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Swimming Question of the Week - January 27, 2009

Posted by Barbara Hummel on Jan 27, 2009 06:59AM (3,275 views)

When you respond to this week's question, please let us know if you're a coach or a swimmer, and thanks for helping us with a bit of market research.

Please click here to take the survey.

Click here to view the results.

Swimmers: If you're trying to learn good technique from a video, would you rather see the technique demonstrated by a good swimmer who is your peer, age-wise... or by an elite-level swimmer who is not necessarily the same age as you?

Coaches: If you're trying to teach good technique to a swimmer, do you think you'd get better results by showing footage of an elite-level swimmer... or footage of a good swimmer in the same age group as the "student?"

teaching, swimming

Responses

sprinter	Responded Jan 27, 2009 01:06PM swimmer elite level swimmer. and then I'll like to see me doing the same so I know exactly what's wrong/ different
Halberhai	Responded Jan 27, 2009 01:31PM i do both i teach and swim so a can give to answer. coach I prefer to show them of a elite-level swimmer but from the year we are with the newest technic. it also could be a swimmer whos training with elite-swimmer. swimmer almost same as i answerd as coach, but here i need to see only from elite- level swimmer. it gives me more safety to reach my goal.
alleycat	Responded Jan 27, 2009 03:19PM As a master swimmer I don't have any preference for either as long as the video shows many angles - from both underwater and above.
Tomás	Responded Jan 27, 2009 03:21PM Swimmer. I would prefer an elite level swimmer.
xyz	Responded Jan 27, 2009 05:18PM From a coaching standpoint I would prefer examples of elite swimmers.
Jonty Skinner	Responded Jan 27, 2009 05:19PM Funny... it really doesn't or shouldn't matter. What matters is that the video you show is technically correct. For the visual cortex to gain a strong image of what you want an athlete to execute, they need to be able to see exactly what you want them to do. So as I have done many times over... shown a video of a 14 year no name swimmer because his technique is sound. Try this in conjunction with this concept... since all of this takes place in the brain, and you're essentially trying to reporgram the brain, have the swimmer watch the video many times over really focusing on something specific. Then put them in the pool and have them execute that skill... with their eyes closed. Needless to say one should take great care to ensure their safety... but I say this since... the visual cortex will be conditioned to see the movement of the limbs one way, (old way) and you're going to try to do this another way. So by taking out the eyes, and hence the hindrance of the brain fighting the new skill... you can implant the new skill using the visual of what the swimmer has just watched many times over. This will give the swimmer a better chance of getting the motor cortex doing the correct movement up front. If the skill is executed correctly, make sure that swimmer tells themself (in their mind) that they did exactly what they wanted. Very important.
mbswimchick	Responded Jan 27, 2009 07:16PM I coach all ages, 8-12 year swim teamers and beginner to competetive adults. So while I love to watch the elite swimmers myself, I think it is really helpful to see a variety of ages doing the skills. I especially enjoy the videos of the kids with great technique, it shows other kids what is possible. I agree with Coach Skinner above, that we are trying to re-program the brain to allow different motor skills. I have the swimmers stop and close their eyes after executing a skill really well, tell them to re-live it in their mind, tell them to concentrate on remembering how it felt to do it. Then I have them repeat the skill again to reinforce the new way. I sometimes try swimming with my eyes closed myself, but its pretty difficult to get a group to do it without problems. I have a whole new awareness of where I am in the water, floating position and limbs, with my eyes closed. It would be really cool to see a 12 year old, a 25 year old, and a 50 year old, side by side, doing the same skills together!!! That would make my day.
fiZZLe	Responded Jan 27, 2009 08:30PM Well I believe Richard Quick did a video series where age group swimmers were the demonstrators :). I have only watched his breaststroke DVD, but I found it very helpful still even though I still don't do breaststroke races, it did help my understanding. The difference in this video was that he was explaining the drill/aspect of technique to the swimmer and you could see how the swimmer interpreted the technique. If it was wrong Quick commented on what would be changed from there and such (this is probably more useful for a coach imo). I like to be able to watch and hear some of the problems that the top ranked swimmers in the world have with their techniques and have had in the past. Those little tips are hard to come by often times, but are my favorite. Learning and MAINTAINING technique is more of an art when you are talking about whole stroke swimming. I like to see, as a swimmer, the fastest in the world from various angles to imagine myself swimming like that. It isn't that I understand the techniques better I can just imagine the way every little thing flows together and where power is applied through techniques and where relaxation is present.
Trev	Responded Jan 28, 2009 04:39AM As long as the technique is good and fairly universal, it wouldn't make a huge difference to me. But "elite level" sounds way more qualified than "good".
Ali Farahani	Responded Jan 28, 2009 05:26AM As a swimmer, I prefer to see an elite level swimming style. That's because it motivates me when I see how smooth and flexible an elite level swimmer executes different aspects of a technique.
adrian	Responded Jan 28, 2009 10:07AM hmm I am a begginer swimmer watchin elite olympic champions instructional videos is awesome, I understand more about the swimmin and I get inspiration to become better swimmer , as an example watchin Mr.Peirsols dvd you can see that this olypmic champion lived more in the water then on earth and he knows his thing .
Meghan	Responded Jan 29, 2009 06:07AM I think I almost always used videos of elite swimmers until this year, but I took a lot of footage of my swimmers at a different club last summer and I had a few young swimmers in particular that were technically very good for their age. I have used a lot of this footage to show my swimmers this year (currently 8-12) what swimmers their own age are doing. I think it is positive for them to see that, while they aren't as fast as the elite swimmers, they can swim with the proper technique today. I have also started searching youtube and other sources for examples of other age groupers doing something particularly well. I still mix in a LOT of elite footage, obviously it's great to be able to learn from the best. I think that they both have their place and nothing gets my swimmers excited like when I show them Olympic footage. Personally I love how much underwater footage some stations manage to splice in nowadays.
Ahelee	Responded Jan 31, 2009 04:17PM I am both a swimmer and a coach. Ideally, I would like to work in this sequence: 1 - Video tape my swimmer. Above and below the water. 2 - Watch footage together of a selected "elite" swimmer and comment on their various areas of great technique. The highest quality selection is of our national and world class swimmers right here at GoSwim. 3 - Review and critique the footage of my swimmer. 4 - Review the footage of the "elite" swimmer and compare any areas of improvement that are needed for my swimmer. The strides in improvement with this combination of watching great technique and comparing to the actual technique of a swimmer trying to improve are often huge and unimaginable. In most instances a swimmer has no idea how badly they are executing certain skills until they actually see themselves on video. Also, just because a coach describes the skill or technique on deck, it does not mean the swimmer understands what it feels or looks like when performing it in the water. Comparing these can really work successfully. I believe there are developed programs that do this in animation on one screen. http://www.swimperformance.com/
sprinter	Responded Feb 03, 2009 09:25AM haha, the animation of racing agains a world class swimmer is... scarring haha
CoachX	Responded Feb 03, 2009 07:32PM I am a coach and I do both. I coach age groupers and I prefer to use age group swimmers when I can find good pictures. I have a lot of pictures of swimmers doing correct things as well as incorrect things. I like to have my swimmers tell me which is correct and why. Most of the times the elite swimmers are doing the correct things. Where is the fun in that?! I also think that the age group swimmers see their peers doing it, so they think they can too. Sometimes watching elite athletes can be fun too. They are the ones swimming to break world records and win gold medals.
Juliette	Responded Feb 04, 2009 02:13PM Swimmer,.......By an elite swimmer....always the best example. My dad ...the coach,.....also thinks that,....but would rather see both!!!!!