Groundstrokes in tennis players developing the evaluation scale

Objective: The aim of this study is to develop a scale that can be used by tennis coaches to evaluate the groundstrokes(forehand and backhand) technique of child tennis players. Method: The study was conducted in the 10-12 age range (11.47±0.89 years), with an age of 3.50±0.82 years to play tennis, who received tennis training for at least two years, the average height of 141.73±9.10 cm, and average weight. A total of 60 athletes (30 boys and 30 girls) with a weight of 40.85±6.49 kg participated. International Tennis Federation (ITF) groundstrokes checklist (YVKL) has been translated from English to Turkish. The (YVKL) translated into Turkish, consisting of 15 people, has been evaluated by trainers with TTF level 3 Tennis Trainer licenses with more than 5 years of coaching experience. YVKL, which was evaluated by the selection committee consisting of 3 experts, transformed the items selected by the coaches as important and very important, one of the technical components of the groundstrokes, into YGDF (structured observation evaluation form) in the form of a 3-point Likert scale. Reliability and validity studies of the scale were carried out by applying YGDF in the field. All data in the research were analyzed using the SPSS 25 package program. Results: When the 1st and 2nd week technical observations of 3 observer trainers for forehand and backhand strokes were examined, a statistically high and significant correlation was found (r>0.90, **p<0.01). When the relationship between the observations made in the 1st and 2nd weeks of the observer coaches using the developed YGDF was examined, a high-level and significant relationship was found between the observers according to the results of the reliability analysis (**W>0.75 , **p<0.01). Conclusion: It is thought that YGDF can be used as a valid and reliable tool for the evaluation of the ground strokes of child tennis players who have at least 2 years of tennis training in the 10-12 age group, by their coaches. Keywords: tennis, technique, technical evaluation, scale, measuring tool