Effects of a 5-week plyometric intervention for competitive young table tennis players

The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of a 5-week plyometric training added to the regular program of competitive young table tennis players on athletic performance compared to an active control group. Furthermore, connections between concentric and reactive leg power and a table tennis rating (TTR) were examined. Twenty-one table tennis players (10 male, 11 female) were assigned to a plyometric training group (PTG; n = 10) or control group (CG; n = 11). The additional training of PTG was integrated into their warmup procedures performed prior to table tennis training so that both groups completed similar training loads. At baseline and after training the following tests were conducted: squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), drop jumps (DJ) from 20 and 30 cm and change of direction speed (COD). For SJ and CMJ, the jumping height, for DJ, the reactive strength index, and for COD, total time were analyzed. After the intervention, the two-factor repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant improvements for PTG in all parameters (6.8-18.0%) with small to moderate effect sizes. CG significantly improved SJ and COD (7.2-7.9%) with trivial to moderate ES. Significant interactions favoring PTG (group x time) occurred for SJ and CMJ. Furthermore, Pearson correlations showed significant relations to TTR for SJ (r = 0.531) and COD (r = -0.505). Additional plyometrics seem to improve jumping performance in pure concentric and slow stretch shortening cycle movements. Finally, SJ performance seems to be more important for table tennis players than CMJ and DJ performance.