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Swim Science Newsletter

August 2020

ISCA Reduces Certification Program Cost

During the pandemic, everybody deserves a financial break. Coaches are no exception. To help coaches, ISCA has substantially dropped the price on every certification program course. That means you save over 30 % for individual courses and over 40% for the certification program. We hope you’ll take advantage of this offer – and bring more science to your swim programs. Click the image for info.

“Research is constantly showing better, more effective, and safer ways to help swimmers compete at the highest levels. ISCA is leading the way for coaches to use this research to become better coaches.”

Tribute to Dr. Anders Ericsson

It is with great regret we note the passing of internationally renowned psychologist, Dr. Anders Ericsson. He was best known for his research on “deliberate practice” and his finding that expertise was the result of practice and not talent. Dr. Ericsson was commonly referred to as “the expert on how to be an expert.” He was a professor at Florida State University, a brilliant scholar, and a kind and thoughtful person. Dr. Ericsson died suddenly at his home in Tallahassee, Florida. Applications of his deliberate practice concept to swimming are widespread and were discussed recently on a Swimming Science video.

Coaches Rely on Traditional Skill Acquisition

Twenty elite Australian coaches were interviewed in a recent study on perspectives toward skill acquisition (Brackley, Barris, Tor, & Farrow, 2020).

The coaches cautioned that:

practice should be specific “to the intended performance outcomes”
the group plan must be individualized “because everybody’s going to respond different”
constant attention is necessary and to not allow swimmers “to do a drill on their own”
it was common to get “caught up in doing the volume day after day”
there are “potential negative consequences associated with over- or misuse of drills”

The authors concluded that, while coaches mix traditional and contemporary skill acquisition theories in their training programs, the traditional approach is dominant.