Reactive Agility and Pitching Performance Improvement in Visually Impaired Competitive Italian Baseball Players: An Innovative Training and Evaluation Proposal

Giuditta Carretti, Raffaele Bianco, Eleonora Sgambati, Mirko Manetti and Mirca Marini ()
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Giuditta Carretti: Section of Anatomy and Histology, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Raffaele Bianco: Section of Anatomy and Histology, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Eleonora Sgambati: Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, 86090 Pesche, Italy
Mirko Manetti: Section of Anatomy and Histology, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Mirca Marini: Section of Anatomy and Histology, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 12, 1-12

Abstract: Visual input significantly affects kinesthesis skills and, hence, visually impaired individuals show less developed sensorimotor control, especially in an unfamiliar outdoor environment. Regular blind baseball practice can counteract such a deficit but, given the complex kinetic chain model required, a targeted workout proposal is needed to improve the main athletic gesture performance. On these premises, we investigated, for the first time, the running and pitching performance of a competitive Italian blind baseball team through quantitative tools and parameters such as Libra Easytech sensorized proprioceptive board, goniometric active range of motion, chronometric speed, and pitching linear length. Moreover, the perceived physical exertion was assessed by the Borg CR10 scale. Consequently, an adapted athletic training protocol was designed and tested on the field during the competitive season, with the aim to strengthen sport specific-gesture coordination and efficacy as well as to prevent injuries. Quantitative assessments showed an improvement in ankle stability index, bilateral upper limb and hip mobility, reactive agility, running braking phase control during second base approaching, and auditory target-related pitching accuracy along with a decrease in perceived physical exertion. This protocol might therefore represent an effective and easily reproducible training and evaluation approach to tailor management of visually impaired baseball players, and safely improve their athletic performance under the supervision of an adapted exercise specialist.

Keywords: visual disability; athletic performance; blind baseball; pitching performance; adapted training; adapted sport (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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