Seeing less to perform better: stroboscopic stimulation effects on padel volley accuracy and reactive agility

The integration of stroboscopic eyewear into sport-specific warm-ups has demonstrated potential for enhancing performance. This study investigated the immediate effects of stroboscopic stimulation on sport-specific performance in padel, focusing on volley accuracy and reactive agility.

Twenty competitive male padel players (26.0 ± 6.3 years) completed two experimental sessions in a counterbalanced within-subjects design: one involving a warm-up with stroboscopic eyewear (5 Hz, 50% duty cycle) and another under normal visual conditions. Performance was evaluated during and after the warm-up in each condition using a volley accuracy task, and a light-based reactive agility test was assessed after the warm-up.

Volley accuracy performance was significantly reduced under stroboscopic conditions compared to control conditions (p < 0.001, d = 3.14). However, volley performance significantly improved after the stroboscopic warm-up compared to the control post-warm-up (p = 0.041, d = 0.52). No statistically significant differences were found for reactive agility (p = 0.092), though a small-to-moderate effect size favored the stroboscopic condition (d = 0.41).

A single warm-up session using stroboscopic stimulation can acutely enhance volley accuracy in padel once normal vision is restored, suggesting potential for perceptual-motor priming. Effects on reactive agility were inconclusive, potentially due to task specificity and stimulus limitations. These insights may help coaches boost performance by integrating this approach into pre-training and pre-competition routines.