Training of Young Swimmers: Does Intense Swim Training Cause Long Term Damaging Effects?

Summary of 5 Sources

(2009). Coaches Clinic. Matt Kredich. Knoxville, Tennessee.

• Interviews with the head woman’s swim coach at the University of Tennessee.

Matt gave several lectures that dealt with topics about training swimmers. He coached Christine Magnasun the Olympic silver medallist in the 100 butterfly. Speaking about how he trained her to become the silver medallist gave a view of training swimmers that many do not have. His philosophies are derived around what the individual swimmer needs and has to focus on to become better. This ties into my topic because it is not an approach most coaches take with age group swimmers. Where young children are drilled in the pool, and forced to reach set distances for practices, Matt’s philosophy was not based around yardage, but formed around what was being accomplished, such as changing technique, focusing on certain parts of a race, and the feel that the swimmer experiences. This is a great source because it helps solidify my viewpoints on training age group swimmers. Where it is still important that they build an aerobic base and an anaerobic threshold, it can be done in a technical way, that does not always pound the swimmers.

(2009). Coaches Clinic. JT Trembley. Knoxville, Tennessee.

• Interviews with the head men’s swim coach at the University of Tennessee.

JT gave several lectures at the coaches clinic as well. One of his best talks was about motivation and motivating the team. He talked of the characteristics of motivation and how to motivate a team by motivating the individuals. This is an important topic for my paper because making a fun, motivated, and competitive atmosphere for age group swimmers is important in the development and training for young athletes. If you motivate a swimmer to be the best they can be and have fun doing it you are giving them the desire to continue swimming. Too often coaches can ruin a child’s desire to swim by not motivating them. On the other hand if all the motivation is on swimming fast and winning races, you may also be losing interest from age group swimmers because they are not having fun.

Daniel Gould, P. D., P. D. Russell Medbery, et al. (2001). "Sources of Fun and Motivation In Age Group Swimmers." Journal of Swimming Research 2001(15): 11.

• A research study on the motivation and use of fun with age group swimmers.

This is an article that I found that studied sources of fun and motivation in swimmers. They had swimmers of the club age groups fill out questionnaires to find what makes swimming the best experience for kids. They then uses the questionnaires to draw conclusions about types of coaching and the effects that it has on the swimmers. This is a very important topic for my paper because much of how swimmers view their coaches is dependant on if that child stays in the sport. It also shows the negative effects of coaching that occur. All of this information can be extremely helpful in trying to find ways to motivate and create a positive, fun, and still competitive environment.

Forbes, C. (2008). Training Distance Swimmers: Young Children in Hard Training. American Swimming. Ft. Lauderdale, FL, American Swimming Coaches Association. 2008: 4.

• An Article written on a debate in Australia on the training of young distance swimmers.

This article is very similar to my topic. Forbes focuses on the intense training of young distance swimmers, where as I am looking at all types of swimmers, meaning sprinters, distance swimmers, individual medley swimmers. The article first brings up a debate that was in Australia about the training distance swimmers. The article then goes on to talk about how there is not a damaging effect on young swimmers that are involved with intense training plans. I think it is a very good article, but it leaves out an important topic that I feel is what is the most important. It does not talk about the effect that the coach has on the swimmer. It only looks at the physiological and a few of the psychological factors that are results of the training, not the coaching. I agree with what the article says about training for the most part, but I also feel that a lot has to do with the coach, and how he/she interacts with, teaches, and motivates the athlete.

Leonard, J. and T. S. O. T. ASCA (1997). Level 3: The Physiology School. Ft. Lauderdale, FL, The American Swimming Coaches Association.

• A book on coaching involving the physiology of training athletes.

John Leonard has sections that he wrote about swimming and dryland training, and how it effects the body and what kind of chemical, physical, and psychological changes take place. The book talks about training swimmers to build lactate tolerance, anaerobic thresholds, aerobic capacity, and also nutrition. There are sections in the book that talk about developing training cycles and how those training cycles build swimmers. It is basically anything you would ever want to know about the physiology of swimmers, and how to train them.

Phelps, M. and A. Abrahamson (2008). No Limits. New Your, NY, Free Press.

• Michael Phelps’s autobiography.

Phelps autobiography tells a story of how he became the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. He talks about his relationship with his coach and family that developed from swimming. This is a good source for my paper because is tells a story about Michael Phelps as a young child, then becoming one of the worlds greatest athletes.