Freestyle Race Success in Swimmers with Intellectual Disability (original) (raw)

Freestyle race pacing strategies (400 m) of elite able-bodied swimmers and swimmers with disability at major international championships

Journal of sports sciences, 2016

Freestyle race pacing strategies (400 m) were compared between elite able-bodied swimmers and those with minimal physical (International Paralympic Committee S10 classification) and visual disabilities (International Paralympic Committee S13 classification). Data comprised 50-m lap splits and overall race times from 1176 400-m freestyle swims from World Championships, European Championships and Olympic/Paralympic Games between 2006 and 2012. Five pacing strategies were identified across groups (even, fast start, negative, parabolic and parabolic fast start), with negative and even strategies the most commonly adopted. The negative pacing strategy produced the fastest race times for all groups except for female S13 swimmers where an even strategy was most effective. Able-bodied groups swam faster than their S10 and S13 counterparts, with no differences between S10 and S13 groups. The results suggest adoption of multiple pacing strategies across groups, and even where impairments are ...

An Evaluation of the Usefulness of Stroke Index Values in the Swimming Training of People with Disabilities

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, 2016

Introduction. When evaluating the swimming technique of people with disabilities, a particularly important factor, besides physiological aspects, is the efficiency of the effort expended. This suggests that assessing and monitoring the effectiveness of swimming should be a regular part of training for swimmers with disabilities. Therefore, it seems important to distinguish how changes occur in the parameters that determine the effectiveness of swimming. This is especially true of anaerobic lactic exercise as the lactic acid concentration in the blood increases significantly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of calculating velocity and the stroke index in the swimming training of people with disabilities, along with the progressive fatigue of a high-intensity interval training workout. Material and methods. The sample comprised 12 elite competitors with a disability. The experiment consisted in swimming sequential distances of 48 m, 50 m, 52 m, and 54 m at maximum...

FUNCTIONAL INFORMATION FOR PARALYMPIC SWIMMERS

Swimming competition for persons with a loco-motor disability is organised according to a functional classification system. However, until the Atlanta Paralympic Games, these swimmers had never been the subject of a more extensive race analysis. Information from this analysis, which could be of interest to coaches of able bodied as well as disabled swimmers, has been discussed. In general Paralympic swimmers do not start, turn, or finish their race much different from Olympic swimmers. The relation of stroke rate and length with free swimming speed is also similar. However, some exceptions within specific impairment groups have been found.

The classification of sprinters with intellectual impairments: a preliminary analysis

South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 2009

Intellectually impaired athletes are not allowed to participate at the Paralympic Games because there is no accepted classification system for these athletes. The rationale for this study was to see if there are any physical differences existing in the sprint performance of intellectually impaired and non-intellectually impaired athletes and to see if there is a way to incorporate these differences into a new (accepted) classification system. The objective of this study was to identify any physical sources for the differences between intellectually impaired and non-intellectually impaired, with regard to the acceleration phase, the first 30m of the 60m sprint race, which could then be used in conjunction with other tests in the classification of intellectually impaired athletes. This new classification system might then allow intellectually impaired athletes to participate in the Paralympic Games again. 32 intellectually impaired athletes (22 male and 10 females) and 14 non-intellectually impaired athletes (10 males and 4 females) were used in this study. The sprint performance was analysed and compared of each athlete using the DartFish ProSuite software programme. The data collected from these analysis was then compared using the unpaired t-test, looking for any significant differences between the groups (p<0.05). From this analysis, it was concluded that stride length was the reason for the poorer performance of the intellectually impaired group when compared to the non-intellectually impaired group. Further research is required before definite conclusions can be made on the possible reasons for this difference.

Attitudes of Australian Swimming Coaches towards Inclusion of Swimmers with an Intellectual Disability: An Exploratory Analysis

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2014

Recent research has focused on athletes with physical disabilities, and as such, there is a marked void in the research literature surrounding athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID). In the context of Australian Swimming, athletes with an ID may have difficulty following directions, remembering strategies and staying on task. Coaches will likely include an athlete with ID out of obligation. These athletes are often subject to neglect; however, these behaviours are in-part guided by coaches' attitudes towards these athletes. The purpose of this study was to begin exploration into coaches' attitudes towards athletes with ID within the Australian context. Coaches were grouped (Group 1: Always; Group 2: Sometimes; Group 3 Never) according to recent (< 5 years) experience of including people with an intellectual disability in general settings. Multiple one-way analyses of variance between-groups found that Group 1 (p= .017) (M = 3.29) were more likely to have positive at...

Stroke Mechanics of Swimmers with Permanent Physical Disabilities

2008

The physical properties of water provide a unique environment for facilitating movement, particularly if the constraints imposed by gravity preclude carrying out the activities of daily living within reasonable limits of convenience. Consequently, aquatic exercises have been used extensively as a rehabilitative and recreational medium for persons with permanent physical disabilities. Although programs have been designed specifically for swimmers with physical disabilities, the methods used for instruction continue to be based primarily on techniques used for teaching swimming to non-disabled persons. To this end, the purpose of this paper was to discuss the propulsive and compensatory swimming stroke mechanics used by swimmers with physical disabilities. The discussion will include the manner in which the inherent physical limitations may hinder efficient propulsive movements in the water. The expectation is that with increased information on the underwater movement mechanics of persons with permanent physical disabilities, it will be possible to improve methods of instruction.

Health related, daily life activity and sports domain characteristics of swimmers with Down syndrome

2016

Resumo XXI Chapter 1-General Introduction. 1 Chapter 2-Physical fitness and training in persons with Down syndrome: a systematic review. Chapter 3-Race analysis of the 5 th Down syndrome swimming Championships. Chapter 4-Swimmers with Down syndrome are healthier than untrained peers. Chapter 5-Daily life activity of trained persons with Down syndrome 71 Chapter 6-Can swimmers with Down syndrome follow a visual pacer in an incremental protocol? 81 Chapter 7-Kinematical differences between swimmers with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities 87 Chapter 8-General Discussion. Chapter 9-Conclusions. 107 X Chapter 10-References. 109 Appendix I-100-m freestyle race analysis of the 5 th World Down syndrome swimming championships. XXI

Is sight the main deterrent to race performance in visually impaired competitive swimmers?

Abstract A video race analysis was conducted at the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the 100-m freestyle event for three visually impaired classes (S11, S12, & S13) in both males and females. Supplementary information was available in small sub-samples for some physiological and biomechanical parameters. All visually impaired swimmers used race speed patterns similar to Olympic swimmers. These swimmers did not spend more race time starting or turning. The S11 class with greatest impairment swam slowest and was least competitive. Classes S12 and S13 did not differ in this respect. The race patterns of stroke rate and stroke length in visually impaired also matched those of Olympic swimmers although absolute stroke length values differed. Elite visually impaired swimmers achieve high post race lactate levels, and use arm coordination matching elite able-bodied swimmers. Aerobic capacity might, however, be low. Degree of visual impairment does not appear to be the main disti...