The Effect of Pilates Reformer Exercises to Tennis Skills on Tennis Players

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of reformer pilates trainings on ITN tennis test regarding the elite women aged 16-18 years. The research is done for voluntary participation of 14 elite female tennis players, whose age of training is 10,25 ± 1,72 years and average age 17,35 ± 0,77 years, All athletes were tested on the first day, then they were randomly divided into control (n=7) and experimental (n=7) groups. 90 minutes of pilates training sessions were performed for 3 days/week during eight weeks. The experimental group applied the pilates reformer studies and participated in the team trainings of the control group. After the 8-weeks training program, the last measurements of ITN Skills test were taken from experimental&control group athletes and the results were evaluated by SPSS 22.0 statistical program at 0.05 significance level. No significant difference was found for ITN depth&strength test, vole test, service test and stellar test when the last measurement test parameters of the experimental&control group athletes were compared (p>0.05). There was a significant difference between the two groups in the ITN sensitivity&strength test analysis (p<0.05). As a result, it can be said that 8-weeks duration pilates reformer trainings have an effect on the tennis players' ability to reach the ball on time in parallel and cross-strokes and an effect to have a recovery ability to be ready for the next shot.