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Background: The primary aim of students specializing in a sport is to acquire full scientific knowledge on that sport. Furthermore, a qualitative objective of the specialization is to enable the future coaches to acquire good knowledge on the theoretical aspects of that sport. Methods: On the basis of the curriculum, the students of the Department of Physical Education and Sports (DPES) are examined on the theoretical knowledge they hold on issues related to tennis, e.g., technique, tactics, regulations, etc. at the beginning of the academic year, by answering a questionnaire of 80 questions. In order to assess the level of improvement of this knowledge the students answered the same 80 questions at the end of the academic year. The sample consisted of 23 male (11) and female (12) tennis students of the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science (aged 21.20 ± 1.23 years). Results: The results revealed significant improvement in all 5 knowledge groups between the two measurements. Although no significant differences were found between male and female students, this improvement was of a different kind. In the "technique" and "knowledge about the racket" related questions, males prevailed over females, whereas female students were superior in the "rules section". Conclusion: In the field of theoretical knowledge the level of education at the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science was, according to the findings of the study, satisfactory.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the post activation potentiation (PAP) effect of two different conditioning stimuli (CS) on drop jump (DJ) parameters on young female gymnasts. Thirty young female artistic gymnasts, aged 8 to 13 years old performed two protocols of either double tuck jumps (DTJ: 2 sets of 5 repetitions) or legs blocking action (LBA: 2 sets of 5 repetitions) in a within-subject randomized design. Before and immediately after the PAP treatment and 4, 8, 12, and 16 min after, jumping ability was measured by performing a drop jump (DJ). Statistical analysis revealed significant interaction effect between the two CS for DJ height (p < 0.002), time flight (p < 0.002) and take-off velocity (p < 0.003). Furthermore, significant main effect was found for protocol on DJ height (p < 0.001) and time flight (p < 0.001). It is recommended to the sports experts to include similar condition stimuli in the warm-up procedure, in order to improve their jumping performance. Conclusive both CS cause PAP phenomenon but the specialized CS produces higher rates of improvements in young female artistic gymnasts.