Introduction: Talent identification programs (TID) in sports can provide an optimal advise to connect personal preferences, talents and choices in sports. As a result, both elite sports and sports on amateur level benefit from these programs. TID often contain tests to assess specific sport skills in athletes which are considered to be key-predictors for success (Régnier et al., 1993). In this context, valid and reliable tests are essential to obtain trustworthy results. In this study, an eye-hand coordination test was evaluated, which could be used in a test battery for motor skills for TID in table tennis. Good eye-hand coordination is suggested to be a necessary trait to excel in table tennis (Rodrigues et al., 2002) but also in other racket sports, hockey, volleyball or basketball. Methods: In total 43 youth table-tennis athletes (age 7-12 years) from national (n=13), regional (n=11) and local training-level (n=19) were tested. The children were instructed to throw a ball to a vertical positioned table tennis table with one hand and to catch the ball correctly with the other hand as frequently as possible in 30 seconds. The best of two attempts was registered as final score. The test consisted of four subtests in which the distance to the table tennis table (1 or 2 m) and the ball (table tennis or tennis ball) were varied. 10 children did a retest after 4 weeks to calculate reproducibility. For validity a one-way ANOVA was used to test whether the test could discriminate between the children from different training-levels. Mean differences for test-retest were used to present results of reproducibility (Bland-Altman plot). Results: Subtest-means (SD) ranged from 15-29 (SD 5-7) for the national level, 15-26 (SD 3-5) for regional level and 8-17 (SD 5-7) for local level. All subtests were able to discriminate between national and local level and between regional and local training level (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the national and regional training level. Reproducibility seems sufficient for all subtests; mean differences for testretest were between -2.7 and 0.2 (SD 2.9-4.5). Discussion: This eye-hand coordination test appears to be a valid and reproducible tool and implementation in a test battery for motor skills in TID for table tennis seems legitimate. Further research is desirable to obtain evidence for the use of the test in other sports.
© Copyright 2012 17th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Bruges, 4. -7. July 2012. Veröffentlicht von Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / Übersetzt mit https://www.DeepL.com/Translator