MOVEMENT– GAME DEMANDS
As part of APA owner Daz Drake’s unofficial PhD a series of research projects was conducted in the area of Groundstrokes, The Serve and Tennis Movement. For this research on Movement a combination of personal communication with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and a literature search of nearly twenty peer reviewed journal articles was performed in order to examine the latest research. For ease of understanding the review has been broken down into three key areas that influence tennis movement:
Game Demands
- Includes motor coordination of general and specific movements
Structural Factors
- Includes ground reaction force and neuromuscular tendon properties
Mechanical Factors
- Includes kinematics and coaching cues on optimal positioning during change of direction
Tennis Conditioning Blueprint – Movement
The complete research findings are presented and summarised in this Ebook. This Ebook is not simply a guide on how to produce more force in a frontal plane (although that’s part of it!). It’s about the factors that are most within the scope of the strength & conditioning coach to enhance in the tennis movement itself. It’s about discovering the factors that can have the biggest impact on movement, notwithstanding the obvious priority that technical mastery has on tennis movement performance.
It aims to present up to date facts on Tennis Movement Research. It is ultimately the job of the reader to then decide how to apply the information contained here to inform their practices. A strong case is made for the peak acceleration velocity for developing high acceleration so logically then the next step would be to ask what would be the underlying exercises we can use in the gym to develop capacity in this action?
