Triple G girls get going in tennis : resource manual

Physical activity is ranked second in importance only to tobacco control in health promotion and disease prevention in Australia. Individuals can be active in many ways every day, including –walking to and/or from school, work and other places of interest; participating in sports clubs; going to the YMCA or community leisure centre where you can be active through gyms, group fitness classes or in the swimming pool; visiting local parks and walking trails, and even at home and in the backyard. You can always find ways to be active in the community.

Promoting physical activity to young people is important for developing healthy lifestyles now and maintaining them for the future. A physically active lifestyle can be of benefit to physical, mental and social health. Despite these benefits, adolescent girls and young women are considerably less active than their male counterparts, and sport participation decreases dramatically among girls during their secondary school years. Many physical education teachers have also expressed concern about girls minimising their participation in school physical education. Consequently, it is timely that a project such as Triple G ‘Girls Get Going in Tennis, in Football, and at the YMCA’ should be developed and implemented in an effort to arrest the decline in girls’ participation in sport, physical activity and physical education.

The Triple G program aims to develop, implement and evaluate a program to promote participation in physical activity by girls in rural and regional schools and communities. The impact of the Triple G program on the mental and physical wellbeing of the girls will also be evaluated. The program specifically aims to create school and community linkages through the introduction of tennis coaches, football coaches, and YMCA instructors into the physical education class to team teach with physical education staff during the 2011 school year. As part of the school-based program, Year 7 – 9 girls will participate in a YMCA unit and one of tennis or football during their physical education classes (6 sessions x 100mins each). Each unit is then followed by an eight week afterschool program at the local tennis or football club, or YMCA centre.

Resting toucher: a time and motion analysis of elite lawn bowls

Whilst numerous investigations have explored the physical demands placed upon competitive sportspeople from a wide array of sports little is known about the physical demands placed on lawn bowlers. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the movement activities of Australian representative singles and pairs players and to determine the frequency and duration of these activities. One match each of two male and two female players (one singles and one pairs player per gender) were videotaped during an international tournament. During playback of the videotaped matches (n = 4), a single observer coded the players’ activities into five distinct categories (waiting, walking forward, walking backward, jogging and bowling) using a computerised video editing system (Gamebreaker™ Digital Video Analysis System). Field calibration of players over 30m for forward motions and 15m for the backward motion was performed to allow for the estimation of total distance covered during the match. Heart rate was monitored during each match. The duration of a match was found to be (mean ± SD) 1hr 28 ± 15mins. The total distance covered during each match was 2093 ± 276m. The mean percentage of match time spent in each motion was: waiting, 61.8 ± 9.3%; walking forward, 22.3 ± 5.6%; walking backward, 2.0 ± 0.4%; jogging, 1.1 ± 0.5%; and bowling, 8.5 ± 4.2%. Average heart rate was found to be 57 ± 7% of age-predicted HRmax with a maximum of 78 ± 9% of age-predicted HRmax. The results of this study suggest that playing lawn bowls at an international level requires light-moderate intensity activity similar to that reported for golf.

Chase better than a yard horse than last gallery : Royal tennis in the Antipodes

Review article on 'A history of royal tennis in Australia' by Michael P. Garnett, pubd. by Historical Publications, Melbourne, 1983

Win at all costs or lose gracefully in high-stakes competition? Gender differences in professional tennis

This article examines line-call challenges by male and female professional tennis players in major tournaments around the world. In terms of utilization rates, we find that the genders behave similarly. Nevertheless, we do detect some intriguing gender differences in these challenges. First, male players’ challenges are more likely to be provoked by those of their opponents. More importantly, at tiebreaks, females are more likely to reverse an umpire’s unfavorable call, while males make relatively more unsuccessful challenges. Furthermore, we find that men are a lot more likely to make “embarrassing” line-call challenges at tiebreaks and offenses (i.e., when the shot lands at the opponent’s side of the tennis court) than women. These significant gender differences suggest that women particularly diverge from men at crucial junctures of the match such as tiebreaks. Differences in factors such as risk aversion, overconfidence, pride, shame, and strategic signalling behavior might help us to explain these gender-difference findings in line call challenges.

Anaerobic capacity may not be determined by critical power model in elite table tennis players

The aim of the present study was to verify the applicability of anaerobic work capacity (AWC) determined from the critical power model in elite table tennis players. Eight male international level table tennis players participated in the study. The tests undertaken were: 1) A critical frequency test used to determinate the anaerobic work capacity; 2) Wingate tests were performed using leg and arm ergometers. AWC corresponded to 99.5 +/- 29.1 table tennis balls. AWC was not related to peak (r = -0.25), mean (r = -0.02), relative peak (r = -0.49) or relative mean power (r = 0.01), nor fatigue index (r = -0.52) (Wingate leg ergometer). Similar correlations for peak (r = -0.34), mean (r = -0.04), relative peak (r = -0.49), relative mean power (r = -0.14) and peak blood lactate concentration (r = -0.08) were determined in the Wingate arm ergometer test. Based on these results the AWC determined by a modified critical power test was not a good index for measurement of anaerobic capacity in table tennis players.

Validity of critical frequency test for measuring table tennis aerobic endurance through specific protocol

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Head, eye and arm coordination in table tennis

The aim of this study was to determine the role of head, eye and arm movements during the execution of a table tennis forehand stroke. Three-dimensional kinematic analysis of line-of-gaze, arm and ball was used to describe visual and motor behaviour. Skilled and less skilled participants returned the ball to cued right or left target areas under three levels of temporal constraint: pre-, early- and late-cue conditions. In the pre- and early-cue conditions, both high and low skill participants tracked the ball early in flight and kept gaze stable on a location in advance of the ball before ball-bat contact. Skilled participants demonstrated an earlier onset of ball tracking and recorded higher performance accuracy than less skilled counterparts. The manipulation of cue condition showed the limits of adaptation to maintain accuracy on the target. Participants were able to accommodate the constraints imposed by the early-cue condition by using a shorter quiet eye duration, earlier quiet eye offset and reduced arm velocity at contact. In the late-cue condition, modifications to gaze, head and arm movements were not sufficient to preserve accuracy. The findings highlight the functional coupling between perception and action during time-constrained, goal-directed actions.

The effects of anxiety on visual search, movement kinematics, and performance in table tennis: A test of Eysenck and Calvo's processing efficiency theory

Processing efficiency theory predicts that anxiety reduces the processing capacity of working memory and has detrimental effects on performance. When tasks place little demand on working memory, the negative effects of anxiety can be avoided by increasing effort. Although performance efficiency decreases, there is no change in performance effectiveness. When tasks impose a heavy demand on working memory, however, anxiety leads to decrements in efficiency and effectiveness. These presumptions were tested using a modified table tennis task that placed low (LWM) and high (HWM) demands on working memory. Cognitive anxiety was manipulated through a competitive ranking structure and prize money. Participants' accuracy in hitting concentric circle targets in predetermined sequences was taken as a measure of performance effectiveness, while probe reaction time (PRT), perceived mental effort (RSME), visual search data, and arm kinematics were recorded as measures of efficiency. Anxiety had a negative effect on performance effectiveness in both LWM and HWM tasks. There was an increase in frequency of gaze and in PRT and RSME values in both tasks under high vs. low anxiety conditions, implying decrements in performance efficiency. However, participants spent more time tracking the ball in the HWM task and employed a shorter tau margin when anxious. Although anxiety impaired performance effectiveness and efficiency, decrements in efficiency were more pronounced in the HWM task than in the LWM task, providing support for processing efficiency theory.