Effects of visual training on motor performance in young tennis players using FitLight trainer

BACKGROUND: Tennis is an open-skill sport in which the athletes have a short period of time to elaborate all the information coming from the surrounding environment and produce a motor answer based on them. The aim of this study was divided in two hypotheses: 1) to assess if belonging to a certain category, athlete, or non-athlete, older or younger, can affect the development of reaction time on children; and 2) if a protocol based on visual training (VT) of 6 weeks could improve the motor performance on the field in young tennis players using FitLight Trainer (Medical Graphics, Milan, Italy). METHODS: In this evidence a group of young children (N.=40) have been tested on light board through reaction test then some young tennis players (N.=15, age: 7-12 years old) were taken as reference for the second hypothesis. They were divided in two groups: 7 of them were in the group Under-10 (U10) while 8 in a second group (U12). They performed a VT protocol once a week for at least 40 minutes for 6 weeks. They were tested at baseline (T0) and follow-up (T6) to evaluate the reaction time, time in specific lateral shift and precision about forehand and backhand. RESULTS: The development of reaction time of the athletes is principally caused by their growth (P<0.05). Principal components analysis (PCA) showed significant improvements in the Under-10 category in all the tests while in the Under-12 category not every individual showed a significant result in terms of performance. CONCLUSIONS: The developing of reaction time and coordination eye-hand is mainly due to the growth of young athletes. Also, performing a 6-week VT using FitLight Trainer is possible improve the reaction time and the motor performance on the field especially in young tennis players under 10 years old.