Aerobic endurance test for Table Tennis : A correlation study between Cooper’s test and Critical frequency test amongst Swedish-ranked players

• Introduction: Table tennis is a complex sport, using different physical abilities where both aerobic and anaerobic endurance is important. Anaerobic endurance is vital during short-time intense periods, which occurs during ball rallies, while the aerobic endurance system is used in between helping the player to maintain active and fully focused throughout the whole match. The Swedish Olympic committee provides with a physiological profile where the aerobic endurance of the table tennis players is tested with Cooper’s test. The Cooper’s test is not sport specific and thereby a sport specific aerobic endurance test has been developed, since player performance should be measured precise and sport specific. The sport specific aerobic endurance test is named Critical frequency test and is performed with a mechanical ball thrower.Aim and theoretical framework: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the strength of the correlation between Cooper’s test and Critical frequency test with the player’s national ranking. A second aim was to compare the strength of the correlation between Cooper’s test and Critical frequency test with the player’s national ranking.Method: 14 subjects participated in this correlation study. Their aerobic endurance was measured with two different tests. The Cooper’s test was performed on a treadmill where their time to complete 300m in seconds was gathered. The Critical frequency tests were performed at two different intensities, 48 and 56 balls/minute respectively, where their time to exhaustion in seconds was gathered.Results: A strong correlation was found between Cooper’s test and subjects group ranking, based on their national ranking (r=0.600 and r2=0.360, p=0.023. A weak non-significant correlation was found between Critf test and subjects group ranking at 48 respectively 56 balls/minute (48: r=-0.341 and r2=0.116, p=0.233) and (58: r=0.022 and r2=0.0005, p=0.940). A r-value of <0.4 was considered a weak correlation, 0,4 – 0,6 as moderate and 0,6> as strong.Discussion and conclusions/expected outcome: The results in this study showed a strong correlation between Cooper’s test and subjects group ranking. This means that in table tennis players ranked from 20-2700 in Sweden, the Cooper’s test could be used, in order to evaluate player performance. However, the Critf test could be questioned since a weak non-significant correlation was found. Future research is needed to evaluate the Critf test in this area, on a more homogenous group concerning the ranking list in Sweden.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Idrottsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Sport and Fitness Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Table tennis

Sport-specific endurance test

Aerobic endurance

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)