PERTURBATIONS FOR COACHING IMPLICATIONS - A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON SWINGING ARM COORDINATION DURING TENNIS FOREHAND STROKE
Risky Syahputra (a*), Syahrial Bakhtiar (b), Wan Rizal (b), Ian Harris Sujae (b), Alex Ong (b)

(a) Faculty of Sport Science, State University of Padang, Indonesia
(b) The School of Sports, Health and Leisure, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe swinging limb joint co-ordination while executing the tennis forehand stroke and to establish the effects of a perturbation on joint co-ordination between players of different skill levels to determine if the intended perturbations are required during training. A total of 25 forehand stroke performed by 1 novice and 1 skilled tennis players respectively were captured using a 12-camera high-speed optical camera system at 250hz. Swingling limb joint co-ordination differs between players possible due to differences in swinging kinematics. When subjected to perturbations, it took a long time for the novice player to return to normal swinging patterns. Even with perturbations, the skilled player adapted their swinging limb co-ordination to ensure optimal performance outcomes. This strategy is key for coaching implications where including perturbations during training will provide players with the know-how to re-adjust their swinging patterns most quickly when performing the next forehand stroke.

Keywords: Tennis, forehand, perturbations, variability, movement patterns.

Topic: Sport Coaching