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
