The performance model of table tennis: anthropometric, motor, and technical-tactical determinants in Olympic and Paralympic athletes

Performance modeling in sport is the process applied to identify the technical, tactical, and physical profiles that characterize the single discipline for the management of training process based on explicit performance goals. Therefore, this project aimed to delineate a comprehensive table tennis performance model through a multidimensional approach including anthropometric, motor, and technical-tactical analyses. In the Olympic context, high-level table tennis players show greater levels of height-indexed lean and muscle mass. Female players also exhibit an association between higher performance levels and less endomorphic profiles. For the motor profile, high-level players are characterized by greater performances in cognitive-motor tasks and in lateral reactive strength and explosiveness, expressed in conditions that replicate the game demands. For the technical-tactical profile, the frequent execution of offensive actions, particularly with the backhand technique, is a key factor at higher levels. In the Paralympic context, male wheelchair players in C1 class prefer the execution of drive and lob strokes, especially with the backhand technique, whereas players in C5 class rely more on the topspin. In addition, most serves were executed with the backhand side and were predominantly directed to the central and far-from-the-net zone. The novel Reactive Table Tennis test demonstrates to be valid and reliable in capturing the essential cognitive-motor demands of table tennis integrating speed processing, decision-making, short multidirectional actions, and a realistic inter-stimulus interval. The single-leg lateral jump tests complete the proposed test battery providing a sport-specific evaluation of explosive and reactive strength. Overall, these findings provide practitioners a complete performance model that can be translated into training design and assessment protocols, with specific consideration for male and female Olympic and Paralympic athletes.