ANALYSIS OF TABLE TENNIS SKILLS: AN ASSESSMENT OF SHADOW PRACTICE IN LEARNING FOREHAND AND BACKHAND DRIVE

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the performance of university femaleathletes particularly using shadow practice in learning the standardized table tennis forehand and backhand-drive in a restricted practice time as physical education lesson or sports period in feedback of the problem on accordingly develop training design that will assist learning of Table-Tennis. Twenty student-athletes from two different universities were selected and divided into two groups. The five-participants of experimental group were asked to do forehand-drive shadow training in mix with multiple-ball training and five participants of experimental group performed backhand-drive shadow practice with combination of multiple-ball training. The same procedure used five by five (forehand and backhand-drive) participants of Control group performed one ball for every pair of athletes in blend with multiple-ball training. The two groups were analyzed in three testing stages. The test was conducted on one subject at a time. Each subject was instructed to hit the fed balls to the designated target area at the opposite court (crosscourt). The number of balls that hit the specified target area was counted and became the subject’s score. First, the pre-test, which was conducted after being given instructions on how the forehand as well as backhand drive is done. Second, a post-test was done after the four weeks of continuous training. And finally, the retention test was given after three calendar days after the post-test. There was a significant improvement of the mean and standard deviation scores from the pre-test to post-test in both the Experimental and Control Groups. The Experimental Group (Forehand SP) went from a mean score of 18.80 ± 1.924 to 39.20 ± 1.140 and Experimental Group (Backhand SP) mean score of 18.60 ± 1.140 to 39.60 ± 1.140 while the Control Group (Forehand single-ball) went from 18.60 ± 2.302 to 38 ± 1.581 and Control Group (Backhand single-ball) mean score of 18.40 ± 2.074 to 38 ± 1.81. Both groups were able to retain their mean scores in the retention test (FSP) 39.40 ± 1.140 and (BSP) 39.80 for the Experimental Group and (F-Single-ball) 35.80 ± 1.304 and (B-single-ball) 36.20 ± 1.304 for the Control Group). Although the mean score of the Experimental Group was higher, there were no significant differences in the scores from the Post to the Retention tests of both groups (p > 0.05). The study revealed that both the Experimental Group and Control Group had a significant change in their scores in the post-test phase of testing. Both Experimental Group and Control Group were able to retain their scores.However, the Experimental-Group was only able to maintain their scores in RT.