Participants
Sixteen young tennis players with relatively stable technical tennis skills, no previous rope jumping training experience, and healthy physical and mental conditions were chosen as experiment subjects to participate in this study. Researchers have obtained the subjects' and their parental consent. The subjects were randomly and equally appointed to the experimental group (ExG, n=8) and the control group (ConG, n=8). The primary conditions of the subjects were shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Basic information of subjects
Group
|
Age (age)
|
Height (cm)
|
Weight (kg)
|
Body mass index (kg/ index)
|
Training years (years)
|
ExG
|
13.7±0.39
|
172.8±2.03
|
63.15±3.43
|
21.12±0.85
|
4.31±0.20
|
ConG
|
13.6±0.33
|
173.5±1.12
|
64.36±2.47
|
21.41±0.71
|
4.40±0.25
|
P value
|
P>0.05
|
P>0.05
|
P>0.05
|
P>0.05
|
P>0.05
|
Table note: ExG,experimental group; ConG,control group; P>0.05: there was no significant difference.
P > 0.05: there was no significant difference.
Design and procedures
The subjects were trained for twelve consecutive weeks and three times a week. ExG participants performed rope jumping and special preparation activity (RJ+SPA) together. ConG participants only conducted routine special preparation activity (SPA). During the preparation period, the subjects were familiar with the training content and test process and carried out two adaptive training activities. After an interval of one day, all the subjects' dynamic balance ability and hitting stability were tested (pre-test). According to this scheme, all subjects' dynamic balance ability and hitting stability were tested after another interval of 48 hours. Because all of the subjects had more than four years of training, their technical performance was relatively stable, and therefore the experimental result was almost not affected by technical factors. Each training session lasted for 120 minutes, which is divided into three sections.
The first section: after jogging and stretching exercises, ExG participants performed RJ+SPA. RJ training included forward alternate-feet jumping, reverse alternate-feet jumping, crossing alternate-feet jumping, and squatting alternate-leg jumping. They also completed in situ or during walking. SPA training activities included leg cushion step, side slip step, cross step, broken step, retreat slide step, and the exercise intensity was about 120-160r per minute. ConG participants only carried out SPA training, consisting of leg cushion step, side slide step, cross step, broken step, retreat a step, curvilinear step, backward side step, heel jump, and ski jump. The exercise intensity was also about 120-160r per minute.
(1) Forward alternate-feet jumping: the participant keeps the body upright and completes the knee-bending, leg-lifting, and rope jumping exercises of both hands and feet from the back through the top of the head to the front of the body, which can be repeated facing any direction.
(2) Reverse alternate-feet jumping: the participant keeps the body upright and completes the knee-bending leg lifting and rope jumping exercises of both hands and feet from the front of the body through the top of the head to the back of the body, which can be repeated facing any direction.
(3) Crossing alternate-feet jumping: the participant keeps the body upright and starts from crossing the left foot with both hands and feet from the back of the body through the top of the head to the front of the body, then the knee-bending leg switch to the right side for the second round, which can be repeated facing any direction.
(4) Squatting alternate-leg jumping: the participant keeps the upright, alternately swinging the rope on the left or right side of the body when squatting and alternately jumping rope on the left or right leg and standing upright, which can be repeated facing any direction.
The second section: a repeat of the previous section.
The third section: a series of stretching exercises and muscle relaxation activities. The specific arrangements are shown in Table 2:
Table 2 Experiment content and schedule table
Table note: ExG,experimental group; ConG,control group; RJ+SPA, rope jumping and special preparation activity; SPA,special preparation activity.
Experimental scheme
The dynamic balance ability of the human body was assessed by the Biodex Balance System (BBS) test of athletes' limits of stability (LOS) and the single-leg stability test (SLST). The number of test groups, content, time, difficulty, and posture of all the participants was held consistent with the posture. The whole process was carried out in strict compliance with the instructions of the BBS system. One researcher explained and supervised the process, and another research recorded the process for illustration and analysis purposes. The participants completed the LOS test of the body movement and control ability of random target movement in an unsupported state. Their performance was calculated based on the average value of the three tests. The time allowance was 10 seconds for each test and 10s for each interval. It included the Overall direction control ability (ODC) of random target movement, limits of stability time (LOST), and the physical control ability tests in 8 directions: the forward direction control (FDC), the backward direction control (BDC), the left direction control(LDC), the right direction control (RDC), the forward-left direction control(FLDC),the forward-right direction control(FRDC),the backward-left direction control(BLDC), the backward-right direction control (BRDC). The higher the value is, the stronger the control ability is. The participants completed the SLST test with one leg support under the condition of a non-fixed balance board. Their body-weight was controlled next to the cross coordinate center in the display screen to start the test for 10 seconds, with an interval of 10 seconds. The smaller the average value among the three intervals, the better the stability is. They included the left and right one-leg support of the overall stability index (OSI), the anterior and posterior stability index (APSI), the medial and lateral stability index(MLSI).
The hitting stability calculation rationale adopted the ITN test system, evaluating the subjects' real capacity comprehensively and objectively, with high accuracy, It could also measure the advantages and disadvantages of the subjects (13). In this study, the ITN test system was employed to test the forehand and backhand hitting intensity and accuracy among the 16 participants. Factors were manipulated in the same way to improve the effectiveness of the test. The ball feeding point was controlled at the singles sideline next to the bottom line. Its purpose was to mobilize the subjects to hit the ball in an unstable state. Each subject hit 24 balls, including six forehand and six backhand rounds. The first and second landing areas of the ball were scored correspondingly. The higher the score was, the better the stability of the ball was, as shown in figure 1 . 2 :
Statistical analysis
The measured data are calculated and analyzed with Excel 2013 to get the average and standard deviation of each test score (M±SD). The participants' dynamic balance ability and hitting stability were then tested and investigated using another statistical software called SPSS 19.0. The test results showed that the difference between the two groups was significant (P<0.05) and could be considered as very significant (P<0.01). The reasons for the differences were analyzed.
Ethical approval
All date used in the study were from published date.This study involved 3 schools. All test procedures and content in this study were approved by the ethical review committee of Chongqing Preschool Education College, all subjects participated voluntarily, all data used were obtained and reviewed in strict accordance with the test protocol, and informed consent was obtained from all subjects, and all data were recorded and used anonymously to avoid disclosure of subjects data.
Experimental Method Statement
This study followed the International Tennis Federation approved International Tennis Numer test criteria and experimental procedures(13).The study was conducted according to the experimental methods and requirements of Declaration of Helsinki (14).And it meets the requirements of Chongqing Preschool Education College for experimentation.