Effectiveness of hula hooping using a custom-made polyethylene hoop: effects on agility, balance, flexibility and core strength on professional tennis players

Background: Hula hooping is a fun recreational activity that has been used for exercise for centuries but there are very few studies on its effectiveness on athletic performance. Tennis is a sport that requires a number of athletic skills such as agility, balance, flexibility, and core strength. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of hula hoop training on agility, balance, flexibility and core strength in professional tennis players.
Methodology: 18 subjects,(18-25 years old), male, professional tennis players, study design: quasi experimental study; study design: pre-test and post test. Ability to hula hoop for at least 2 minutes is the criteria to include them into the study. Selected players were made to undergo pre-test, followed by which hula hooping protocol was followed. Results: Post-test value was analysed by Paired ‘t’ test. The calculated ‘p’ value is 0.021 for agility test, 0.002 for balance test and 0.000 for flexibility and core strength test which are less than 0.05 at 5% level of significance. Discussion: All tested athletic skills showed a significant increase in performance. The training had its greatest affect on core strength and flexibility. Agility and balance also increased but surprisingly not to the extent of core strength and flexibility. Conclusion: Thus it is concluded that using a custom made polyethylene hula hoop was very effective in improving agility and balance but was most effective over improving flexibility and core strength in professional tennis players.