Cardio Tennis als präventives Gesundheitstraining: Eine Studie zur Ermittlung der gesundheitsfördernden Wirkung von Cardio Tennis

While traditional motives to participate in sports such as success and performance have been losing in significance over the past years, the value of motives such as health and fitness has been continually increasing in today’s society. Especially the sport of tennis, which in public perception is closely associated with traditional motives, has drastically lost in value in Germany.
The concept of Cardio Tennis, a modified and movement intensive form of tennis training in groups, has been introduced as a possible adjustment in response to the changed demand of sports as well as a solution to counteract the regressive development in terms of memberships in the German Tennis Federation (DTB).
The fact that Cardio Tennis has officially been acknowledged as preventive health training supported by German health insurance providers can be seen as a milestone on the path of increasing interest and awareness for the sport of tennis being beneficial for fitness and health.
The results of the controlled intervention study over the course of five months present evidence in favor of Cardio Tennis fulfilling the requirements of preventive health training. Therefore, it can be clearly stated that the results of this study provide the significant scientific evidence required by the German association of health insurance providers (GKV-Spitzenverband für die Zertifizierung nach § 20 Abs. 4 Nr. 1 SGB V) to certify Cardio Tennis’ health promoting effectiveness.
In addition to that, the necessity of the German Tennis Federation (DTB) and its regional associations to consequently implement and institutionalize the Cardio Tennis program including the installment of qualified instructors is clearly stated in the following dissertation.