Coordination determinants of technical skills of young female tennis players

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Master Ewa Waldzinska1
PhD Tomasz Waldzinski1
Dr.Hab., Professor Tomasz Niznikowski1, 3
1Lomza State University of Applied Sciences
2Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw,
3Department of Physical Education and Health in Biala Podlaska, Poland

Objective of this study was to obtain knowledge on coordination determinants of technical skills of female tennis players aged 9 and 11.
Materials and methods. The study included female tennis players (n= 60), body height (9 yrs ± 6.1 -137± 5.7 cm; 6; 11 yrs±7.2 -148± 5.2 cm), body mass (9 yrs - 34± 1.9 kg; 11 yrs - 43± 2.3 kg).
To assess the female tennis players' technical skills the test of 100 balls was applied. To control coordination motor abilities, the following tests were used: certain EUROFIT tests (the flamingo test, tapping the discs), the Spalding slalom running test, the shuttle run test, the Spider test, jumps over a skipping rope, jumps in the hexagon, the Starosta test, the eye-hand test, the test of simple reaction and the test of complex reaction.
Results. It was discovered that in the group of 9-year-old female tennis players, the simple reaction test result demonstrates the best predictive properties (it accounts for 19% of the variance in the test of 100 balls). In the group of 11-year-old female tennis players, the result of the shuttle run test independently accounts for 38% of the variance of the dependent variable. Conclusion. The effectiveness of performing the test of 100 balls depends on different predictors of coordination motor abilities.

Keywords. tennis, 100 balls test, coordination motor abilities.

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