Identify The Athlete’s Training Development Strategies During Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown Periods (Special References To Tennis Coaches In Sri Lanka)

TRAINING DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown situation leads to the dimidiate of sports training all over the world including Sri Lanka. This research study examines the athlete’s training development strategies among selected Colombo district Tennis coaches who are registered under Sri Lanka Tennis Association. The major objective of this study was to identify the athlete’s training development strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown periods. The mixed mode method research design was applied and the population of the study was Colombo district Tennis coaches and the sample was forty coaches among them. A simple random sampling technique was used for this study. The researcher collected the data through the online questionnaire. And the data was analyzed by SPSS software. According to the result, 40 out of 40 (100%) Tennis coaches continued their training through the Zoom group video calls. From that, most (85%) of coaches choose Zoom group video calls as the best communication strategy. The finding has shown that Muscular endurance was the most (34 coaches) trained fitness component during the lockdown period. Coaches (82.5%) answers showed, Muscular endurance is an easy fitness component to design exercises to train at home. The majority of the coaches (87.5%) responded as they gave Muscle fitness exercises to their athletes to keep them active in the lockdown periods. All coaches (100%) trained both upper and lower body during the training session. In the upper body, the Forearm was the target muscle area to (90%) most of the coaches. And Calves muscles was the lower body target area to the majority of coaches (87.5%). The majority of the coaches (77.5%) agreed that their training development strategies were effective and gave positive improvements. The Colombo district Tennis coaches continued their sports training through the Zoom video Calls and they trained Muscular endurance and gave Muscle fitness exercises and target the Forearm and the Calves muscles to keep the athletes’ fitness during the COVID-19 outbreak.