Concluding Thoughts

My study has concluded! Don't be sad though, my dearest blog readers!!!! Life and swimming will go on and now coaches can benefit from the conclusion to my study. 

The first thing that I did to see the overall times of the swimmer is that for each swimmer I averaged their time from the eight weeks. To get the average I added all the times from the one swimmer and then divided it by eight. 

Swimmer A averaged 32. 875 seconds

Swimmer B averages 33.125 seconds

Swimmer C averaged 34. 375 seconds

Swimmer 1 averaged 33 seconds

Swimmer 2 averaged 35.75 seconds

Swimmer 3 averaged 38. 875 seconds

Then I averaged the groups times to see which group had the fastest 50 freestyle times overall. 

Group 1 averaged a time of 33. 458 and Group 2 went 35. 875 seconds. 

For the conclusion of the study I had to determine which group improved the most. To get the conclusion I got all the average of all three swimmers from each group in week 1 and then in week 8. For week 1, group 1 went an average time of 33 seconds and in week 8 they also went an average of 33 seconds. For group 2, they went 37 seconds on week 1 and on week 8 they went and average of 36 seconds. Now because group 2 improved the most from week 1 to week 8 by one second the grouped coaching method is most effective to improve swimmers times, which is not what I expected to happen. 

The swimmers also took a survey, which asked them about their experience in swimming. 

The questions were:

1. Did you notice a difference in your coaching style in the project?
2. What was different about it?
3. Did you enjoy your coach?
4. Did you have fun?
5. Do you think that your swimming improved from the experiment?
6. What part of the experiment was your favorite?
7. What type of coaching method do you think improves swimming the most?
8. Do coaching styles affect your swimming? 
9. Does enjoying swimming affect your ability to improve in swimming?

All the swimmer said that they enjoyed swimming in my experiment and enjoyed the different coaching styles. The swimmers also answered that they prefer when the coaching is based around what each individual needs to improve on. Some swimmers agreed that the study improved their swimming skills while others reported that they strongly agreed the study improved their swimming skills. 

I learned many things from doing this study. I learned about what makes a good experiment. I learned how to be a better coach. I learned the purposed of each drill in-depth. I learned how to make a presentation and in-depth research paper. And then I also learned how to start swimmers while using a stopwatch, which is actually surprisingly difficult.

For future studies like mine I think that there should be a bigger group of swimmers. The subjects should also be non swimmers so that their improvement from normal practice doesn't affect their improvement in the study. Also the swimmers should do drills for more than 15 minutes and the two groups should be separated. If these things are implemented then their shouldn't be as many biases.

My presentation int't quite finished by i did it on google slides so here is a link: 

Week 10: April 11- April 15

Well yesterday was the last day that I am going to be getting results from the six swimmers. But, don't be sad! More new and exciting things are on their way! I have started my extremely fun research paper and am almost done with it, I just need to add in the results and some cool fancy words.
Technically Swimmer 1 still has to make up one more 15 minute session, but the rest of the swimmers have concluded their sessions.
Yesterdays practice was extremely difficult, with a lot of sprinting so the swimmers where very hesitant to begin the 15 minute session. I had them do a few extra 50s of just regular swim to get their heart rate down and their muscles relaxed. I watched them swim and analyzed the things they need to work on in the drills.
Swimmer A is breathing late so I had them do the fingertip drag drill just to slow down their stroke. Swimmer B is pushing their head down again so they did freestyle with the kick board so they wouldn't worry about moving their heads so much. Swimmer C is still entering their hand in sideways so I told them to try and exaggerate their hand to the whole other direction in hopes that it would make it normal. They also did fingertip drag drill to slow down. Swimmer 1, 2 and 3 did six kick switch with three to help with shoulder rotation and reaching their arm out to pull as much water as possible. Everyone did one 50 and then a 25 to the other end so that we could do the 50 sprint.

Swimmer A went  33.15 seconds
Swimmer B went  32.02 seconds
Swimmer C went  35.78 seconds
Swimmer 1 went  34.44 seconds
Swimmer 2 went 36.27 seconds
Swimmer 3 went 38.85 seconds

Week 8: March 28- April 1

This week I asked the swimmers from group 1 what they each thought they needed to improve on in their freestyle. Swimmer A said that they are not reaching out enough. I had them do 6 kick switch with 3 stokes so they would rotate their body with each stoke and reach out. Swimmer B said that they felt they were moving their head too much. They did freestyle with a kick board so they would keep their head still.  Swimmer C is still placing their hand in the water sideways and slicing through without any pull. I had them do a drill where they combined fingertip drag drill and Josh Davis catch-up drill. This is when you drag your fingertips across the water for three strokes and then pause with both your arms straight above your shoulders for two or three seconds. Swimmer 1 and 3 discussed what they felt they needed to work on and decided on hand entrance in the water. They did fingertip drag drill then Josh Davis catch-up drill.
Swimmer A went a 35.13.
Swimmer B went a 34.28.
Swimmer C went a 32. 97.
Swimmer 1 went a 32.22.
Swimmer 2 was a no show!
Swimmer 3 went a 39.20.

Makeup Sessions

From the makeup sessions Swimmer 3, who swam all by themselves despite being a part of the group coaching method, did a drill where they do normal freestyle but right as they are about to place their hand in the water pause for about a second or two. This drill prevents swimmers from dropping their elbows. They did this drill for two 50s.
Swimmer 3 went a 40.19 in a 50 sprint.
Then we did another makeup session where the drill was Josh Davis catch-up. They did this for 3 50s because swimmer 3 is still crossing over, however not as bad as when we started the experiment.
Swimmer 3 went a 39.22 in a 50 sprint.
Swimmer 1 and 2 did their two makeup sessions together. First they did a 50 where they do freestyle but pause as your about to put your hand in the water. Then they did two 50s of Josh Davis catch-up to prevent cross over. Then lastly they did a 50 of zipper drill to stop their arms from swinging around in freestyle. The arm swinging makes them move their hips too much, which slows them down.
Swimmer 1 went 32 seconds.
Swimmer 2 went 34.5 seconds.
In the second makeup session for swimmer 1 and 2 they did two 50s of zipper drill for high elbows. Then I had the swimmers do a mixed drill where they perform zipper drill and Josh Davis catch-up drill together. This when they do three stokes, each while dragging their fingers along the sides of the body and they keep their hands out in front of them above their shoulders for about two or three seconds and then continue the zipper drill freestyle arms. I put the two drills together so they could feel what it was like to not make the mistakes like cross over or swing their arms around.
Swimmer 1 went 32.75 seconds.
Swimmer 2 went 35 seconds.
Swimmer A also made up a session. I watched their stroke and Swimmer A is pushing their head down and swinging their arms. I had them do two 50s of Josh Davis catch-up zipper drill combined.
Swimmer A went 33.28 seconds.

Swimmer 1 and 2 only have one makeup session and they will be all caught up, yay!

Week 7: March 21- March 25

Today I scheduled all the swimmers who missed a practice a makeup day outside of every Tuesday. Swimmer A needs to make up 1 practice, Swimmer 1 needs to make up 3 practices, and swimmer 2 and 3 need to make up two practices. The makeup day will be this Friday.
Swimmer 1 is taking this whole month of swimming off because they just finished long course season so we'll makeup the days missed as needed.
During our session I noticed that Swimmer A needs to get their head down, I told them to swim with their head down for one 50. The next 50 Swimmer A needed to slow down their breathe so I had them do a drill for freestyle where they do the stroke normal except right before their hand enters the water they pauses for  couple seconds. Swimmer B has started to cross over their left hand, which is when they grab the water from directly above their head instead of above their shoulder. This leads to extreme shoulder pain in the future. I had them do Josh Davis catch up drill for two 50s so that they can practice swimming with their arms above their shoulders. Swimmer C is entering their hand in the water completely sideways now. I had them do fingertip drag drill to slow down their arm placement in the water. Swimmer 2 and 3 also did fingertip drag drill to slow down their arm placement in the water.

Due to competition season ending for short course, most of the swimmers took off time. Taking off time during swimming can set you back because you don't have as much cardio buildup. All the swimmers were also required to take off spring break, this may effect the time of some swimmers.

Swimmer A went a 34.25.
Swimmer B went a 32.6.
Swimmer C went a 33.3.
Swimmer 1 missed a day
Swimmer 2 went a 36.5.
Swimmer 3 went a 38.9.

Week 6: March 7- March 11

This weekend is the Age Group State Competition. This means that two out of my six swimmers are on taper (which is when practice gets shorter and shorter each day before states, to have the athletes muscles rest and heal so they can go fast during a meet) so they have been getting out early and not being able to do my project. Since this week is really about the age group swimmers that are going to states practice isn't as important for the other swimmers who don't have anything to train for, this has caused a decrease in attendance. Four out of six of the swimmers didn't do the experiment today so today was kind of a bust. Coach Nathan said that the swimmers will have extra days after spring break to make up the practices that the swimmers missed. 

Today Swimmer B and C showed up. Swimmer B has been placing their hand into the water straight down and failing to pull the water. I told them that they need to reach out with their elbows up and fingertips down to pull the water all the way through. They did two 50s of six kick switch with one stroke to practice rotation. Swimmer C is still entering the water with their hand sideways but today we worked on rotation because they swim freestyle flat with little to no rotation and reach. I had them do two 50s of six kick switch with one stroke as well. On the third 50 I had the swimmers do six kick switch with three stokes instead so that the stoke felt a little more normal. I had them also swim with slow arms and fast kicks so that when they swam the 50 sprint they would at least swim somewhat fast even though they had slow arms that were focusing on their strokes and reaching out. 

In the 50 freestyle sprint Swimmer B went 33.4 seconds. 

In the 50 freestyle sprint Swimmer C went 35.6 seconds. 

Week 5: Feb 29- March 4

I finally happened guys! The thing you guys have all been asking what will happen: not one but TWO of the swimmers didn't show up to my experiment. It's okay though, the show went on. I will schedule a make-up day for the two swimmers after spring break different from our regular Tuesday meeting time. I will put in their times and what they did into this blog post just by editing it later.
I also told the swimmers to go faster and I think that the results show!
Swimmer A is no longer pushing their head down as much when they swim. Coach Nathan told me that they do however breathe early and need to reach more. They did one 50 of six kick switch with one stroke to emphasize their breathing. The next two 50s they did were 6 kick switch with three strokes instead to make the swimming feel a little more regular and still emphasize a reach and longer breathe on their side. Swimmer B's stroke has really improved a lot. To help with hand entry I had them do fingertip drag drill so they would slow down and place their hand in the water. Swimmer C is still putting their hand in the water sideways, but only the left one now. I also had them do the fingertip drag drill to slow down hand movement.
Swimmer 1 and Swimmer 2 were no shows. Swimmer 3 did Josh Davis catch-up drill to prevent crossing over. Josh Davis catch up drill is where they keep one hand up the whole time and after three strokes hold their hands in an 11 position and kick for six seconds. It seemed to help for a little bit. It's hard to sprint a new stroke without practicing it for a couple of weeks.
At the end, as always, the swimmers did a 50 freestyle for time.
Swimmer A went 31.59 seconds.
Swimmer B went 32.97 seconds.
Swimmer C went 35.5 seconds.
Swimmer 1 was no show.
Swimmer 2 was no show.
Swimmer 3 went 39.63 seconds.

Week 4: Feb 22 -Feb 26

This week has been the best one so far! I have finally conquered my timing problem and was able to finish with time to spare and talk to the swimmers. I also finally learned how to time everybody correctly with the stopwatch, so that's exciting! Usually a USA swimming certified coach would be the only one who can coach the swimmers, but because the assistant coach, who is also USA swimming certified, helps me pick out what's wrong with the strokes and tells me different drills that can help, it's okay for me to tell the swimmers what to do.

This week group 1 did new drills to fix their strokes. Swimmer A has been swimming with their eyes up, to fix this we did Josh Davis catch-up drill, which is where the swimmer does three strokes and then kicks with their face in the water with their hands in a Superman position. This helps with head movement and introduces the feeling the swimmers eyes looking straight down. Swimmer B needs to stretch their arms out more instead of just diving their hand straight out. They needs to reach out by rotating and grabbing the water. To help with this we did six kick switch with one stroke, where they kick on their side for six kicks and then take three strokes and kick on the other side. This introduces the feeling of reaching on their side. Swimmer C is still entering the water with their hand turned, this loses the potential for pulling any water because their hand just swipes right through. To make their pull more efficient I had them do Josh Davis catch-up drill and really focus on their hand placement as they pull the water. 

In group 2 the swimmers seem to be crossing over. I mentioned to them the correct way to pull and why they shouldn't cross over while swimming. They did the fingertip drag drill to slowly enter their hand in the water above their shoulder rather than above their head. Pulling from above your head can create shoulder problems, which is like a bottomless pit of pain for swimmers. 

At the end they did a 50 sprint swim freestyle. 

Swimmer A went 33 seconds, last week they went 32.

Swimmer B went 34 seconds, last week they went 33.

Swimmer C went 35 seconds, last week they went 36.

Swimmer 1 went 34 seconds, last week they went 34.

Swimmer 2 went 36 seconds, last week they went 37. 

Swimmer 3 went 39 seconds, last week they went 38. 

This past weekend all of the swimmers went to Regionals, a three day swim meet in Phoenix, also Swimmer B's goggles filled up with water in their 50 sprint, this can cause unnecessary head movement. Swimmers are always faster at a swim meet because the adrenaline kicks in and you are their to do your business and go as fast as you can. Here are the personal bests thus far for the swimmers in my project.
Swimmer A's fastest recorded time, according to USA swimming, in a swim meet for a 50 freestyle is 30.01.
Swimmer B's fastest recorded time, according to USA swimming, in a swim meet for a 50 freestyle is 32.31.
Swimmer C doesn't swim the 50 freestyle time at a swim meet for their age group yet.
Swimmer 1's fastest recorded time, according to USA swimming, in a swim meet for a 50 freestyle is 29.93.
Swimmer 2's fastest recorded time, according to USA swimming, in a swim meet for a 50 freestyle is 31.84.
Swimmer 3 doesn't swim the 50 freestyle time at a swim meet for their age group yet. 

Week 3: Feb 15- Feb 19

We're moving along guys! All my swimmers said that they were enjoying the project, which is great news because it's a known fact that you do better at something you enjoy doing... according to my lit review anyways.
My adviser/ coach  was able to observe me performing the project this week. This was extremely helpful because it's difficult trying to point out the things swimmers are doing wrong, especially in freestyle, because that's the stroke we use the most and are most likely to evolve to be more efficient.
In group 1, the individualized coaching method, each swimmer did an initial 50 freestyle (2 lengths) so I could see what each swimmer needed to improve on this week. Swimmer A has started to move their head too much. To help with this I had them do a drill I had the others do last week, where they held the board and did freestyle with it. Swimmer B isn't pulling as much water as they should, this leads to a less efficient stroke because more work needs to be done to move through the water. I didn't assign a drill for Swimmer B I just told them to swim big and pull through the water with a flexed wrist and cups. Swimmer C has been entering the water with their hand turned to the side, this also leads to a less efficient stroke because your hand just swipes through the water as you pull underwater instead of grabbing and pulling the water through with fingertips pointing down. To help Swimmer C I had them use paddles,which are plastics boards about the size of your hands that swimmers use to pull through the water with more strength. Swimmer C used the paddles with no straps, that you would usually use to keep the paddles from falling off, but to make sure the swimmer put her hand in the water correctly they had to hold on the paddles with their fingers and pull all the way through. The swimmers of group 1 each did 3 50's of their drills. After each drill I gave them feedback on their stroke.
For group 2, the grouped coaching method, the swimmers started with 6 kick switch, which is a drill where you kick on your side 6 times and then do 3 strokes and then kick 6 times on your other side. This drill helps with side breathing and rotating their freestyle, which is important for reaching out and grabbing the water to pull all the way through. They did 1 50 of that and they looked good so we moved to fingertip drag drill to help with their hand control as they enter the water, which they did 2 50's of.
This week the swimmers did another 50 freestyle sprint off the blocks.
Swimmer A's time was 32 seconds.
Swimmer B's time was 33 seconds.
Swimmer C's time was 36 seconds
Swimmer 1's time was 34 seconds
Swimmer 2's time was 37 seconds.
Swimmer 3's time was 38 seconds.

Week 2: Feb 8- Feb 12

I started my project!! YAY! I currently have 6 swimmers, 3 in each group. For the sake of confidentiality I will call the swimmers in group 1, the individualized coaching method, Swimmer A, Swimmer B, and Swimmer C. In group 2, the grouped coaching method, I will call the swimmers Swimmer 1, Swimmer 2, and Swimmer 3.
I first had all the swimmers do a 100 freestyle (4 lengths) to see their strokes and get an idea about what their strokes were like and what they each needed to improve on. I noticed Swimmer A was breathing too late, to correct this I had them slow down and perform the fingertip drag drill, where they do freestyle but drag their fingers across the water slowly.  Swimmer B moves their head too much when they swim, to fix that I had them do a drill where they hold a kick board and have one hand on the board at all times while doing freestyle. For Swimmer C, they were pushing their head down too low, I had them do the same drill as Swimmer B. For the group with the grouped coaching method, they all seemed to be swinging their arms, to help fix this they performed zipper drill, where the swimmer pretends their side is a zipper and drags their fingers across the side of their body while doing freestyle.
I had them each do 3 50's of the drills I assigned. After each 50 I gave each person in group 1 feedback and gave the whole group 2 feedback together. They them swam to the other end of the pool where they each performed a 50 freestyle sprint.
Swimmer A's initial time was 32 seconds.
Swimmer B's initial time was 35 seconds.
Swimmer C's initial time was 34 seconds.
Swimmer 1's initial time was 34 seconds.
Swimmer 2's initial time was 37 seconds.
Swimmer 3's initial time was 40 seconds.
These are the initial times after about 10 minutes of stroke work.

Week 1: Feb 1- Feb 5

This week I finalized my methodology and turned in my syllabus, outlining each week.

Although my outside adviser and I discussed when what days would be good to perform my project, he changed his mind and is currently thinking about what time will work best. In the mean time I have prepared who the swimmers are that will be participating and explained what will be expected of them. I chose 4 swimmers per group under the age of 14. For this project to work they must be present for each practice session otherwise the data will be skewed.  

As soon as my coach/ outside adviser tells me what days we can perform the project we can start the project. I look forward to putting all this in motion and concluding what is the best coaching style to use to help a swimmer improve. 

Introduction to Senior Research Project

My name is Delaney Ruzovich and my Senior Research Project will test which coaching style, an individual method or a group method, is the most effective and whether the developmental learning stages helps a coach improve swimmers stroke. 

The characteristics of an individualized coaching style are as follows: the coach teaches based on that specific swimmer and makes any corrections the stroke needs. An individualized coaching style should be coached exclusively to one swimmer so that the athlete understands how to improve. The individualized coaching style should be non-aggressive and have examples of how to perform the correction and why this improves the stroke.

The characteristics of a group coaching style are as follows: the coach teaches to the whole team so they can all improve together. A group coaching approach should have every swimmer make the same correction so they can think about their stroke. A generalized coaching style should also be non-aggressive and include examples for all the swimmers.

I will be supervising my coach, Nathan Jones, teach the swimmers on the Flagstaff Snow Sharks swim team. On two separate days for 15 minutes he will use the two coaching methods on two separate groups. One group of swimmers, ages 12-18, will be coached with the individual coaching method and the other group, of the same age group, will be coached with the group coaching method. Coach Nathan has to do the coaching because the swimmers are USA Swimming certified and only USA swimming certified coaches can mentor them. 

The coaching will be done at the Flagstaff Snow Sharks pool at Flagstaff High School. 
The link to the Flagstaff Snow Sharks swim team is https://www.teamunify.com/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=azfss&_stabid_=25002