The Effect of a 12 Week Reaction Time Training Using Active Video Game Tennis Attack on Reaction Time and Tennis Performance

Abstract

Reaction time is one of human abilities that involves in physical activity almost in all sports and it is important factor to winning when an athlete dominate others. Tennis Attack is an interactive 3D video game, which promises to improve response time of, including but not limited to, athletes using entertainment as its vehicle. The aim of the present study was to identify if Tennis Attack can improve the reaction time of the video game player and to explore if a possible improvement on reaction time affects the performance in tennis. The sample is consisted of 42 male undergraduate students. The sample divided into two groups. The first group (N = 20) was the experimental group and the other (N = 22) was the control group. Both groups attended two-hour tennis lessons once a week. All participants, at baseline and at end line, played Tennis Attack in order to examine their reaction time. The experimental group also played Tennis Attack for half an hour 2 times a week, as intervention. Additionally, both groups, at base line and at end line performed the Hitting Accuracy Tennis Test in order to evaluate their performance on tennis strokes. After the intervention, as regards reaction time, both groups showed an improvement in reaction time. Concerning tennis performance, the experimental group showed significant higher scores at means than the control group. Concerning tennis serve performance score both groups mentioned higher mean scores, although there were no significant differences between two groups. With respect to groundstrokes performance, after intervention, the experimental group mentioned significant better scores.