Tennis Home-Training during First Italy Lockdown COVID-19: A Pilot Study in Young Athletes

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has imposed an Italy national lockdown between 9 March and 3 May 2020, limiting the ability of individuals to exercise/training outdoors. The aim of this study was based on the construction of remote-personalized-training protocols in tennis and examined the effects of a home-based intervention. Sixteen young athletes, divided into four groups in accord with the level of play and the pre-existing technical-tactical preparation, were trained by tennis-coach using simple equipment (i.e., balance board, medicine ball, steps). Physiological parameters (HR, SaO 2 ), the ability to execute technical gestures in conditions of stress/fatigue, development of adaptation and motor reaction skills, as well as eye-manual coordination; execution of movements at high speeds and precision, prevention of muscle and joint injuries, were monitoring. A questionnaire able to evaluate the subjective perception was administered. Athletes have demonstrated, by means of this latter, the beneficial effects of home-training during the lockdown. Concluding, the remote home-training, offered to athletes one option to maintain "normal" training practices, in view of a return to the tennis court. Furthermore, at today, in post-pandemic environments and behaviors, the results suggest that remote home-training intervention may help foster meaningful improvements in young athletes, strengthening intrinsic/subjective motivation.

COVID-19 and Changes in the Model of Physical Fitness and Body Composition of Young Tennis Players

“…In addition to those studies that observed impairments in squat and countermovement jump performance induced by the pandemic, some studies have found no significant changes associated with the occurrence of COVID-19 [17]. Moreover, in accordance with our findings, there are also studies showing the positive effects of home training during lockdown on jump performance in soccer players [38] and young tennis players [39]. This could support the increase in jump height observed in our study, as the specific change in training practices adopted by our participants may have induced a training stimulus conducive to increases in lower-limb power.…”