Tracking young talented swimmers: follow-up of performance and its biomechanical determinant factors.

• Autor(a) principal: Morais, Jorge
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Saavedra, Jose, Costa, Mário, Silva, António, Marinho, Daniel, Barbosa, Tiago
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10314/3176

The aims of study were to follow-up and analyze the stability of young talent swimmers’ performance and its determinant determinantsfactors (i.e. anthropometrics, kinematics, hydrodynamics and efficiency) during a competitive season. The aim of this study was to assess the anthropometric, kinematic, hydrodynamic and efficiency stability of young swimmers’ performance during a competitive season. Thirty three (15 boys and 18 girls) young swimmers (overall: 11.81 ± 0.75 years old and Tanner stages 1-2 by self-evaluation) were evaluated. Performance, anthropometrics, kinematics, hydrodynamics and efficiency variables were assessed in three time points during a competitive season. Performance had a significant improvement during the season (moderate-high stability). In the anthropometrics domain all variables increased with significant differences between time points (high-very high stability). In the kinematics domain, stroke length and swimming velocity showed significant differences, although stroke frequency and speed fluctuation did not (low-moderate stability). Hydrodynamics did not present significant differences along the season (low-moderate stability). Efficiency variables did present significant variations (but with low stability). Young swimmers’ performance improved during the competitive season, and it seems that anthropometrical variables were the most determinant to this enhancement.