Physical Fitness in Young Padel Players: A Cross-Sectional Study

Javier Courel-Ibáñez and Javier Llorca-Miralles
Additional contact information
Javier Courel-Ibáñez: Department of Physical Activity and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Javier Llorca-Miralles: FIDIAS Sport & Health Center, Puerto de Santa María, 11500 Cádiz, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: This study aimed to examine the fitness characteristics and to identify the influence of gender and practice experience between young amateur padel players. A total of thirty-four padel players ( n = 19 boys and 15 girls) aged 13 to 17 years old (age 14.6 ± 1.5 years; body mass 63.4 ± 14.5 kg; height 166.6 ± 9.8 cm; 6.2 ± 2.5 padel experience) volunteered to participate. Body composition was assessed by bioimpedance. Change of direction and agility were evaluated by two padel-adapted tests. Upper-limb strength measurement included overhead and side medicine ball throws with dominant and non-dominant hands. One-way ANCOVA was used to determine whether there were significant differences between gender and experience on fitness variables adjusting for age as a covariate. Male and female young padel players presented an apparently healthy body composition and exhibited similar performance in all fitness tests except for jumping ability. Practice experience seemed to influence upper-limb throwing strength, however, sub-analyses revealed no conclusive results. These results contribute to the existing knowledge in padel by providing new data about the fitness status of amateur young players aged 13 to 17 years old and open a window for future interventions using padel as a health promotion tool among youths.

Keywords: racket sports; exercise; paddle tennis; healthy growth; leisure-time physical activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2658/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2658/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2658-:d:512077

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().