Focused (or Deliberate) Practice to Accelerate Skill Learning in Swimming
Rod Havriluk, Ph.D.
American Swim Coaches Association Conference, New Orleans, 2013
This presentation covered the benefits, need, and characteristics of practice strategies that speed up the skill learning process in swimming.The general characteristics of deliberate practice as determined by Ericsson, et al (1993) were used to explain the specific strategies for swimming:
- Clear Instructions
- Appropriate tasks difficulty
- Sufficient number of skill repetitions
- Immediate feedback
- Individualized supervision
- Variety of learning strategies
- Maintain focus in cognitive and associative learning stages
- Replicate superior performance