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Growth and maturation impact the selection, development and progression of youth athletes. Individual differences in the growth and maturity may afford a performance advantage, clouding coaches and practitioners' perceptions regarding current ability and future potential. This may result in the exclusion of talented, yet less physically gifted athletes. Participants were 91 male (n = 47) and female (n = 44) elite British Junior tennis players, 8-17 years of age (12.5 ± 1.9 years). Height and body mass were measured and compared to growth charts; hand-wrist radiographs were taken. Skeletal age (SA) was estimated with the Fels method and contrasted to chronological age (CA). Mean height and body mass of individual players ranged between the 50th and 90th centiles for age and sex. Females were advanced in SA relative to CA (0.3-0.89 years.) from 8 years. Males were average to delayed in maturation from 8 to 12 years, but advanced in SA from 14 to 16 years (0.75-1.23 years). Individual differences in growth and maturation appear to contribute towards the selection of elite junior tennis players, with a bias towards males and females who are advanced in maturation and comparatively tall and heavy for their age. This has important implications for talent identification and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Velocity coupling denotes a perceptual motor behaviour known to occur during coincidence timing tasks. Individuals have been shown to increase their effector limb speed with increases in stimulus speed during interceptive tasks. However, little is known about the physiological effects of velocity coupling. The aim of this study was to determine the physiological cost of velocity coupling during tennis groundstrokes. Eight male and eight female competitive tennis players volunteered to perform three 4-min bouts of continuous groundstrokes against balls projected from a tennis ball machine at speeds of 18, 22, and 27 m · s-1 (65, 79, and 97 km · h-1) and a frequency of 14 balls per minute, the order of which was counterbalanced. Breath-by-breath pulmonary gas exchange, heart rate, locomotion time, and limb acceleration were measured throughout each of the 4-min bouts. Capillary blood samples (for blood lactate analysis), rating of perceived exertion, and difficulty rating were taken at the end of each bout. Increasing ball speed did not influence the locomotion time between groundstrokes but did result in a bilateral increase in both the mean upper- and lower-limb acceleration (all P < 0.05). Velocity coupling behaviour increased oxygen uptake, blood lactate concentration, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, and perceived task difficulty (all P < 0.05). It would appear, therefore, that velocity coupling influenced tennis groundstroke behaviour and indirectly modified the concurrent cardiopulmonary and metabolic responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new pervasive digital game is discussed, relating technical and conceptual innovation. A combination of sensor technologies enables a responsive visual and auditory environment to be overlaid on the real world. This allows processes within the player's body to be mapped to the environment through which the player passes, externalising the internal. Rather than using technology to replicate the rigid goals and structures of many conventional games, this game explores the concept of ‘open play’, a form of personal exploration. The work is an interdisciplinary collaboration between digital artists and health scientists with an agenda to alter players’attitudes to the body and health as well as to break new ground artistically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of a pressurized tennis ball 6% greater in diameter (Type 3) than a standard sized (Type 2) ball on performance and the physiological responses to the Loughborough Intermittent Tennis Test (LITT) ( Davey et al ., 2002 ). Eight competitive tennis players (males, n = 4, age 24.8 ± 3.5 years, body mass 81.3 ± 3.1 kg, height 1.74 ± 0.02 m, estimated &Vdoti;O 2max 54.4 ± 2.6 ml · kg -1 · min -1 ; females, n = 4, age 26.3 ± 3.1 years, body mass 67.0 ± 6.7 kg, height 1.68 ± 0.02 m, estimated &Vdoti;O 2max 49.9 ± 3.3 ml · kg -1 · min -1 ; mean ± ) completed two main trials of the LITT with either the Type 2 or Type 3 tennis balls to the point of volitional fatigue. The mean time to volitional fatigue was 29.5% greater during the Type 3 trials than during the Type 2 trials (56.9 ± 6.4 min vs 40.1 ± 3.7 min; P < 0.05). The mean percentage accuracy and mean percentage consistency recorded for the entire LITT were greater for the Type 3 than the Type 2 trials (9.2 ± 1.5 vs 4.0 ± 0.3% and 61.1 ± 0.6 vs 51.3 ± 0.6%, respectively; P < 0.01). A significantly lower mean heart rate and blood lactate concentration were observed during the Type 3 than during the Type 2 trials. There was a clear effect of ball diameter on tennis performance and certain physiological responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]