Team discount for coach certification

Swim Science Newsletter

September 2020

ISCA Certification Program Team Discount

Covid & Adversity: Lessons from & for Sport

Adversity is the common denominator of all trauma and catastrophe, including Covid. Lessons in coping with Covid can be drawn from what is already known about managing adversity in sport. This article focuses on the psychology of sport injury and sport critical incident. Sport has the potential to exert a profound influence on communities and on society, especially in a time of crisis. The world is watching. Sport can help lead the way. Let’s work as a team for a better tomorrow.

Click to read the article by Dr. John Heil in American Fencing

Do You Trust in Science?

A recent survey of Americans found that only 35% of respondents have “a great deal” of confidence in scientists (Funk, et al., 2019). Issues where there is considerable distrust include climate change, evolution, vaccinations, and most recently, the pandemic. In swimming, there are numerous technique examples of trust in conventional wisdom as opposed to trust in science. Dr. Havriluk’s latest article in Swimming World provides a few of the many reasons for coaches to trust in science.

Click to read the article in Swimming World

Does Flutter Kicking Always Generate Propulsion?

A recent study compared flutter kicking on the surface and underwater (Ichikawa et al., 2020). Male university swimmers were towed at five different velocities from 1.2 to 2.4 meters/second. As shown in the graph, propulsive force generally decreased with towing velocity. Over 2 meters/second, there was still a slight amount of propulsive force when kicking at the surface, but kicking underwater generated resistance (i.e., propulsion was negative). The authors concluded there were two advantages to kicking on the surface: 1) an increase in foot velocity and 2) a decrease in resistance. The results also suggest that it is counterproductive to flutter kick underwater when the body is moving very fast (like after a start or turn).