Table Tennis Physical Activity Program and Its Effect on the Skills Performances of Selected Athletes in a University in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China

Abstract

This study investigated the performance of selected student-respondents in table tennis prior to and after the implementation of a structured training program, focusing on five key skill constructs: Grip, Serve, Block, Spin, and Footwork. A descriptive-experimental design was employed, involving 50 student respondents classified by sex, grade level, and course. Standardized performance tests were administered before and after the intervention, and the data were analyzed using weighted means and standard deviations, t-tests, and ANOVA to determine performance levels and significant differences. The pre-test results revealed that the respondents generally had low performance levels in the basic skills of table tennis, namely: spin, block, serve, grip, and footwork. No significant differences in pre-test performance were found when grouped by sex, grade level, and course, confirming that deficiencies were uniformly distributed across these variables.
Post-test results showed marked improvement, verbally interpreted as high. Spin being the highest in rank as to mean result, followed by serve and block, footwork, and grip. The results also revealed that grip, block, spin, and footwork showed significant improvements, while serve was relatively low. When grouped by demographics, differences were generally not significant, except that males outperformed females on overall post-test scores, and Grade 4 students obtained significantly higher Grip scores than lower grades.
The findings confirmed that the training program was largely effective in enhancing the technical and tactical competencies of the student-respondents, particularly in Spin, Block, Grip, and Footwork, while serving skills required further reinforcement. It was concluded that structured, progressive, and game-based training interventions can significantly elevate table tennis performance, although individualized approaches may be necessary to address persistent weaknesses in Serve and ensure overall consistency across learners