The Coaches' Perceptions and Experience Implementing a Long-Term Athletic Development Model in Competitive Swimming

Mário J Costa; Daniel A Marinho; Catarina C Santos; Luís Quinta-Nova; Aldo M Costa; António J Silva; Tiago M Barbosa

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.685584

The Coaches' Perceptions and Experience Implementing a Long-Term Athletic Development Model in Competitive Swimming

Front Psychol. 2021 May 28:12:685584. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.685584. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Mário J Costa^{1

2}, Daniel A Marinho^{2

3}, Catarina C Santos^{1

2

3}, Luís Quinta-Nova^{3

4}, Aldo M Costa^{2

3}, António J Silva^{2

5}, Tiago M Barbosa^{2

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sport Sciences, Polytechnic Institute of Guarda, Guarda, Portugal.
² Research Centre in Sport Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development, CIDESD, Vila Real, Portugal.
³ Department of Sport Sciences, University of Beira-Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Sport Sciences, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Portugal.
⁵ Department of Sport Sciences, Exercise and Health, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
⁶ Department of Sport Sciences, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Bragança, Portugal.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the association between coaches' experience and their perceptions on the implementation of a long-term athletic development (LTAD) model created in 2016 by the Portuguese Swimming Federation. Eighty-six swimming coaches were assembled in groups according to their experience level: "novice" (n = 24), "intermediate" (n = 26), and "experienced" (n = 36), and they answered a questionnaire with the following items: (i) awareness of the existing model (ii) acceptance (iii) usefulness for practice, and (iv) implementation of this model by their peers. Regardless of experience, ~67% of the coaches were aware of the model. Among those, a large number showed acceptance (~95%) and confidence in its usefulness (~83%) for their daily practice. Most coaches (92%) showed concerns about the fact that their peers do not respect the model frameworks, declaring the search for their swimmers' immediate success (~58%) as the main cause for such behavior. The results also showed an association between experience and knowledge about the model's existence [χ ² (2) = 10.223, p < 0.01, V = 0.345], and experienced coaches exhibited better knowledge than their intermediate [χ ² (2) = 9.555, p < 0.01, V = 0.393] or novice [χ ² (2) = 5.926, p = 0.02, V = 0.314] counterparts. While there was an association between the coaches' experience and knowledge about the LTAD model's existence, this situation does not seem to influence the way coaches accept and understand the usefulness of the model for their daily practice.

Keywords: career; coaching; long-term planning; swimmers; training.