Standard Grade. Swimming. Name. Teacher. Class. P.E. Department Crieff High School. Miss Steele Jan 10 1

Standard Grade Swimming Name Teacher Class P.E. Department Crieff High School Miss Steele Jan 10 1

Contents Tens Workbook Reference Swimming Section p87-92 and p127-128. Background Information Page 3 Stroke Technique Page 4 Observation Schedule Page 5 Aspects of Fitness Page 6 Aspects of Fitness Swimming Examples Pages 7 Stroke Practices and Teaching Developments Page 8 Stroke Analysis Page 9 Principles of Training Page 10 Skill Development Page 11 Worksheets/Homework Sheets H/work 1 - H/work 2 - H/work 3 - H/work 4 H/work 5 H/work 6 Miss Steele Jan 10 2

Background Information During the course of this component you will cover PRACTICAL and THEORY work related to PERFORMANCE, SKILL DEVELOPMENT and FITNESS. Listed below are the main areas of study that will be covered within the course. Practical Performance Lessons Individual Skills front crawl, backstroke and breast stroke swimming technique, starts and turns for each of the three strokes, personal survival skills and experience of sprint, middle distance and distance swimming. Theory Lessons Swimming background information: essential general and specific swimming information. Stroke Technique: mechanical principles (how the body is pulled and pushed through the water). Stroke Analysis and evaluation: how to describe each of the strokes and suggest how they can be improved. Stroke practices and teaching development: how to introduce and develop stroke technique. Different methods of teaching swimming skills. Aspects of Fitness: how each of the Aspects of Fitness are involved in the different areas of fitness and swimming distances. Training: the effects of training and how training sessions are constructed. Assessment Practical Ability: you will be assessed on your swimming ability over 4 lengths of the pool in front crawl and in either backstroke of breast stroke. Distance swimming will take place over a 10 minute timed swim on the stroke of your choice. Knowledge and Understanding and Evaluation: this will take place at the end of the component with a formal written test. Assessment Grades will be recorded in your pupil profile. Any pupil failing to cover a sufficient amount (+60%) of the course will be awarded in a final grade of 8. Miss Steele Jan 10 3

Stroke Technique Stroke Technique is vitally important in all strokes. Without correct technique the body would either swim badly or not at all. Stroke technique is made up of the BODY POSITION, ARM ACTION, LEG ACTION, BREATHING and TIMING. Body Position Head Position Arm Action - Leg Action Breathing Timing where the body lies in the water. Ideally you are looking for a high flat position to avoid frontal resistance. this will vary from stroke to stroke but general rules are that it should remain steady with very limited movement e.g. in Front Crawl when breathing. the controlled pulling and pushing action of the arms as they pull the body through the water or prepare the body for an intake of breath. All strokes have a combination of action and recovery during the arm cycle. As this part of the stroke is essential to the propulsion in F/C and Back Stroke then correct technique is of the utmost importance. for all strokes (apart from Breaststroke) the legs act as balance to what the arms are doing. They stop the body swaying from side to side and keep the body in the correct high position in the water. the only stroke where the breathing causes any real difficulties is F/C. This is due to the face being in the water and having to be turned to breath. Lack of confidence and discomfort can cause difficulties in this area of technique. Whatever stroke is being swum the breathing pattern should be regular and controlled to ensure a constant supply of oxygen to the lungs. this is when each of the parts of the stroke work to aid the complete stroke. Uncoordinated technique or doing each part out of sequence will lead to inefficiency and wasted energy. Breaststroke requires proper timing because of the sequence of arm and leg action along with the glide and breathing. Swimmers who kick and pull at the same time whilst attempting Breaststroke will get nowhere fast. To ensure a competent and effective stroke technique you must be aware of the importance of each of the above and the need for practice. Miss Steele Jan 10 4

Observation Schedule Swimming Stroke Analysis: Name of Performer: Instructions Watch partner very carefully Begin by getting an overall impression of what is happening Focus your attention on the individual parts of the stroke Only DESCRIBE in factual terms what you see happening e.g. hand enters water wide of centre line with index finger and thumb first. Elbow is held high before extension into stroke length. DO NOT give any opinions on the stroke whether any one part is GOOD or BAD. Only describe what you see. Complete the following sections describing what you see happening on each part of the stroke. Breathing (both sides, every how many strokes, explosive, trickle, relaxed etc): Head position (steady, amount of turn to side, face down, face up, face forward etc): Body Position (flat, rolling, twisting, side to side etc): Arm Action (hand entry, pull/push phase, high elbow, exit point, relaxed etc): Leg Action (how many kicks per stroke cycle, cross over, regular or irregular pattern, kick from hips or knees, feet extended or flexed etc): Miss Steele Jan 10 5

Aspects of Fitness Cardio-respiratory Endurance use of heart and lungs during continuous action. The ability to take in oxygen and distribute it to all muscles effectively and efficiently. Local Muscular Endurance the ability of one muscle or a group of muscles to work for a long period of time with no or limited rest. Strength the ability to pull, push or lift against a set weight or resistance. Flexibility the ability of the muscle to stretch as they work and the joints to move through an extended range of movement. The above aspects of fitness can be better understood if they are related directly to swimming training. Cardio-respiratory training essential for training and for middle to distance swimming (200m-1500m). Local Muscular essential for individual or group muscles to work constantly during a training or race situation. Essential for middle to distance swimming. Strength the ability to pull and push the body through the water at slow and fast (sprint) pace. Essential for sprinting and working at speed. Also the ability to hold the technique as the body tires. Flexibility where the muscles are stretched into a certain position e.g. back stroke entry and where the joint has to work through a wide range of movement e.g. F/C recovery over the surface or the water or breast stroke leg action. Miss Steele Jan 10 6

Aspects of Fitness Swimming examples The following example of a competitive swimmer should also help to explain the points made on the previous page. 100m sprint competitive F/C swimmer. She will need CRE to withstand the numerous training sessions she will attend and the distance swum. LME will be required in each of the muscles or groups to withstand the constant repetition of movement e.g. deltoids working during arm action. Strength will be required to take the body through the water more efficiently than her opponents. Finally, flexibility is essential for the range of movements used during training and competitions. Aerobic Training training with oxygen to increase the efficiency of the cardiorespiratory system and help break down the build up of lactic acid. Swimming within the training zone. Anaerobic Training training/swimming without adequate supply of oxygen causing a build up of Lactic Acid and the body going into oxygen debt. Swimming with a pulse well over the training zone. It s important that you understand the meaning of these two words. Miss Steele Jan 10 7

Stroke Practices and Teaching Developments Teaching development and progressions Water confidence and awareness: this is the first and most important part of swimming development. This will ensure that the swimmer is confident in the water and ready to progress forward into learning to swim. Understanding stroke techniques: a basic knowledge of what is happening to the body and how the body is affected by movement in the pool. The level of discussion will vary from a few simple points to the young beginner, to several in-depth points to the advanced competitive swimmer. Progressive practices: this method of practicing allows parts of the whole stroke to be put together like a jigsaw e.g. the teacher introduces floatation, then kicking then face in the water then arm action and if the swimmer is confident enough he/she will be able to attempt the full stroke. Whole-part-whole: this method of teaching can be used where the full stroke is shown to the swimmer; they then try it on their own. The swimmer then practices a certain part (weakness) of the stroke e.g. arm action. They then place the whole skill (full stroke) together again with the hope of experiencing improvements in the stroke technique. Free practice (Trial and error): demonstration given, then the swimmer is allowed to practice on their own and through making mistakes will self correct. Progressive overload on swimming distance: this important for the swimmers confidence to continually be asked to swim for longer periods of time and greater distance. It develops confidence and allows greater opportunity for practicing skills previously learned. Factors which can affect learning to swim: Confidence level of the individual Swimmers level of ability, strength, endurance etc Incorrect techniques being practiced by the swimmer Misunderstanding of teachers technical/teaching points Resistance to water due to incorrect body position or uncoordinated movements Lack of physical awareness in the water causing fear or fall in confidence level Miss Steele Jan 10 8

Stroke Analysis Stroke Analysis and Evaluation: how to describe each of the strokes and suggest how they could be improved. Before you can begin to describe what you see happening in each of the three strokes it is important that you have a theoretical and practical understanding of stroke technique. In other words, what happens in each of the strokes and how they can be improved by practice. Stroke analysis: this is where you watch another person demonstrate a particular stroke in the pool or on video. You note down what you see happening in each part of the stroke and then suggest possible improvements that could be made to all or parts of the stroke. The stroke can be broken down into BREATHING, LEG ACTION, ARM ACTION, TIMING, HEAD POSITION and BODY POSITION. Once you have noted down what you see happening in the stroke then you can start to suggest areas that need improvements. Having identified the areas that need improvement you can then suggest suitable practices that could be used to help improve the stroke technique. This process of NOTING what you see, SUGGESTING areas of improvement and IDENTIFING suitable stroke drills/practices to help the swimmer is what ALL good TEACHERS and COACHES go through automatically whenever they are faced with a performer of whatever standard. Effective teacher and coaches don t simply say that performance is GOOD or BAD but make decisions on what they see. It is important that the teacher/coach is POSITIVE whenever possible e.g. don t say that arm action is rubbish! instead you should say your performance would be better if you were to try and keep your elbow high and your arm relaxed as it goes over the water. It is all too easy to be critical but POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT is always more effective. Remember EVALUATION is about describing only what you see happening and then being able to suggest positive improvements to the performance. Miss Steele Jan 10 9

Principles of Training Warm Up: the movement you take to prepare your body for strenuous exercise Raise the body temperature Stretch muscle Increase blood supply Skill patterns Warm Down: after strenuous exercise you should do gentle movements and stretching To allow heart rate to slow down to help get rid of waste products Overload: when you make your body do more work than usual. Workload: is the amount of work you re doing at your stage of training. The number of times you do an exercise is called REPS (Repetitions). Work rate: is the speed at which you do the work. It s important that you work inside your TRAINING ZONE. Progression: once you have decided upon your workload, and have been training for SEVERAL WEEKS your fitness should improve. You will now have to overload the muscle to raise your new fitness level. Each time you make your training more difficult it is called PROGRESSION. Increase the FREQUENCY of the work Increase the INTENSITY of the work Increase the TIME of the work You could also decrease the RECOVERY time Specificity: training for each activity should be specific to the activity and to the parts of the body required during the activity e.g. swimmers should work on Aerobic fitness with particular attention to arm action technique and practices. Interval Training: set work distance to be swum with intervals of rest between swims. This form of training is one of the most successful in both swimming and athletics and in fact contains many examples of the Training Principles. Over distance: swimming a much greater distance than the competitive distance to develop Aerobic Endurance. Sprints: swimmers are asked to work flat out at race pace. Only very few of these swims can be done as the swimmer will be over stressed. They are almost always swum over a shorter distance than the race e.g. 25m or 50m. Miss Steele Jan 10 10

Skill Development Breaking down a skill To be able to teach/learn a skill the coach/performer must understand the different parts that make up the skill, the physical demands on the body and the level the performer is currently at. Most skills are broken down into PREPARATION (when the body mentally and physically gets ready to perform the skill), ACTION (the actual movements made to demonstrate the skill) and RECOVERY (what the body does to finish the movement off). Think of the Preparation, Action and Recovery for a back flip, or for pushing a ball in hockey, or a smash in badminton. The same principles apply. Learning Skills Teachers/coaches will teach skills in different ways depending on how easy the skill is or how difficult the skill is. Think about a forward roll compared to a back flip or a beginner learning to swim compared to an advanced swimmer learning a new stroke. Two types of practice methods are: Whole-Part-Whole Gradual Build Up (Progressive part practices) Whole-Part-Whole - This method of teaching can be used where the full skill is demonstrated by the performer or shown to the performer; they then try it on their own. The skill is then broken down to look at one particular part/weakness (e.g. the take off in a vault). This part is then practiced and improved. Finally it is put back into the whole skill where hopefully the improvement continues to be shown. Gradual Build Up - By using gradual build up you can learn a skill in stages bit by bit. By doing this you can make the practice more demanding in small stages. If these small stages are realistic and achievable then this method of learning skills can produce a high level of confidence. It is also a useful method of learning skills which have an element of risk. As it starts by breaking the skill down into small manageable components which can be built up in stages and the performer progresses until the desired outcome/skill level is achieved. Feedback Internal (how you feel) and External (from your coach, peers or results) feedback are important to let you know how successful you are at performing the skills in any activity. As far as possible feedback should be POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT of what you re already doing or should be doing. Workbook p62-64 Miss Steele Jan 10 11

Swimming Worksheets & Homework Sheets Miss Steele Jan 10 12

Homework 1: Propulsion/Resistance/Streamlining Name 1. Look at the swimmer below. a) Draw in arrows ( ) to show where the resistance would occur. (1) b) To reduce resistance a swimmer may (Circle two answers) Wear a swimming cap Stay Flat (streamlined) Use Flippers Wear Shorts (2) Reducing resistance can improve performance in other activities. Name two activities, other than swimming, where performers can reduce their resistance to improve their performance and give examples of how they would do this. Activity 1 (1) Resistance was reduced by (2) Activity 2 (1) Resistance was reduced by (2) Total Mark Miss Steele Jan 10 13

Homework 2: Skills and Techniques There are two different types of skills simple and complex. Simple skill: This balance is easy. It has few movements and the gymnast need to make any judgement. Complex skill: This back flip is more complex. It has many parts to it and the timing of these parts has to be exactly right. The gymnast has to make judgements with regard to flight, speed, power etc. 1. Look at these two swimming skills. Which is more complex and why? Which is more complex? (1) Why? (2) (continued on next page) Miss Steele Jan 10 14

2. Skills can be learned using the Whole Part Whole method of practice. Place a tick next to the two statements below that are true. I use Whole Part Whole if the skill is dangerous. I use Whole Part Whole if I have experience of the activity. I use Whole Part Whole to find a weakness to work on. I use Whole Part Whole to learn a skill gradually. 3. Describe how you improved your performance in swimming using the Whole Part Whole method of practice. Whole what did you do? (1) Part Which part did you work on? (1) How did you do this? (1) Whole How did this improve your performance? (1) (Q2 + 3: Taken from SQA, Foundation, 2001) Total Mark Miss Steele Jan 10 15

Homework 3: Joints/Tissue There are two main types of joint. A main joint used when swimming breaststroke is the knee. 1. What type of joint is the knee? (1) The diagram below shows the joint of the knee. Label the Muscle, cartilage, ligament and tendon features. 2. Select three of these features. Describe what each feature does. Feature 1 What it does (2) Feature 2 What it does (2) (continued on next page) Miss Steele Jan 10 16

Feature 3 What it does (2) The main joint used in the front crawl arm action is the shoulder. What type of joint is the shoulder? (1) The front crawl arm action relies on the strength of the arm or shoulder. Describe the effect of strength on a swimmers performance. (2) Total Mark Miss Steele Jan 10 17

Homework 4: Feedback Feedback is information you receive about your performance. 1. Give two reasons why feedback is important. Reason 1 (1) Reason 2 (1) During the swimming block, and within other activities, you will have received different kinds of feedback internal and external. Explain what is meant by internal feedback. (1) Explain what is meant by external feedback. (1) Total Mark Miss Steele Jan 10 18

Homework 5: Aspects of Fitness Answer the following questions based on a 500m (20 lengths) Front Crawl swimmer. Explain why each of the aspects of fitness will be important to the swimmer and where each is required in a 500m race. C.R.E. (Aerobic Endurance) Why Important?: Where is it required in race?: Local Muscular Endurance Why Important?: Where is it required in race?: Strength Why Important?: Where is it required in race?: Flexibility Why Important?: Where is it required in race?: Miss Steele Jan 10 19

Homework 6: Principles of Training Read your notes carefully before answering the following questions. Write 3 or 4 sentences explaining in your own words what the term principles of training means. If you were coaching a club swimming team give 3 ways of making training sets of work harder. 1. 2. 3. Give 2 SPECIFIC types of training you could use for the following sports. Distance Running 1. 2. Hockey 1. 2. Badminton 1. 2. Gymnastics 1. 2. Miss Steele Jan 10 20

Notes Page: Miss Steele Jan 10 21