Comparison of reaction times, tracking performance levels and decision-making styles of senior tennis players and swimmers

The aim of this study; The reaction times of senior tennis players and swimmers were made to compare their tracking performance levels and decision-making styles. A total of 64 male participants voluntarily participated in the study, 37 tennis players with and 27 senior swimmers. The computer-aided MP36 Biopacsystem program to measure simple and complex auditory and visual reaction times of the participants, the A and B tracking tests to determine their tracking performance, and the Melbourne Decision Making Scale I-II (MKVÖ I-II) to determine their decision-making styles. ) used. For the analysis of the data obtained, whether the continuous variables conform to the normal distribution was tested with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test in the SPSS "22.0" package program. The t-test was used to compare continuous variables between groups. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to determine whether there was a relationship between the parameters. According to the results obtained from the study, in the comparison between tennis players and swimmers; A statistically significant difference was found in tennis players' visual reaction time fix interval, visual reaction time random interval and auditory reaction time fix interval mean values compared to swimmers (p<0.001, p<0.01, respectively). In part A of the tennis players' tracking test, a statistically significant difference was found in the mean values compared to the swimmers (p<0.05). The lowest mean value obtained in the decision-making style of swimmers and tennis players was obtained in the sub-dimension of "postponing decision-making" style in tennis players, while it was obtained in the "avoidant decision-making style" sub-dimension in swimmers. The highest mean value in decision-making styles was obtained in the "careful decision-making style" for tennis players and swimmers. As a result, it can be said that the visual and auditory reaction time averages and tracking A test performances of the tennis players are shorter than the swimmers, and that tennis players and swimmers prefer the "procrastinating and also avoidant decision-making style" the most and the "careful decision-making style" the least.