The Effect of Motor Memory Exercises on Serving and Receiving Skills among Junior Foot Tennis Players

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of motor memory exercises on developing serving and receiving skills among foot tennis players of youth age category. An experimental research design involving pretest-posttest measurements, as well as experimental and control groups was implemented in this investigation. The target group consisted of 16 youth foot tennis players aged between 13 and 15 years who were chosen from Al-Arsa Specialized Academy for Foot Tennis in Dhi Qar Province, Iraq. They were randomly allocated into two groups containing eight athletes each. The experimental group trained according to the proposed motor memory exercises schedule for six weeks, with three training sessions per week, while the other group underwent usual training program developed by the coach. Tests to measure skill performance in serving and receiving were carried out at pre- and post-intervention period. Descriptive statistics analysis, as well as paired and independent samples t-tests, were performed via SPSS. Significant differences were found in serving skill improvement, 13.25 ± 1.16 to 17.38 ± 0.51, and receiving skill, 8.63 ± 1.92 to 12.00 ± 1.07. Statistically significant differences were found in favor of the experimental group as regards serving skills (p = 0.002) and receiving skills (p = 0.005) in the post-test comparison. Thus, one can conclude that motor memory practice is highly effective in improving the quality of technical action, accuracy of movements, coordination, and stability of skills in junior foot tennis players. It is recommended to incorporate motor memory practice into the training process for young athletes, especially when performing specific skills.