |
| author_facet | Ales Germic |
| author_sort | Ales Germic |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Background: In tennis, movement efficiency can be described as agility, which is crucial for adapting to the fast-paced and unpredictable nature of the game and affects a player’s ability to position themselves effectively and react to their opponent’s shots. While most studies focus on pre-planned movements, fewer address the cognitive and reactive components that mirror real match scenarios, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to assessing agility in tennis.
Methods: The agility of 23 young tennis players (15 boys, 8 girls, aged 14 ± 1.7 years) was analysed using the simplified Tennis-specific Agility Test (TAT). Correlation analyses were conducted to assess relationships between agility components, reaction time, and competitive level.
Results: No significant sex-specific differences in agility performance were found. Older players (15 to 17 years) showed significant improvements in both pre-planned and reactive agility (p < 0.05). Agility performance correlated moderately with level of play (ρ = -0.5), with top national players performing better, particularly in pre-planned agility (p < 0.05). Remarkably, reaction time remained constant, even with different performances in both forms of agility. Strong positive correlations were found between pre-planned and reactive agility (r = 0.7) and between reaction time and reactive agility (r = 0.4). Reaction time explained about 15% of the variability in reactive agility.
Conclusion: Our study highlights the need for targeted training to close the gap between pre-planned and reactive agility in tennis. Coaches should focus on reactive agility, reaction time and both physical and cognitive skills to improve on-court movement, considering factors such as age and level of play.
Keywords: tennis, movement, agility, reaction time
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6dc4168da79449c6be65a92cb99f2dd4 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2351-6496 2538-8347 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Lithuanian Sports University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-6dc4168da79449c6be65a92cb99f2dd42025-08-20T02:15:37ZengLithuanian Sports UniversityBaltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences2351-64962538-83472025-04-01113410.33607/bjshs.v1i134.1571Reactive and Pre-planned Agility in Young Tennis PlayersAles Germic0Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana Background: In tennis, movement efficiency can be described as agility, which is crucial for adapting to the fast-paced and unpredictable nature of the game and affects a player’s ability to position themselves effectively and react to their opponent’s shots. While most studies focus on pre-planned movements, fewer address the cognitive and reactive components that mirror real match scenarios, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to assessing agility in tennis. Methods: The agility of 23 young tennis players (15 boys, 8 girls, aged 14 ± 1.7 years) was analysed using the simplified Tennis-specific Agility Test (TAT). Correlation analyses were conducted to assess relationships between agility components, reaction time, and competitive level. Results: No significant sex-specific differences in agility performance were found. Older players (15 to 17 years) showed significant improvements in both pre-planned and reactive agility (p < 0.05). Agility performance correlated moderately with level of play (ρ = -0.5), with top national players performing better, particularly in pre-planned agility (p < 0.05). Remarkably, reaction time remained constant, even with different performances in both forms of agility. Strong positive correlations were found between pre-planned and reactive agility (r = 0.7) and between reaction time and reactive agility (r = 0.4). Reaction time explained about 15% of the variability in reactive agility. Conclusion: Our study highlights the need for targeted training to close the gap between pre-planned and reactive agility in tennis. Coaches should focus on reactive agility, reaction time and both physical and cognitive skills to improve on-court movement, considering factors such as age and level of play. Keywords: tennis, movement, agility, reaction time https://journals.lsu.lt/baltic-journal-of-sport-health/article/view/1571 |
| spellingShingle | Ales Germic Reactive and Pre-planned Agility in Young Tennis Players Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences |
| title | Reactive and Pre-planned Agility in Young Tennis Players |
| title_full | Reactive and Pre-planned Agility in Young Tennis Players |
| title_fullStr | Reactive and Pre-planned Agility in Young Tennis Players |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reactive and Pre-planned Agility in Young Tennis Players |
| title_short | Reactive and Pre-planned Agility in Young Tennis Players |
| title_sort | reactive and pre planned agility in young tennis players |
| url | https://journals.lsu.lt/baltic-journal-of-sport-health/article/view/1571 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alesgermic reactiveandpreplannedagilityinyoungtennisplayers |