Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze the association between coaches’ experience and their perceptions on the implementation of a long-term athletic development (LTAD) model created in 2016 by the Portuguese Swimming Federation. Eighty-six swimming coaches were assembled in groups according to their experience level: “novice” (n = 24), “intermediate” (n = 26), and “experienced” (n = 36), and they answered a questionnaire with the following items: (i) awareness of the existing model (ii) acceptance (iii) usefulness for practice, and (iv) implementation of this model by their peers. Regardless of experience, ~67% of the coaches were aware of the model. Among those, a large number showed acceptance (~95%) and confidence in its usefulness (~83%) for their daily practice. Most coaches (92%) showed concerns about the fact that their peers do not respect the model frameworks, declaring the search for their swimmers’ immediate success (~58%) as the main cause for such behavior. The results also showed an association between experience and knowledge about the model’s existence [χ2 (2) = 10.223, p < 0.01, V = 0.345], and experienced coaches exhibited better knowledge than their intermediate [χ2 (2) = 9.555, p < 0.01, V = 0.393] or novice [χ2 (2) = 5.926, p = 0.02, V = 0.314] counterparts. While there was an association between the coaches’ experience and knowledge about the LTAD model’s existence, this situation does not seem to influence the way coaches accept and understand the usefulness of the model for their daily practice.
Highlights
The national recognition of a sport and the expandable governmental funding to support elite training depends on the international outcome (Hogan and Norton, 2000)
long-term athletic development (LTAD) models are known to have a set of principles that define general frameworks from a National Sports Federation and may help athletes to reach longer and more sustainable careers
Most of the LTAD models are similar in the way they present the general background to develop the important aspects of training, but they differ in specific frameworks
Summary
The national recognition of a sport and the expandable governmental funding to support elite training depends on the international outcome (Hogan and Norton, 2000) Under this context, the development of strategies that would trigger larger sports participation or help to achieve a smooth progressive path to expertise is welcome. While early models are classified as “general,” showing how youths are physically developed through maturation, the subsequent models provide more detailed information on resistance work or fitness-specific training methods (Pichardo et al, 2018). Nowadays, these models complement each other and work toward defining a more precise model for each sport
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