A SPORT-SPECIFIC MULTIDIRECTIONAL REACTIVE TEST DIFFERENTIATES COMPETITIVE LEVELS IN TABLE TENNIS PLAYERS

Table tennis (TT) players must quickly process information and react to unpredictable situations during rallies. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate their reaction ability and quickness. Fifty-seven male TT players (21.3±5.9 years) of different competitive levels (High=19; Medium=19; Low=19) executed two different tests. In a simple visual reaction test, participants reacted to a computer-generated stimulus by lifting their foot off the ground as quickly as possible. Visual reaction time (VRT) was registered as the interval between stimulus presentation and foot take-off, and the mean of five trials per foot was considered for the analysis. Additionally, a novel multidirectional reactive test already validated for TT performance was administered. Players had to react to 10 random and repeated visual light stimuli by performing a 1.5 m lateral or frontal displacement toward a timing gate. A 0.8 s delay between signals, simulating the time between shots in a rally, allowed players to return to the starting position. No differences were found in VRT among competitive levels for right (High=0.44±0.04 s, Medium=0.43±0.05 s, Low=0.45±0.04 s) and left (High=0.44±0.06 s, Medium=0.44±0.04 s, Low=0.46±0.04 s) foot. However, significant differences emerged in the multidirectional reactive test, with better performance for High level players (15.79±0.53 s) compared with Medium (16.43±0.68 s, p=0.016, d=1.051) and Low (16.64±0.80 s, p<0.001, d=1.253) level players. These results highlight the superior reactive ability and quickness of High level table tennis players in a sport-specific and dynamic situation, while simple visual reaction time does not differentiate players based on their competitive levels.