Effects of stroke technique training on freestyle swimming speed in 12-year-old swimmers.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70577/hc6j2s35Keywords:
swimming, stroke technique, speed training, biomechanics, young swimmers, athletic development.Abstract
Translational speed in competitive swimming is a direct and mathematically quantifiable product of propulsive efficiency and the minimization of hydrodynamic drag, not merely a consequence of accumulated training volume. This study determined the acute and subacute effects of an 8-week mesocycle, rigorously focused on biomechanical stroke optimization, on maximum speed performance in 12-year-old swimmers. A pre-experimental (pretest-posttest) design was applied to a purposive sample (n=4) of high-performance athletes specializing in sprint events. The dependent variables examined were 50m freestyle time, stroke count (SC), and stroke length (SL). Inferential analysis, performed using a paired-samples t-test, revealed a statistically significant reduction in execution time in the 50m test (p < 0.05) and in the CB (p < 0.05), consistent with a highly significant increase in the LB (p < 0.05). These findings unequivocally demonstrate that technical intervention and neuromotor reprogramming are primary causal factors in maximizing performance, validating the urgency of prioritizing the kinematic quality of movement over high-volume training loads during critical windows of formative athletic development.
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