Influence of a Racquetball Rule Modification on Energy Expenditure and Heart Rate in Amateur Players

Abstract

Sometimes sports have changed their rules for different purposes. In this study, it was hypothesized that changing a rule might help to increase the energy expenditure, heart rate and some game measurements of Racquetball. The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of rule modification on energy expenditure (kilocalories/min and MET/minute), heart rate reserve percentage (HRR%), percentage of time spent on moderate to vigorous physical activity time (MVPA%), and number of hits per rally. A randomized mini-tournament of six matches was played in two sessions by two amateur high skill players while wearing an accelerometer (ActiGraph GT9X Link) and a heart rate sensor (Polar H6). All the matches were recorded with a GoPro Hero 3+ to measure the number of hits per rally later on. To measure the influence of changing the rule, three conditions were played: two normal matches; two matches with a 1-inch tin, and two matches with a 2-inch tin. After establishing a level of significance of p = .05, several two-way chi-square tests were used to analyze all the data and identify if a difference were among the conditions for each of the variables being measured. The only different condition was the 1-inch tin (while comparing it with the no tin condition) which increased the number of hits per rally, X2 (4, N = 519) = 11.81, p < .05, and the time per match. It was concluded that the addition of a 1-inch tin may help to increase the number of hits per rally and time per match. This may help to make the game more attractive and healthier since more time could be expended playing it. Lastly, more studies are needed, with more reliable instruments and different populations, to measure the influence of this rule modification on the variables being measured.