Effects of Tennis 10s Training Program on Tennis Basic Skills and Agility in Young Tennis Players Aged 4-6 Years

Abstract

The purposes of this study was the examine the effects of tennis 10s training program on
tennis basic skills and agility in young tennis players aged 4 – 6 years. 20 young tennis players were
selected for this quasi-experimental research by purposive sampling method. Designed Tennis training
program is composed of 5 tennis skills, lasted 10 weeks and each training session was 1 hour per day.
Five tennis skills and agility were measured before and after study. Subject started training forehand
groundstroke, backhand groundstroke, volley tennis forehand, volley tennis backhand and serve skill
throughout 4 weeks of training program respectively. Subjects repeated all 5 trained skills on 5th week
of training program. Subjects performed the same skills training as previously during last 5 weeks with
increased level of skills training.
Findings were as follow:
1) Subjects significantly improved all five tennis skills after study (p<0.05).
2) Subjects significantly improved agility after study (p<0.05).
3) Majority of subjects were satisfied towards tennis 10s training program at high level, fair level
was also reported in some of subjects.
A proper designed tennis 10s training program was feasible for basic tennis skills and agility
improvement in novice young tennis players. Basic movement skills are very important for the
beginning stage of training tennis. Coach should concern a proper level of training for each age level
of the players as well as individual differences among players. Training program can be fun for young
players and all training sessions should be close well supervised by coach.