ABSTRACT
The systematic analysis of technical/tactical behavior of players during actual match play is an essential practice for coaches in the majority of sports. An effective method for technical and tactical evaluation in racket sports is notational analysis (Hughes, 1998), in which relevant aspects of the actions performed by the players during match play are recorded and summarized with specific indicators. Technical and tactical skills play a crucial role as determinants of performance in table tennis. The most used technical and tactical parameters in net games are indicators of the shooting behavior, such as the distribution of shot types and of shot outcomes (Hughes and Bartlett, 2002). Another important characteristic of a shot is the footwork performed before hitting the ball, as using correct footwork allows the player to be in the most favored position for an effective ball strike (Malagoli Lanzoni et al., 2007; 2010). Furthermore, it was shown that some footwork types were more associated than others with a positive outcome of the shot (Malagoli Lanzoni et al., 2010).
