Effect of Knowledge of Mechanical Principles in Learning to Perform Intermediate Swimming Skills

Abstract

Abstract Using 31 women college students enrolled in two intermediate swimming classes at the University of Maryland, an experimental group of 15 was taught to understand and apply mechanical principles to the performance of the front crawl, back crawl, side and elementary back strokes. A control group of 16 students had identical instruction except for the mechanical principles. The experiment extended over a period of 14 weeks, including the initial and final testing programs. The groups were shown to be equated at the start of the experiment with respect to form and power in performing the four strokes, as well as in reading comprehension scores. The experimental group made significantly greater improvement in these strokes than did the control group after eight weeks of instruction. Specifically, these improvements were in the front crawl sprint, side stroke power, and form ratings for the front crawl, back crawl, and side strokes. The findings support the hypothesis that exposing students to an under...