Journal of Sports Sciences

ISSN: 0264-0414 (Print) 1466-447X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjsp20

The Dutch motor skills assessment as tool

for talent development in table tennis: a
reproducibility and validity study
Irene R. Faber, Maria W. G. Nijhuis-Van Der Sanden, Marije T. ElferinkGemser & Frits G. J. Oosterveld
To cite this article: Irene R. Faber, Maria W. G. Nijhuis-Van Der Sanden, Marije T. ElferinkGemser & Frits G. J. Oosterveld (2015) The Dutch motor skills assessment as tool for talent
development in table tennis: a reproducibility and validity study, Journal of Sports Sciences,
33:11, 1149-1158, DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2014.986503
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.986503

Published online: 06 Dec 2014.

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Date: 15 December 2015, At: 13:29

Journal of Sports Sciences, 2015

Vol. 33, No. 11, 11491158, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.986503

The Dutch motor skills assessment as tool for talent development in

table tennis: a reproducibility and validity study
IRENE R. FABER1, MARIA W. G. NIJHUIS-VAN DER SANDEN2, MARIJE T.
ELFERINK-GEMSER3,4 & FRITS G. J. OOSTERVELD1

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Faculty of Physical Activity and Health, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Enschede, The Netherlands, 2Scientic
Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 3Center for Human
Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands and
4
Institute for Studies in Sports and Exercise, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
(Accepted 7 November 2014)

Abstract
A motor skills assessment could be helpful in talent development by estimating essential perceptuo-motor skills of young
players, which are considered requisite to develop excellent technical and tactical qualities. The Netherlands Table Tennis
Association uses a motor skills assessment in their talent development programme consisting of eight items measuring
perceptuo-motor skills specic to table tennis under varying conditions. This study aimed to investigate this assessment
regarding its reproducibility, internal consistency, underlying dimensions and concurrent validity in 113 young table tennis
players (610 years). Intraclass correlation coefcients of six test items met the criteria of 0.7 with coefcients of variation
between 3% and 8%. Cronbachs alpha valued 0.853 for internal consistency. The principal components analysis distinguished two conceptually meaningful factors: ball control and gross motor function. Concurrent validity analyses
demonstrated moderate associations between the motor skills assessments results and national ranking; boys r = 0.53
(P < 0.001) and girls r = 0.45 (P = 0.015). In conclusion, this evaluation demonstrated six test items with acceptable
reproducibility, good internal consistency and good prospects for validity. Two test items need revision to upgrade
reproducibility. Since the motor skills assessment seems to be a reproducible, objective part of a talent development
programme, more longitudinal studies are required to investigate its predictive validity.
Keywords: reproducibility of results, psychomotor performance, aptitude, racquet sports, gifted children

Introduction
Table tennis at elite level is one of the fastest sports,
and can be described as a fairly difcult task. It is an
open, complex motor task which entails performance
under constantly changing conditions and great time
pressure (Gentile, 2000; Schmidt & Lee, 2011).
Elite training and high performance in this sport
are inseparable connected to highly developed tactical skills, decision-making ability, creativity, concentration,
competitiveness,
apprehension,
selfregulation and willpower (Chu, Chen, Chen,
Huang, & Hung, 2012; Liu, Zhou, Ji, & Watson,
2012; Lopez & Santelices, 2012; Raab, Masters, &
Maxwell, 2005). However, table tennis also requires
a broad repertoire of movements allowing quick and
responsive adaptation to the continuously changing
conditions (Sve, Saury, Theureau, & Durand,
2002). Players aiming to excel need to develop

outstanding technical skills, fast switching capability

to adjust stroke techniques, variable, exible and fast
footwork, pronounced ability to anticipate and react,
proper positioning, and balance control (Ak &
Koak, 2010; Akpinar, Devrilmez, & Kirazci, 2012;
Horsch, 1990; Muster, 1986).
Thus, although talent development is considered a
multidimensional process (Elferink-Gemser, Jordet,
Coelho E Silva, & Visscher, 2011), table tennis
appeals signicantly to a players perceptuo-motor
skills (Limoochi, 2006; Rossum & Gagn, 1994;
Schmidt & Lee, 2011; Toriola, Toriola, &
Igbokwe, 2004). These skills are considered prerequisite to develop adequate technical qualities
(German Table Tennis Association, 2008) and can
probably be appointed as the underlying fundament
of a player for building up outstanding specic sport
skills (Faber, Oosterveld, & Nijhuis-Van Der
Sanden, 2014; Huijgen, Elferink-Gemser, Post, &

Correspondence: Irene R. Faber, Faculty of Physical Activity and Health, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 70.000, 7500 KB Enschede,
The Netherlands. E-mail: i.r.faber@saxion.nl
2014 Taylor & Francis

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1150

I. R. Faber et al.

Visscher, 2009; Vandorpe et al., 2012). Moreover,

the better technical motor skills are automated, the
more possibilities a player has to execute tactical
strategies
(Kannekens,
Elferink-Gemser,
&
Visscher, 2011). The difcult technical skills of
table tennis are considered to be learned best at a
young age, i.e., age from approximately 5 years till
the pubertal growth spurt (1214 years) (Stang &
Story, 2005), using the most sensitive period for
learning motor skills (Knudsen, 2004; Limoochi,
2006; Watanabe, Savion-Lemieux, & Penhune,
2007). Consequently, an assessment of perceptuomotor skills for young players as part of a talent
development programme seems sensible (Girard &
Millet, 2009; Limoochi, 2006; Vandorpe et al.,
2012).
Since 1998, the Netherlands Table Tennis
Association uses a motor skills assessment as part
of their talent development programme to assess
young table tennis players (612 years)
(Netherlands Table Tennis Association, 2011).
Full-time trainers of the German Table Tennis
Association with expertise in talent identication
originally set up this motor skills assessment. The
Netherlands Table Tennis Associations trainers and
coaches further improved the original assessment on
the basis of expert opinions and eld experiences.
Germany has proven itself to be a world class competitor in the past years; mens and womens world
team ranking within top ve and top ten, respectively
(http://www.ittf.com). The German Table Tennis
Association still uses a motor skills assessment,
including items for assessing perceptuo-motor skills,
exibility, and endurance capacity, but no data of
reproducibility and validity are available.
The current motor skills assessment of the
Netherlands Table Tennis Association consists of
eight test items (Table I) (Netherlands Table

Tennis Association, 2011), which all together assess

the following hypothesised essential perceptuomotor skills for table tennis: eyehand coordination,
coordination of simultaneous foot and arm movements, combined gross and ne motor skills, agility,
balance, bat and ball control, and high velocity in
footwork and strikes (Faber et al., 2014; German
Table Tennis Association, 2008; Horsch, 1990;
Rodrigues, Vickers, & Williams, 2002). The test
items assess perceptuo-motor skills, without using
authentic table tennis tasks. The idea is that skills,
which are not trained, are more appropriate to measure future potential than specic sport skills themselves (Gagn, 2004; Morrow, Jackson, Disch, &
Mood, 2011; Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams, &
Philippaerts, 2008).
The motor skills assessment is especially added to
tournaments plays during the Netherlands Table
Tennis Associations annual national talent day.
For this day, the eight departments of the
Netherlands Table Tennis Association delegate the
youngsters (8 boys and 8 girls, age <11 years) who
are considered to have the greatest potential to
become an elite player. Selections are made by the
trainers of the departments. Boys and girls are split
up during both the assessment and the tournament.
Professional trainers observe the children playing the
tournament. The best youngsters, based on a combination of the total score of the motor skills assessment, the tournament and observations of
professional trainers, are invited for further selection
procedures of the talent-group. This is a training
group for the young national elite players (<13 years)
of the Netherlands Table Tennis Association following the talent development programme. The motor
skills assessment is also used for regular monitoring
of the talent-group members; the results from the
assessment together with performance results,

Table I. Current test items of the motor skills assessment of the Netherlands Table Tennis Association.
Test item
Sprint (s)
Agility (s)

Assessing

The ability for quick accelerations and turns (footwork) in combination with a manual task.
The ability to quickly coordinate gross arm and leg movements simultaneously while reasonable strength of the
upper and lower extremities is required.
Vertical jump (cm)
The ability to combine jumping strength of the lower extremities with a slightly demanding coordinative manual
task.
Speed while dribbling (s) The ability to control a ball (eyehand coordination and ne motor/ball control) during a dynamic task,
sideward zigzagging (footwork).
Aiming at target (points) The ability to hit a target precisely with ball using a bat (eyehand coordination and ball control).
Ball skills (points)
The ability to hit a target precisely under varied conditions; distance to target and ball size (ball control;
parameterise power and velocity).
Throwing a ball (m)
The ability to combine the coordination of an arm movement with high arm velocity (combination gross and
ne motor skills).
Eyehand coordination
The ability to make accurate and cooperative hand and arm movements (eyehand coordination) at a high rate.
(points)
Source: Netherlands Table Tennis Association (2011).

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Motor skills assessment for table tennis

training aspects, motivation and the observations of
the trainers are used for selection and training perspectives in the talent development programme.
Although the Netherlands Table Tennis
Associations motor skills assessment has been used
for several years, the psychometric characteristics,
such as reproducibility, concurrent validity and predictive value, were never evaluated. This is crucial
for obtaining trustworthy results and for the adequate interpretation of the test outcomes (Morrow
et al., 2011; Vaeyens et al., 2008). As a rst step, this
study was designed following the consensus-based
standards for the selection of health status measurement instruments (COSMIN) (Mokkink et al.,
2010). This study aimed to investigate the motor
skills assessment on:
1. its reproducibility on test-item level (COSMIN
checklist: Box B and C;
2. its internal consistency (COSMIN checklist:
Box A);
3. its possible underlying dimensions or so-called
latent variables (COSMIN checklist: Box E);
4. its concurrent validity (COSMIN checklist:
Box F).
Reproducibility was hypothesised to be at an acceptable level due to the standardised protocols including training phases before testing, (time constraint)
repetitive performance tasks and/or a number of
attempts (Morrow et al., 2011). Internal consistency
was expected to be sufcient as all test items measure aspects from the sensorimotor domain. There
was no a priori hypothesis about the existence of
latent variables. Concurrent validity was investigated
by examining the relationship with national ranking.
Only a moderate relation was expected, because the
motor skills assessment is thought to measure an
aspect of the underlying fundament for table tennis,
whereas national ranking is based on performances
in competition and tournaments and is established
by
several
multidimensional
characteristics
(Elferink-Gemser et al., 2011), which are not all
included in the assessment.
Methods
Ethics statement
This study and informed consent procedures were
approved by the ethical committee of the Medical
Spectrum Twente (Medical School Twente,
Institute for Applied Science, Enschede, the
Netherlands; MTC/11069.oos 18-2-2011) in full
compliance with the declaration of Helsinki. At
least 1 month prior to the measurements, players
and their parents were informed in writing by the

1151

Netherlands Table Tennis Association that data,

sampled during events organised by the
Netherlands Table Tennis Association, would be
anonymously collected for this study. There was
full opportunity for players and their parents to ask
for more information concerning this study and/or
refuse provision of the anonymous results. All data
were recorded in an anonymous data set by the
Netherlands Table Tennis Association; the ethical
committee consulted waived the need of a written
parental and players informed consent.
Design
This study used a testretest research design to
examine reproducibility. The initial assessments
were used for estimating internal consistency and
searching for possible underlying dimensions.
Furthermore, the association between the motor
skills assessment and ranking was examined for concurrent validity.
Participants
Young table tennis players were recruited on the
national talent day and in the talent-group in 2009
by the Netherlands Table Tennis Association. The
players of the national talent day were selected by the
regional technical staff to represent their department.
Inclusion criteria were: an age between 6 and
10 years and being a member of a table tennis club
associated with the Netherlands Table Tennis
Association. Players with injuries were excluded
from the study.
Data collection
All players were assessed with the motor skills assessment under similar conditions at the national sport
centre at Papendal on two consecutive Sundays. The
participants of the national talent day were examined
as a part of the event. The talent-group members
were evaluated as a part of their regular monitoring
during training. The testers were physiotherapy students who were trained in using the test protocols.
They were familiarised with the protocols of the test
items and instruction, and feedback was given during training by an expert trainer of the Netherlands
Table Tennis Association.
To investigate the reproducibility on test-item
level, one half of the players (n > 50) of the national
talent day were retested on four test items, and the
other half of the players (n > 50) on the remaining
four test items, both during an extra round of testing
on the same day. A different tester for retesting was
chosen, because this best matches daily practice
where different trainers conduct the motor tests.

1152

I. R. Faber et al.

The tester of the retest was blinded for the test outcome of the initial test. For concurrent validity, the
performance results, i.e., the national ranking were
provided by the Netherlands Table Tennis
Association. The national ranking is based on participation and winning in the ofcial competition and
national tournaments of the Netherlands Table
Tennis Association; both yield points, which determine national ranking when added up.

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Measurements
The Netherlands Table Tennis Associations motor
skills assessment consists of eight test items (Table I).
The standardisation of the test items was captured in
protocols, which included a detailed description for
materials, set-up, assignment, demonstration, training-phase, testing-phase and registering test scores
(Netherlands Table Tennis Association, 2011).
Sprint includes a pyramid-shape circuit (isosceles
triangle, basis 6 m, height 5 m) in which players need
to gather and return ve table tennis balls one by one
as fast as possible. For agility, players need to get
through a circuit, including climbing over a gymnastics cabinet (ve times) and under and over a low
hurdle (four times), as fast as possible. Both sprint
and agility are measured in seconds (s). At vertical
jump players needed to jump and touch the sidewall
as high as possible, which is measured in centimetres
(cm). Speed while dribbling uses a zigzag circuit in
which the players need to move sideways as fast as
possible while dribbling one-handed with a basketball.
This test is also measured in seconds (s). At aiming
at target players need to hit alternately two targets
(distance 2 and 4 m) with a table tennis ball using a
standard bat. Balls skills also requires hitting two
targets alternately (distance 2 and 3 m), but at this
item players need to throw a basketball, tennis ball
and table tennis ball. At aiming at target and ball
skills players collect one point each time the target is
hit correctly (points). At throwing a ball, the players
throw a table tennis ball as far as possible which is
measured in metres (m). In the eyehand coordination test players are instructed to throw a ball to a
vertical positioned table tennis table (1 m distance)
with one hand and to catch the ball correctly with the
other hand as frequently as possible in 30 s (Faber
et al., 2014). The number of correct catches is scored.
To obtain a total score for the motor skills assessment, raw test scores are rst converted into ageindependent percentile scores per test items. These
percentile scores are based on all available test-item
data from the national talent days between 1998 and
2010 (sprint n = 206; agility n = 1122; vertical jump
n = 513; speed while dribbling n = 1127; aiming at
target n = 308; ball skills n = 541; throwing a ball
n = 954; eyehand coordination n = 207; age 6

10 years). The above-mentioned numbers of participants for determining the percentile scores differ
between the test items, because some revisions of
the assessment were made by the trainers of the
Netherlands Table Tennis Association between
1998 and 2010. The percentile scores range from 0
to 100 points per test item with intervals of 5 points
and reect the position of a player compared to the
total population on that specic test item. For example, a percentile score of 100 is given when a player
scores equal to the best 5% of the total population, a
percentile score of 95 is given when a player scores
equal to the 610% best of the total population and
so on. The total score of the motor skills assessment
is computed by adding up the percentile scores of all
eight test items (range 0800 points).

Statistical analysis
IBM SPSS Statistics 21 for Windows (IBM Corp.,
Armonk, NY, USA) was used for the statistical analyses. The normality of the data was evaluated by comparing (1) means and medians of the test items and (2)
standard deviation and ranges. Means and standard
deviations of the raw scores of the eight test items and
the total score were provided for the total group, and
split up for boys and girls per age (8-, 9-, 10-year-olds).
Inuences of gender and age were tested for the total
score in the age span of 810 years using a univariate
general linear model analyses.
Then rstly, as De Vet, Terwee, Knol, and Bouter
(2006) proposed, reproducibility was used as an
umbrella term for both reliability and agreement.
Both the reliability and agreement analyses were
conducted on the raw scores of each test item.
Intraclass correlation coefcients (ICCs) based on
the two-way random model (type consistency) and
their 95% condence intervals were calculated as
reliability parameters, because the motor skills
assessment is used as a discriminative instrument
and ranking the players is of main interest (De Vet
et al., 2006). For all ICC calculations the single
measurement outcomes were used. ICCs of 0.7 or
more are considered to be acceptable for reliability
on test-item level (Nunally & Bernstein, 1994). For
the agreement parameters the standard error of measurement (SEm), smallest detectable differences
(SDD) and coefcient of variation (CV) were calculated with the following formulas (De Vet et al.,
2006; Hopkins, 2000):
SEm sdifference

test"retest =

SDD 1:96 #

2 # SEm

CV SEm=mean of the raw test"item scores#100%:

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Motor skills assessment for table tennis

These chosen calculations for agreement are consistent with the selection of the reliability parameters.
Secondly, Cronbachs alpha was calculated using the
equally directed percentile scores per test item to
determine internal consistency of the motor skills
assessment. A Cronbachs alpha of 0.8 was considered to be sufcient (George & Mallery, 2003).
Furthermore, to explore associations between the
test items, the inter-item correlations based on the
percentile scores were given for all test items.
Principal components analysis was used to nd
meaningful underlying dimensions. Only factors
with eigenvalues greater than 1.0 were retained for
the nal rotated solution (oblique rotation). Factorloading was computed for all test items, loadings
<0.3 were suppressed. Finally, the concurrent validity was evaluated by correlating the total test score
with the national ranking using the non-parametric
Spearmans correlation coefcient while controlling
for age. Because national ranking is gender specic,
this analysis was conducted for male and female
players separately. Alpha was set on 0.05 for signicance for all analyses.

1153

Table II. Descriptive statistics of young table tennis players.

Total group
Participants
(n)
Age
6 years
group (n) 7 years
8 years
9 years
10 years
TG (n)
NT (n)
Height (cm)
Weight (kg)
Training
(hweek1)

Boys

Girls

113

66

47

3
3
25
42
40
5
108
M (range)
141 (116166)
33 (2156)
4 (120)

0
2
14
26
24
2
64
M (range)
142 (122166)
34 (2356)
4 (120)

3
1
11
16
16
3
44
M (range)
140 (116158)
33 (2153)
4 (113)

Note: n = number; M = mean; TG

NT = participants of the national talent day.

talent-group;

of the total group could be evaluated as normally

distributed; means and medians were similar and
the range around the mean followed a normal distribution. Players of whom part of the data was
missing were excluded from the analyses involving
that information. The raw scores of the test items
demonstrated that boys tended to outperform girls,
and the older children score better than the younger
ones (Table III). The main effects of gender and age
in the age span from 8 to 10 years for the total score
(percentiles added up) were conrmed by the univariate general linear model analyses; gender
F = 32.323 (P < 0.001) and age F = 7.404
(P = 0.001).

Results
Participants
In total, 113 young table tennis players were assessed
as part the Netherlands Table Tennis Associations
national talent day or regular monitoring of the
talent-group. No parents or players refused provision
of their anonymous data for this study. Table II
presents the descriptive statistics of the participants.
The descriptive results for the raw scores per test
item and the total score, without retest data, are
presented in Table III for the total group and split
up for 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old boys and girls. All data

Reproducibility
Table IV summarises the reproducibility outcomes.
All test items, except the ones aiming at target

Table III. Descriptive statistics of the motor skills assessment (M s).

Total

Item
Sprint (s)
Agility (s)
Vertical jump (cm)
Speed while dribbling (s)
Aiming at target (points)
Ball skills (points)
Throwing a ball (m)
Eyehand coordination (points)
Total score (percentiles added up)

Boys

Girls

610 years

8 years

9 years

10 years

8 years

9 years

10 years

(n = 113)

(n = 14)

(n = 26)

(n = 24)

(n = 11)

(n = 16)

(n = 16)

35
30
25
26
7
4
10
15
450

3.8#
7.1##
5.5#
7.3
2.4#
2.0#
1.6
7.8
150^

35
29
25
24
6
4
10
13
450

3.7#
6.7
2.5
5.9
2.5
2.0
1.3
7.3
130#

24
27
26
23
7
4
11
17
520

2.3
6.1#
3.7
4.7
2.6
2.3
1.4
5.2
120#

33
28
27
22
8
5
11
22
570

3.1
4.7
5.5#
4.9
1.8
1.9
1.3
5.6
110#

Note: n = number; M = mean; s = standard deviation; missing values #n = 1,##n = 2,^n = 6.

38
32
23
32
4
3
8
6
290

3.4
7.0
5.7
10.0
2.3
1.9
0.9
5.3
95

35
34
25
30
6
4
9
13
405

4.8
7.8
5.3
7.9
1.6
1.9
1.4
7.8
135

36
33
26
26
7
4
9
13
410

3.7
5.9#
8.8
5.2
2.4#
1.9
1.0
5.5
120##

1154

I. R. Faber et al.

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Table IV. Reproducibility outcomes of the motor skills assessment

per item.
ICC 95%
condence
interval

CV
SEm SDD (%)

Item

Sprint (s)
Agility (s)
Vertical jump
(cm)
Speed while
dribbling (s)
Aiming at target
(points)
Ball skills
(points)
Throwing a ball
(m)
Eyehand
coordination
(points)

54 0.79**
51 0.80**
53 0.73**

0.670.88
0.680.88
0.570.83

1.3
1.9
2.0

3.5
5.2
5.5

4
6
8

53 0.83**

0.730.90

1.6

4.4

54 0.53**

0.300.69

1.7

4.6

26

54 0.31*

0.050.53

1.8

4.9

43

54 0.88**

0.800.93

0.3

0.8

54 0.91**

0.850.95

1.0

2.7

ICC

Note: n: number; ICC: intraclass correlation coefcient (model:

two-way random; type: consistency); SEm: standard error of
measurement; SDD: smallest detectable difference; CV: coefcient of variation; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.001.
Table V. Internal consistency of the motor skills assessment.
Cronbachs alpha (n = 107)
Total score
If following item is deleted
Sprint
Agility
Vertical jump
Speed while dribbling
Aiming at target
Ball skills
Throwing a ball
Eyehand coordination

0.853
0.833
0.840
0.848
0.825
0.843
0.858
0.813
0.818

and ball skills, meet the criteria of an ICC > 0.7

(P < 0.05) for reliability (Nunally & Bernstein,
1994). The agreement parameters (SEm, SDD

and CV) follow the same trend, which is clearly

demonstrated by the CV. The CV of sprint, agility, vertical jump, speed while dribbling, and
throwing a ball are between 3% and 8%, whereas
the CVs of aiming at target and ball skills rise
up to 26% and 43%, respectively (Table IV).

Internal consistency and principal component analysis

Cronbachs alpha (Table V) was estimated at 0.853,
which meets the criteria of 0.8 for good internal
consistency (George & Mallery, 2003). Deleting
any test item reduces the internal consistency to
some extent, except for ball skills which increases
it. Deleting the test items throwing a ball, eye
hand coordination and speed while dribbling
reduces Cronbachs alpha the most.
Table VI presents the inter-item correlation matrix
between all test items using percentile scores. All
associations were signicant (P < 0.05), except
between ball skills and agility (0.15;
P = 0.058) and between ball skills and vertical
jump (0.15; P = 0.062). The lowest signicant
associations were found between aiming at target
and the two test items vertical jump (0.18;
P < 0.05) and agility (0.22; P < 0.05). The highest
signicant associations were seen between throwing
a ball and speed while dribbling (0.72; P < 0.05),
eyehand coordination and throwing a ball
(0.67; P < 0.05) and eyehand coordination and
speed while dribbling (0.66; P < 0.05).
The principal components analysis revealed two
underlying factors. Table VII contains the factorloading matrix of all test items. Speed while dribbling, aiming at target, ball skills, throwing
a ball and eyehand coordination had high
loadings (>0.65) on the rst factor, which is suggested as ball control. The test items with high
loadings (>0.65) on the second factor, proposed as
gross motor function, were sprint, agility

Table VI. Inter-item correlation matrix of the motor skills assessment.

Item
Sprint
Agility
Vertical jump
Speed while
dribbling
Aiming at target
Ball skills
Throwing a ball
Eyehand
coordination

Sprint

Agility

1.00

0.58
1.00

Note: # non-signicant; P > 0.05.

Vertical
jump

Speed while
dribbling

Aiming at
target

Ball skills

Throwing a
ball

Eyehand
coordination

0.49
0.58
1.00

0.35
0.39
0.36
1.00

0.45
0.22
0.18
0.47

0.23
0.15#
0.15#
0.37

0.47
0.48
0.36
0.72

0.47
0.42
0.36
0.66

1.00

0.25
1.00

0.48
0.51
1.00

0.59
0.32
0.67
1.00

Motor skills assessment for table tennis

Table VII. Factor-loading matrix (oblique rotation).
#

Factor
Item
Sprint
Agility
Vertical jump
Speed while dribbling
Aiming at target
Ball skills
Throwing a ball
Eyehand coordination

2
0.683
0.863
0.864

0.765
0.721
0.721
0.785
0.739

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Note: #Labelling factors: 1. Ball control and 2. Gross motor

function.

and vertical jump. Both factors together

explained 65% of the variance. This is in coherence with the results of the inter-item correlation
matrix.
Concurrent validity
The analyses for concurrent validity showed moderate signicant negative Spearmans correlation coefcients for boys and girls while controlling for age;
0.54 (P < 0.001) and 0.42 (P = 0.025), respectively (Figure 1). This means that children with a
high position at the national ranking list tend to
reach a higher total score on the motor skills
assessment.
Discussion
This study presents promising results for the psychometric characteristics of the Dutch motor skills
assessment for table tennis and meets the COSMIN
(Mokkink et al., 2010). Firstly, reproducibility

1155

appears sufcient for six of the eight test items.

Secondly, good internal consistency is conrmed; all
test items, except for ball skills, will reduce internal
consistency when deleted. Moreover, a moderate
relationship was observed between some test items
and a principal component analysis distinguished
two conceptually recognisable factors: ball control
and gross motor function. This conrms the original idea that the motor skills assessment measures
several perceptuo-motor skills under varying circumstances. Finally, as hypothesised, this study showed a
moderate correlation between the motor skills assessments results and actual national ranking for both
boys and girls, while controlling for age, conrming
concurrent validity.
For reproducible results, it is necessary that a
player shows stable performances during testing
and retesting. The time indicated test items, i.e.,
sprint, agility and speed while dribbling
(Table I), seem to give steady results with a sufcient
range in test scores. This is also the case for vertical
jump, throwing a ball and eyehand coordination. Reproducibility outcomes of these six test
items are similar to such outcomes from other sport
tests used in talent development programmes (Ali
et al., 2007; Girard & Millet, 2009; Kiphard &
Schilling, 2007; Lemmink, Elferink-Gemser, &
Visscher, 2004; Vandorpe et al., 2012). The results
of the test items aiming at target and ball skills
were unstable; high and low scores seem to be randomly distributed among players. These test items
need revision to improve reproducibility and retain
the assessments structure by preserving the nature
of the test items measuring certain specic perceptuo-motor skills. More attempts, fewer variations in
subtasks and an extensive scale including more gradations in points for the accuracy of hitting the target

Figure 1. Relationship between national ranking and total score of the motor skills assessment while controlling for age; TG: members of the
talent-group; NT: participants of the national talent day.

Downloaded by [UGR-BTCA Gral Universitaria] at 13:29 15 December 2015

1156

I. R. Faber et al.

could be solutions to get more steady results in these

test
items
while
maintaining
sufcient
responsiveness.
The inter-item correlations and principal component analysis revealed a two-dimensionality in the
motor skills assessment. For the test items of the
factor ball control, the main task load seems to
be coordinating and controlling a ball, probably by
deploying the visuo-motor system for visual acuity
and eyehand coordination in different circumstances. The test items loading on the factor gross
motor function on the other hand demonstrated a
task load on the combination of strength, speed and
agility. Regarding these two dimensions, the motor
skills assessment seems to cover the most important
necessary perceptuo-motor skills in elite table tennis.
It appears that the content or face validity by the
experts of the German Table Tennis Association
and the Netherlands Table Tennis Association is
reinforced by the exploratory principal component
analysis of this study to evaluate its structural
validity.
As described earlier, the moderate relations
between the motor skills assessment and national
ranking were in line with our hypothesis. Both the
assessment and the national ranking are considered
to reect a part of a players talent or potential
capacity to develop into an elite player.
Consequently, low correlation coefcients for the
relation between the motor skills assessments results
and ranking are unlikely. On the other hand, a strong
relation was not expected either, because performance in table tennis is the result of a combination
of multidimensional performance characteristics
which are inuenced by maturation, learning and
training (Elferink-Gemser et al., 2011). As a consequence, gifted children with little experience in competition and training probably have a low ranking,
but could have outstanding results at the motor skills
assessment. And vice versa, less gifted children with
a lot of training and competition experience can have
a high ranking, but disappointing results at the
assessment. Although, these results support the concurrent validity of the motor skills assessment, longitudinal studies must reveal whether it can indeed
measure the potential of young players aiming to
become elite table tennis players.
Because the motor skills assessment is studied in
the context where it is normally used, some concessions were made for feasibility. Firstly, the interval
between test and retest was only a couple of hours.
For that reason, learning effects and fatigue could
have inuenced the results. Secondly, one half of the
players were retested on four test items, and the
other half of the players on the remaining four test
items, so no reproducibility analysis is conducted for
the total score, which is considered an important

outcome. Still, the ecological validity of this study

is maximal and including a large sample of the target
population was possible, which strengthens extrapolation. Finally, our sample included children from an
age span of 6 to 10 years; however, there were only a
few children in the age group of 6 to 7 years.
Consequently, generalisation of our results is best
for players between 8 to 10 years. Additionally, it
must be acknowledged that all analyses were based
on the results of all participants to optimise the
power of the study. Gender and age inuences,
which were present at the raw scores of the test
items and at the total score, might interfere with
the analyses of this study. Age inuences were
expected due to differences in maturation and training in the included age span (Schmidt & Lee, 2011).
Gender differences, on the other hand, were not
expected, as testing took place in the prepubertal
phase (Stang & Story, 2005). Although, no large
differences are expected for reproducibility and
validity analyses due to the distribution of test scores
of the subgroups (Table III) and the above-mentioned content or face validity by the expert trainers,
analyses of subgroups could highlight different
accents. Moreover, when norm scores are developed
in future, age and gender inuences should be taken
into account.
In conclusion, in this rst comprehensive study
about the psychometric characteristics of an instrument for a talent development programme in table
tennis that meets the contemporary scientic standards, the investigated motor skills assessment
appears to have the capability to measure essential
perceptuo-motor skills in young table tennis players
with acceptable reproducibility. Consequently, it
could be a strong instrument for successful talent
development programmes to nd and monitor
those young players aiming to become elite players.
However, to full this perspective it is crucial that
the irreproducible test items are revised, the total
score of the motor skills assessment is a weighted
score of the test items based on age-dependent percentiles scores, and that validity studies analysing the
motor skills assessment are conducted with regard to
its ability to discriminate between elite and sub-elite
players and with regard to its predictive value in
longitudinal designs (Gagn, 2004; Vaeyens et al.,
2008). Moreover, for an adequate interpretation of
individual test results, it is required that the inuence of age, training and maturity are examined
(Coelho ESilva et al., 2010; Elferink-Gemser et al.,
2011; Helsen, Van Winckel, & Williams, 2005;
Malina, Cummings, Morano, Barron, & Miller,
2005). Finally, it must be emphasised that the
motor skills assessment is just a part of a broader
talent identication programme. Identifying gifted
players in table tennis is challenging because of the

Motor skills assessment for table tennis

multidimensionality and the difculty of predicting
outcomes in the future (Brouwers, De Bosscher, &
Sotiriadou, 2012; Elferink-Gemser et al., 2011;
Vaeyens et al., 2008). Psychological, social and
environmental factors also play crucial roles in talent
development in table tennis (Elferink-Gemser et al.,
2011; Gagn, 2004). Although this study was conducted in young table tennis players, the motor skills
assessments concept and its fundament can probably be extrapolated to many other sports.

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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Netherlands Table Tennis
Association for the provision of the data, the trainers
of the Netherlands Table Tennis Association and
physiotherapy students of Saxion University for
their help with the assessments and of course all
children for their participation in this study. Special
thanks go to Achim Sialino, technical director of the
Netherlands Table Tennis Association, who supported this research from the start, Niels Faber for
his guidance at the statistical topics and Nicolien
Oldeman for her assistance on English writing.
Funding
This work was nancially supported by Saxion
University of Applied Sciences.
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