Physical Fitness Profiling of National Category Table Tennis Players: Implication for Health and Performance

Abstract

The aims of this study were to: (1) analyze table tennis players’ physical profiles considering and comparing players age categories (i.e., under U12, U14, U16, U20, Senior and Older); and (2) to quantify the correlations among the variables measured by each test. Seventy-one table tennis players (61 men and 10 women, 19.7 ± 11.23 years, 1.65 ± 0.13 m, 59.71 ± 17.72 kg and 21.60 ± 4.22 kg/m2) divided into six age groups, performed a sprint test, forearm isometric strength test, countermovement vertical test, countermovement horizontal test, change of direction ability (CODA) test and flexibility test. U14 players performed better than U12 in all tests (ES = −0.70 to 1.98, moderate to large) except in Sit and Reach (SAR) test (ES = 0.19, trivial). The U16 group also obtained better results than U14 in all tests (ES = 0.77 to −2.31, moderate to large) except for the SAR test (ES = 0.19, trivial). The U20 group performed better than U16 in all the tests (ES = 0.73 to −1.53, moderate to large) except for the 5 m sprint test (ES = −0.02, trivial), 10 m sprint test (ES = −0.51, moderate) and SAR (ES = 0.11, trivial). Differences between Senior and U20 were only found in the arm swing counter movement jump (CMJAS) (ES = −0.82, large) and modified agility test (MAT) (ES = 1.19, large), with the U20 group being better in both variables. The senior group performed better in the MAT test than the older group (ES = 0.94, large). The relation found between forearm isometric strength, vertical jump, horizontal jump, sprint and CODA ability (r = −0.53; ±0.14, 0/0/100, most likely to r = 0.83; ±0.06, 100/0/0, most likely) indicates that these capacities are related in table tennis players. Nevertheless, the lack of association between the sit and reach test with the other capacities may indicate that flexibility is an independent capacity.