The skill to be investigated for this movement analysis paper is the tennis serve. The tennis serve is one of the most complex strokes in competitive tennis. I did not choose a specific serve but there are three types of tennis serves. There is the flat, slice, and topspin. The flat serve is a hit on a flat trajectory with a minimum of spin and it is the most commonly used serve. The slice serve is a sidespin that makes the ball serve in the air and after the bounce and it has the lowest force and torque. The topspin serve is a high arching trajectory and a high, kicking bounce. This serve has been found to have the highest potential for injuries and it has the greatest force and torque. I chose this movement because I am in the process of learning how to play tennis and I could not understand the technique of the swing. It was very difficult for me to hit the ball at the timed swing. I read that injury rate from playing tennis ranges from 2 to 20 injuries per 1000 hours played; and they usually come from too much force being put into the stroke. I wanted to gain more knowledge on the proper procedures of how to perform the skill correctly. Some objectives in the game of tennis are: the projection of the ball, keeping the ball in the service box, keeping a good balance, and getting the ball over the net. The purpose of this analysis is to understand the proper technique to serving a tennis ball over the net. .
Skill in Phases.
The skill of serving the tennis ball is divided three phases: preparation, acceleration, and the follow through and within those phases are eight stages: start, release, loading, cocking, acceleration, contact, deceleration, and finish. In every movement of all phases, all planes of motion occur. The preparation phase is the where the energy is stored and includes four stages: .
1. The start stage is where it focuses on balance.
2. The release stage is where the ball is released from the non-dominate hand.
