Elbow’s Up! Using Acoustic Feedback to Shape High-Elbow Catch Sequences in Swimming Stroke Technique

Abstract

A review of behavior analysis within the area of sport psychology supports a respectable foothold in past and current-day research. Whereas behavior-based sport psychology research is on the rise in certain sports, there remains a necessity to bring more current behavioral practices to the more neglected areas, such as competitive swimming. Additionally, there remains a need to incorporate a more immediate feedback system into training in swimming. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of acoustic feedback on competition-level swimmers’ high-elbow catch sequences over stroke topography. High-elbow catch sequences in three of the four competition strokes (butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle) were targeted for intervention in a multiple-baseline design. Results indicate that acoustic feedback can be used to initiate behavior change in high-elbow catch sequences with competition-level swimmers who had not improved under standard coaching practices. All except one participant, who was unable to hear the feedback beep, showed improvement in their high-elbow catches in at least one stroke with varying degrees of improvement. Carry-over effects were only seen in one participant and no sequence effects were observed.