Impact of integrated decision-making and change-of-direction speed training on reaction time and physical fitness in highly-trained pubertal tennis players

This study examined the short-term effects of a 6-week Agility Training (AT) program involved combined decision-making and change-of-direction on physical fitness and simple reaction time in highly trained pubertal tennis players. Twenty-eight highly-trained pubertal tennis players were randomly assigned to an AT (n = 15) or an active control group (CG) (n = 13). The CG continued their standard tennis training, while the AT group replaced some tennis drills with agility exercises twice per week. Pre- and post-training simple reaction time, 5-m sprint speed, CoD speed, horizontal single right-leg hop-test for distance, single left-leg hop-test, and countermovement jump tests were assessed. Results indicated significant and large between-group differences at posttest in all physical fitness and simple reaction time measures (d = 0.98 to 1.18, p < 0.05). The within group pre-to-post analysis indicated significant and moderate to large improvements in all fitness measures in the AT group (d = 0.63 to 0.86, all p < 0.05). However, the CG showed small-tomoderate pre-to-post change in all fitness measures (d = 0.04 to 0.52,p > 0.05), despite these changes being statistically non-significant. To summarize, a short training program including agility tasks stands up to be more effective in improving measures of physical fitness and simple reaction time in highly-trained pubertal tennis players compared to regular tennis training.