Paraskevi Malliou, Dimitris Papadimitriou, Vasiliki Malliou, Anastasia Beneka, Georgios Pafis , Christos Katsikas, Stiliani Roka, and Ioannis Fatouros, Department of physical education and sport science, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece, Department of physical education and sports science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of a 7-week shoulder specific
strength training program additional to tennis training sessions on the service velocity of junior
tennis players. Initially 60 junior tennis players (29 boys and 31 girls) with at least 2 years of
tennis experience and never followed a routine strength program, volunteered to participate in the
study. All the subjects followed a regular tennis training session (75 min). The subjects were
randomly assigned into three groups: i) group-A, which practiced in addition 15 min service after
the tennis session, ii) group-B which practiced a 7-week strength training program (15 min per
session, 3 times per week) after the tennis session, and iii) a group-C, control group, which did not
follow any extra programs after the tennis session. Two-way repeated measures analysis of
variance was performed to detect differences in each group before and after the experimental
period. The independent variable was the group (two experimental groups with different training
protocol and the control group with only tennis training), and the repeated factor was the test
(pre and post test, before and after the training period). Statistical significance was accepted at
p<.05. It was measured an overall significant quantitative improvement on service performance
while, the qualitative findings showed significant improvement in service technique only in group
A.
Keywords: tennis, shoulder strength program, service, service velocity
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Submitted 25 January, 2011
Accepted 17 March, 2011