Kinematic differences of racket motion between expert and novice table tennis players

• Main Author: Teo, Ryan XuanHao
• Other Authors: Chou Siaw Meng
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64929
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Table tennis has been gaining popularity in the past decade. There is now a greater focus on training methodology used in the sport. While coaches have long been the traditional choice for training new players, their expertise may be subjective and of a qualitative nature. Moreover, coaches of high standard can be extremely costly, and there may be an over reliance on them to produce results. Hence, there is a need to identify different methods of training that may aid the improvement of results. The objective of this report is to analyse the kinematic differences of racket motion between experts and novices. Two groups of 10 players each were involved in the experimental phase. One group consisted of novices who have never received professional guidance in table tennis, and rarely played table tennis. The second group consisted of expert players who have represented an organisation or school in competitions. Both groups required of right handed males. The participants were between 17 – 27 years old. Raw data was collected using multiple cameras providing a 360° view of the participant and experimental setup. Analysis of the forehand data for 10 novices and 10 experts showed that significant differences (P < 0.05 ) existed for racket center displacement in the z direction and the racket center velocities in the x and y direction. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were also found between experts and novices based on the resultant velocities, whereby experts had higher velocities throughout the forehand stroke. The prevailing significant difference (P< 0.05) for racket angular displacement was found for the inclination angle between the racket surface and xz plane at various timestamps. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were also found for several timestamps of the racket angular velocity.