TRAINING ANTICIPATION FOR INTERMEDIATE TENNIS PLAYERS

The purpose of this study was to examine the trainability of anticipat ion in intermediate tennis players. In particular, the study examined whether video presentations could improve on-court tennis serve return s. A series of separate A-B designs across 6 participants was implemen ted, with baseline and intervention scores for on-court serve-return p erformance being recorded. Intervention consisted of 2 phases: a train ing phase and an on-court testing phase. The training phase, which emp loyed a changing criterion design, consisted of a series of tennis-ser ve video presentations that were replayed with gradually increasing sp eed. All serves were occluded on racquet/ball contact, and participant s were asked to predict the type, depth, and width of serve. Following completion of the training phase, participants were again tested on t heir ability to return tennis serves on the tennis court. On-court res ults suggested that anticipation ability and performance did improve a s a result of the intervention.