The Effect of Core Exercise Program on Serve Speed and Physical Fitness in Male Junior Tennis Players

For The Year that Was—2016, I have selected three papers in the area of growth, maturation, and exercise during youth. The year of 2016 was a successful year and it was not an easy task to highlight the most significant publications in this specific area of pediatric exercise science. The first paper has been chosen because it provides, for the first time, the growth and maturational status of elite junior tennis players belonging to the top eight players in the National rankings in various ages and compares against population norms. It appeared that individual differences in growth and maturation contribute towards the selection of elite junior tennis players in both sexes, with a bias towards these athletes who are comparatively tall and heavy for their age already in younger ages. The second paper is a methodological paper and was selected because it provides a unique perspective on the use of different tracking coefficients to investigate short-term tracking of cardiorespiratory and performance-related physical fitness among adolescents during growth and maturation. Specifically, three distinct statistical approaches were applied in this paper: auto-correlations, mulitilevel modeling corrected tracking values for time-varying covariates and Cohen`s Kappa in order to identify group and individual tracking as well as individuals whose trajectories are unstable across time. This methodological paper demonstrated the importance of the selection of the statistical approach to monitor and describe short-term tracking of cardiorespiratory and performance-related physical fitness variables in adolescents during growth and maturation. The third selected paper provided some evidence that the consequence of physical activity during childhood can be far reaching as physical activity might not only promote health benefits but also have positive effects on adulthood earnings.

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A comparison of the physical fitness, athletic performance and competitive achievements of junior and senior tennis players

Movement Health & Exercise ◽

10.15282/mohe.v4i0.43 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yuta KURODA ◽

Natumi SUZUKI ◽

Akimasa DEI ◽

Kaoru UMEBAYASHI ◽

Kazuki TAKIZAWA ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Fitness ◽

Field Test ◽

Athletic Performance ◽

Whole Body ◽

Endurance Capacity ◽

Tennis Players ◽

Average Group ◽

Coaching Methods ◽

Junior Tennis ◽

Long Jump

<p>The Japan Tennis Association established the Tennis Field Test as a tool for aiding the development of effective coaching methods and improving the competitive achievements of individual elite tennis players. On the basis of such evaluations, specific coaching methods can be developed for individual tennis players. This study aims to evaluate the physical fitness and athletic performance of tennis players using the Tennis Field Test, and to compare these attributes between players of different ages and abilities. A total of 48 tennis players participated, of which 24 were junior players (including 15 regional representatives), and 24 were senior players (including 18 national representatives). The subjects were further subdivided into average and superior groups on the basis of their competitive achievements in regional or national tournaments. All subjects participated in the Tennis Field Test, which consists of the following six items: the number of sit-ups performed in 30 sec (an index of muscular endurance), the standing long jump distance (an index of leg power), the sit and reach test (an index of flexibility), the time taken to perform the spider run (an index of agility), the time taken to sprint 10 m (an index of speed), and the distance run in three minutes (an index of whole-body endurance capacity). In this study, the subjects’ sit and reach test data were not examined due to differences in the measurement methods used between junior and senior tennis players. Among the junior tennis players, the superior group performed faster in the spider run than the average group (p = 0.0011). Among the senior tennis players, the superior group achieved a longer mean distance during the three-minute run than the average group (p = 0.0223). The test results of the remaining items for both groups were relatively similar. This study suggests that competitive achievement is associated with agility among junior tennis players, and is associated with whole-body endurance capacity among senior tennis players.</p>

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Establishing Percentiles for Junior Tennis Players Based on Physical Fitness Testing Results

Clinics in Sports Medicine ◽

10.1016/s0278-5919(20)30254-4 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 1-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

E. Paul Roetert ◽

Patricia A. Piorkowski ◽

Ronald B. Woods ◽

Scott W. Brown

Keyword(s):

Physical Fitness ◽

Fitness Testing ◽

Tennis Players ◽

Junior Tennis ◽

Physical Fitness Testing

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A Longitudinal Study of Physical Fitness in Elite Junior Tennis Players

Pediatric Exercise Science ◽

10.1123/pes.2016-0022 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 553-564 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Tamara Kramer ◽

Barbara C.H. Huijgen ◽

Marije T. Elferink-Gemser ◽

Chris Visscher

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Physical Fitness ◽

Multilevel Analysis ◽

Talent Development ◽

Performance Level ◽

Lower Body ◽

Tennis Players ◽

Junior Tennis ◽

And Performance ◽

Lower Body Power

Purpose:To analyze how physical fitness (PF) improves in elite junior tennis players related to age, maturity, and performance level.Methods:Elite junior tennis players (n = 113 boys, n = 83 girls) divided by performance level were monitored longitudinally from U14 to U16. Maturity, upper and lower-body power, speed, and agility were measured during subsequent competitive seasons. Improvement was analyzed per sex using multilevel analysis.Results:PF components for boys and girls improved over age (U14-U16) (ES .53–.97). In boys, the more mature boys outscored the less mature boys in upper and lower-body power from U14-U16. In girls, high-ranked girls outscored lower-ranked girls on lower-body power, speed, and agility (U14-U16) (p < .05).Conclusion:Boys and girls improved on all PF components during U14-U16. In boys, power was related to maturity. In girls, lower-body power, speed, and agility were related to tennis performance. This has important implications for talent development.

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