Biological characteristics of young swimmers, tennis players and non-competitors.

Abstract

One hundred and twelve finalists in the State Swimming Championships aged between seven and twelve years and 65 ranked tennis players of similar age were selected on the basis of their sporting performances. A third group comprised children of similar socio-economic status who only took part in casual sport. The tests which were used in the study were those considered to be important for successful athletic performance. A multifactorial analysis of variance and post-hoc t-tests were applied to the data to determine if any statistical differences were apparent between the three groups. The results demonstrated that no size, body shape, flexibility, strength or lung function differences were evident between the competitors and non-competitors, but that the swimmers and tennis players were superior to-the non-competitors in cardiovascular endurance. INTRODUCTIONThe question of whether champion athletes are born or made has long puzzled coaches and scientists alike. This question could possibly be clarified by using a longi-

Modeling Longitudinal Changes in 5 m Sprinting Performance Among Young Male Tennis Players

“…Current understanding of the development of specific components of physical performance in young tennis players is based largely on cross-sectional data from a previous study (Bloomfield, Blanksby, Beard, Ackland, & Elliott, 1984). This study demonstrated that no size, body shape, flexibility, strength, or lung function differences were evident between athletes and children who only took part in casual sports; swimmers and tennis players, however, were superior to the non-athletes in cardiovascular endurance.…”

Effect of long term tennis participation on aerobic power, body composition, muscular strength, flexibility and serum lipids

“…In contrast, Laforest and co-workers, 1990 found significantly increased knee extension strength in young and elderly, male and female tennis players compared with controls. Additionally, Bloomfield et al (1984) studied junior athletes and found that the tennis players had significantly greater knee extension strength than both controls and swimmers. The high percentage of tennis players relative to the controls (32.1% vs 5.6%) reporting a problem with their knees and indeed having knee surgery may be the reason for the lack of significant difference between the groups in the current study on this statistic.…”

Hip and Knee Proprioception in Elite, Amateur, and Novice Tennis Players

“…For example, football and soccer involve more openchained type movements, 10 whereas tennis and archery apply more close-chained movements of the lower limb. 4,13 Similarly, in evaluation of proprioception, whether the testing is under open-or close-chained conditions would affect the results because of the different weightbearing status. Consequently, the testing mode of proprioception should be chosen based on the participants' functional activity style.…”

“…[5][6][7]11,12 The effect of proprioception on sports and its difference between patients and healthy adults has been widely tested. 2,7,9,10,[12][13][14][15] However, current knowledge provides insufficient insight into the effect of experience within an athletic population; furthermore, only a few studies have been executed to clarify the proprioceptive difference between athletes and age-matched adults. To further understand proprioception, it is necessary to stratify the athletes according to their skill levels to clarify whether proprioception is a predictor of athletic performance.…”