Embedding tennis-specific teaching videos into long-term educational concepts to improve movement learning and technique performances

Problem Statement: Teaching videos are well-accepted to benefit sport-specific movement learning and technique performances; however, embedded into a long-term educational concept (i.e. university class setting) this remains to be elucidated. Approach: In a pre-post design, 120 students participated to perform a tennis-specific task, comprising technique assessments (TA) of six coach-evaluated technique attributes (TEA; i.e. correct grip, forward-upward swing, racket acceleration, adapted lateral distance to the ball, vertical racket face, stable wrist) as well as a target zone test (TZT) to assess stroke accuracy. Participants were randomly assigned into a study group (SG; n = 89), exposed to teaching videos in support of movement technique learnings, and into a control group (CG; n = 31) without accessibility of the teaching videos. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the impact of modern teaching videos (e.g. including slow-motion or freeze-frame features and additional verbal instructions) on learning the tennis forehand and backhand techniques. Results: The backhand technique, improved in SG (p <.05) compared to CG, most pronounced in the TEAs ‘lateral distance’ and ‘stable wrist’. Although the accuracy of the strokes revealed no differences between the two groups, TZT and TA scores for both strokes were positively correlated. Additionally, 88.8% of the participants self-evaluated the use of teaching videos in class as positive or absolutely positive. Conclusion: This study supports the use of teaching videos within university tennis classes to benefit a development of TEAs in the forehand and backhand. However, distinct improvements seem to require modern features to emphasize a TEA in the teaching video (i.e. freeze-frames or additional verbal instructions). With respect to different learning conditions, a wider movement technique test battery may serve future approaches to additionally investigate different age groups (e.g. early learners in schools vs. senior learners in clubs).