Longitudinal intra- and inter-individual variability in young swimmers' performance and determinant competition factors

• Autor(a) principal: Morais,Jorge Estrela
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Costa,Mario J., Forte,Pedro, Marques,Mario C., Silva,Antonio J., Marinho,Daniel A., Barbosa,Tiago M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Motriz (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-65742014000300292
• topic: young swimmers; seasons' variations; efficiency; stroke mechanics; anthropometrics

The main purpose of this study was to follow-up the intra- and inter-individual variability of young swimmers' performance and determinant factors over two competitive seasons. Thirty young swimmers (14 boys: 12.33±0.65 years-old; 16 girls: 11.15±0.55 years-old) were followed-up throughout two consecutive seasons (seven evaluation moments). Performance (100m freestyle), anthropometric, kinematic, hydrodynamic and efficiency features were evaluated. A gender and skill-level effect was observed. Boys improved in a higher amount (%) comparing to girls. Overall, swimmers in skill-level 2 (both genders) presented a higher intra-individual variability. Performance and anthropometrics showed a significant inter-individual variability in most moments, but hydrodynamics, kinematics and efficiency did not. Within each skill-level hydrodynamics, kinematics and efficiency were the variables that showed a high inter-individual variability. As a gender and skill-level effect was noticed in an age-group of young swimmers, coaches and practitioners should put the focus in specific and customized training plans for each skill-level of swimmers.