RESEARCH ARTICLE


Preliminary Attempt to Develop a Path-Flow Analysis Model for Swimming Performance in Children



Joel Coelho1, Ana M Cruz1, 4, Daniel A Marinho2, 4, Mario C Marques2, 4, Aldo M Costa2, 4, Antonio J Silva3, 4, *, Tiago M Barbosa1, 4
1 Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Bragança, Portugal
2 University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal
3 University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
4 Research Centre in Sports, Health and Human Development, Vila Real, Portugal


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Creative Commons License
© 2010 Coelho et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Sport Sciences, University of Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal, Rua Dr. Manuel Cardona, 5000 Vila Real Portugal; Tel: +351259350000; E-mail: Ajsilva@utad.pt


Abstract

The aim of this research was to develop a path-flow analysis model from age-group swimmer's performance based on biomechanical and energetic parameters. Twenty two young male age-group swimmers with several competitive levels volunteered to serve as subjects. It was assessed swim velocity, stroke length, stroke frequency, stroke index, propulsive efficiency, critical velocity and 200 m freestyle event performance. To verify the quality of the model, root mean square residuals (RMSR) was computed. The confirmatory model explained 54% of swimming performance. RMSR was 0.064. As a conclusion, the model based in biomechanical and energetic variables, according to the relationships suggested is appropriated to explain performance in age-group swimmers.

Keywords: Swimming, young swimmers, performance, biomechanics, energetics.