©THE FUTURE OF SWIMMING: “MYTHS AND SCIENCE”1

A brief description of what are and are not acceptable knowledge criteria for swimming coaches is offered. Concern is expressed about the growing magnitude of belief-based coaching principles and advice which have the potential to depreciate coaching quality further. When information is limited to evidence-based research, a rich source of valid and reliable coaching knowledge is available. A sample of the implications of that knowledge is presented and covers the following topics: A physiological emphasis, altitude, lactate, pacing, whole-arm propulsion, and stretching/flexibility. Because of the dissonance between established opinions and the implications of data-based research, mixed reactions in the audience are expected. The purposes of this presentation are firstly, to discuss briefly scientific information and the types of reasoning frequently exhibited within swimming coaching that lead to misinformation. Recommendations will be made. Secondly, some commonly discussed pseudo-scientific concepts involved in swimming coaching will be reviewed and the latest implications for them from published research will be presented. That is intended to demonstrate the wealth of scientific information that is available on swimming matters but rarely accessed by swimming coaches