ABSTRACT
Although there is a tactical dimension to competitive swimming, technique is of pivotal importance but the traditional, mechanistic approach is not the only way to coach. Learning to swim efficiently is more complex than traditional coaching approaches suggest and there is much to gain from the use of pedagogy informed by views of human learning that account for its complexity and of learning as an holistic process (Light and Wallian, 2008). The development of swimming technique is not merely a process through which the swimmer reproduces standardized, ‘correct’ movements, because it involves interpretation, reinterpretation and adaptation (Light and Wallian, 2008). Learning in swimming unfolds from the personal interpretation of technique and whole-person experience of it by the swimmer within a, literally, fluid environment. Dewey’s work has had a significant influence on the development of constructivism with him suggesting that learning (education) involves an ‘unfolding from within’ (1916/1997, p. 68) with similar language and conceptions of learning characterizing contemporary approaches to learning that recognize, and strive to account for, its complexity (see Davis and Sumara, 1997). Despite official rules set by the international swimming organization (FINA) that
limit variation in the different strokes and the ongoing development of the most bio-mechanically efficient movements in swimming, techniques are not completely standardized and uniform due to individual interpretation and reinterpretation by swimmers (Light and Wallian, 2008). Learning technique in swimming is not merely a process of reproducing a ‘correct’ model but, instead, one of interpretation and adaptation on an individual basis that can benefit from teaching and coaching approaches that move beyond the limitations of direct instruction. It is these aspects of swimming that require coaching that can account for the complexity of learning to swim fast and which eschews a view of it as a non-problematic, linear process of replication.
