Perspectives on Teaching and Evaluating Service Movement in Table Tennis
Insights Gained from Practical Competition Support for Top Japanese Junior Players
2016 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 49-59
Details
2016 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 49-59
The purpose of this study was to clarify perspectives of teaching and evaluating table tennis services: how to display a player’s movement to his/her opponent. This study was done as a part of a 5-year period of competition support using sport sciences.
The main results and findings were as follows:
1) In table tennis service, when serving a ball far from or near to the net on the receiver’s court, there was often a difference in the first bound placement on the server’s court and the height of the ball-hitting position. Furthermore, when serving a ball to the right or left of the receiver’s court, the direction of the server’s trunk often differed between the courses. These were considered important perspectives for teaching and evaluating table tennis service of top Japanese junior players.
2) The check sheet made in this study to improve the similarity of service movement between different kinds of services was effective for top Japanese junior table tennis players, even for first-time participants. Future subjects of this check sheet would expand to include other coaches and players of varying competitive levels.
3) A comparison between the check sheet of table tennis service movement and table tennis textbooks indicated that the check sheet gave new practicable insights into coaching for improving service: how to display a player’s movement to his/her opponent.
