Adapting the tennis split step to improve agility performance in a softball fielding task

• Main Author: Seet, Cheng Howe
• Other Authors: Ang Wee Boon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70471
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Auburn Softball team has been a strong advocate of the adaptation of the tennis split step into softball. However, there are no scientific papers lending credibility to the adaption of the skill. This study therefore provides a novel study on the adaptation of the split step to improve the agility in a softball fielding task. It is hypothesized that the implementation of the skill will result in significant improvements. 14 participants (8 male, 6 female) with an average age of 23.5 and 3.4 years of experience were tasked to complete a fielding task with and without the softball hop by reacting to directional stimulus from a softball batting video. Participants had to move a lateral distance of 15 ft as quickly as possible. Results showed improvement in total reach time by 149ms (no hop: 2101 ± 200ms, hop: 1953 ± 198ms, p < .01). Step time contributed the most (92ms, p < .01), followed by reach time (51ms, p < .05) and reaction time (6ms). This showed that agility performance was improved by shortening the time taken by the participant to land the first step. There was also a strong correlation of R = -0.74 between the improvement in total time and the landing time after activation of stimulus. This meant that participants who landed the fastest after activation of stimuli made the largest improvement. This study thus showed that the adaptation of the tennis split step into softball can help improve the agility performance of a softball fielding task. Keywords: Adaptation, Agility, Hop, Softball