Cooling Improves Table Tennis Performance amongst Elite Young Players Introduction Table tennis is a short, intermittent, high intensity sport where aerobic and intense anaerobic systems exchange throughout play (Kondric et al., 2010). High atmospheric temperatures and humidity are commonplace in table tennis as ventilation is non-existent (Kobayashi et al., 2004). Tyler, Sunderland and Cheung, (2013) found cooling benefits intermittent sports performance. Only Kobayashi et al. (2004) has examined thermoregulation during table tennis and no research has examined cooling. Therefore the purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of thermoregulation and cooling during a table tennis-specific protocol. It was hypothesised that intermittent cooling may improve table tennis performance. However, the short exercise duration and length of ice application may not induce significant physiological changes for cooling to be effective, yet cooling may improve performance by reducing perceived exertion and thermal strain. Methods 8 elite young male players (age 16 ±2 years, height 1.77 ±0.08m, body mass ±10.66kg, VO 2peak 49.8 ±5.9mL.kg -1.min -1, playing experience 6 ±3 years) of international and national standard. Random counterbalanced within-group test design. 4 sessions - (1) VO 2peak determination, (2) familiarisation trial, (3) Non-Cooling (CON) experimental trial, (4) Cooling (ICE) experimental trial. The following variables were measured: - Aural Temperature (T c ) - Skin Temperature (T sk ) - HR - VO 2 and VCO 2 - Thermal Sensation (TS) - RPE - Stroop test - Mean Skin Temperature (MST) (Ramanathan, 1964) - Mean Body Temperature (MBT) (Burton, 1935). Participants completed 3 exercise bouts with 1.5 minutes rest between bouts (Fig 1) against a mechanical ball thrower whilst aiming for two targets across the net (Fig 2). 0-3°C ice pack (310g of ice cubes) applied to the nape for 1 minute before each bout during ICE. A within-group two-way (time x condition) repeated-measures ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni’s adjustment, measured differences between conditions. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Results Conclusion The most significant finding showed neck cooling significantly improved table tennis performance, on average by 16 shots compared to CON. In this study, as TS reduced with cooling, this probably caused the central governor to perceive lower T b, fatigue and exertion thus enabling maintenance of higher intensities and better-quality neuromuscular function. Consequently, fine motor-skills are sustained through superior muscle recruitment leading to performance improvements compared to CON. Due to improvements being demonstrating through positive psychological effects, neck cooling is also effective in moderate ambient conditions. Further research is required to understand the effects of intermittent neck cooling on table tennis performance during actual matchplay. However, the application of this intervention during training may improve the quality of practice thus having a beneficial knock-on effect on match performance. Overall performance scores significantly (P=0.006) improved during ICE (136 ±26 shots) than CON (120 ±25), whilst Fig 3 shows differences for individual bouts. An interaction between condition and time was detected for neck temperature (P<0.001). Effects for time (P 0.05) were found for RPE and all other physiological variables. TS was significantly lower during ICE than CON (P=0.03), however there was no effect of cooling on the Stroop test (P>0.05). Table 1 shows Pearson product-moment correlations identifying relationships between variables. Figure 3. Comparison of mean (±SD) performance scores between conditions for individual exercise bouts. * Denotes significant difference (P<0.05) between conditions. Figure 2. Illustration of table and target setup for exercise protocol. Terun Desai 1 and Dr. Lindsay Bottoms 2 1. School of Health, Sport and Bioscience, University of East London, London, UK. 2. Department of Psychology and Sports Science, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK. Figure 1. Schematic of testing protocol. References - Burton, A. C. (1935). ‘Human Calorimetry: The Average Temperature of the Tissues of the Body’. Journal of Nutrition, 9, pp. 261– Kobayashi, Y., Takeuchi, T., Hosoi, T. and Takaba, S. (2004). ‘Dehydration during Table Tennis in a Hot, Humid Environment’. In: Science and Racket Sports III: The Proceedings of the Eighth International Table Tennis Federation Sports Science Congress and The Third World Congress of Science and Racket Sports, pp. 16, Routledge. - Kondric, M., Furjan-Mandic, G., Kondric, L. and Gabaglio, A. (2010). ‘Physiological Demands and Testing in Table Tennis’, International Journal of Table Tennis Sciences, 6, pp Ramanathan, N. L. (1964). ‘A New Weighting System for Mean Surface Temperature of the Human Body’. Journal of Applied Physiology, 19 (3), pp Tyler, C. J., Sunderland, C. and Cheung, S. S. (2013). ‘The Effect of Cooling Prior to and During Exercise on Exercise Performance and Capacity in the Heat: A Meta-Analysis’. British Journal of Sports Medicine. pp Table 1. Pearson correlations between variables. * Significant correlation, P< # Significant correlation, P< Correlated Variablesr Values RPE and Individual Bout Performance Score * RPE and TS 0.62 * HR and TS 0.38 * HR and MBT # VO 2 and HR during Exercise 0.54 *