Session 7 - Learning the up-sweep arm movement

Here is my plan and reflection from practice session seven.
Yay! I am finally getting the hang of the up-sweep arm movement for butterfly, defiantly not a skill that you learn over night!
This will be my final session on the up-sweep and next session I will be focusing on another aspect.
This session was planned with reference to Luebbers, M (2013).

Design of session:    

1.  Start with the hands at the entry position.

2.  Sweep them down and in under your chest, almost touching your thumbs and index fingers together as your hands reach mid-chest.

3.  Push them back toward your feet and apart, like you are trying to push the water from the middle of your chest over and down each leg.

4.  As hands and arms reach an almost full extension as they move past your waist, throw your hands up (out of water) and out to the side, throw hard enough that arms almost automatically swing over the surface of the water toward the entry position.

This session will follow Adam's closed-loop theory (Adams, 1971), which has 2 key neural components: a memory trace, which selects and initiates an appropriate response; and a perceptual trace, which acts as a record of the movement preformed over many practices. During and after an attempt of the movement, feedback and knowledge of results enables the performer to compare the movement with the perceptual trace. This approach will result in improvement of the skill, as I will be evaluating and comparing the movement pattern, then practising a certain aspect to result in improvement of this aspect. 

References informing design:

Luebbers, M. (2013). How to swim butterfly. Retrieved from http://www.swimming.about.com/od/breastandfly/qt/how-to-swim-butterfly.htm

Adams, J. (1971). Closed loop theory. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/closed-loop-theory

    

Statistics/ detailed information collected: 

30 up-sweep butterfly movements were preformed.

3 lengths of butterfly without stopping were preformed (in total for the whole training session not in a row).

More sessions/practice is needed to get my kick and arms working in time with one another.

1 hour practice session.

Reflection: 

Yay!! I finally feel like I am making progress with the butterfly stroke, and can see light at the end of the tunnel. Today was the first time I could do the arms, breathing an kick all at the same time. I could do a whole length without stopping, just got to work on timing now and practice, practice, practice! Adam's closed-loop theory (Adams, 1971) was used really well in this session as it enabled me to build on my skills learnt from previous sessions. Then receive feedback and build on the skill as a whole to improve it. 

     

Session 6 - Learning the up-sweep arm movement

Here is my plan and reflection from practice session number 6!
This up-sweep arm movement is taking me sometime to learn, there will defiantly be another session to follow on this same movement. I am really struggling with getting my kick and arm movement correct at the same time and in time with each other.
This session was planned with reference to Luebbers, M (2013).

Design of session:  

1. Start with the hands at the entry position.

2. Sweep them down and in under your chest, almost touching your thumbs and index fingers together as your hands reach mid-chest.

3. Push them back toward your feet and apart, like you are trying to push the water from the middle of your chest over and down each leg.

4. As hands and arms reach an almost full extension as they move past your waist, throw your hands up (out of water) and out to the side, throw hard enough that arms almost automatically swing over the surface of the water toward the entry position.

This session will follow the Schema theory (Schmidt, 1975), which states that as we learn a new motor skill, we develop a rule that shows the relationship between movement outcomes and things such as out intended goal, the conditions of the performance setting, and the details of the motor programme created to control the movement. I will also focus on the four stages of competence theory (Burch, N . 1970), so I can see if I am progressing through the four stages.

References informing design:  

Luebbers, M.(2013). How to swim butterfly. Retrieved from http://www.swimming.about.com/od/breastandfly/qt/how-to-swim-butterfly.htm

Schmidt, R.(2013). Understanding how we learn motor skills. Retrieved from http://www.humankinetics.com

Burch, N.(1970). Four stages of competence. Retrieved from http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/four_stages_of_competence

    

Statistics/ detailed information collected:  

25 up-sweep butterfly movements were preformed. 

5 were the correct technique.

20 were the incorrect technique. Where I didn't move my arms/hands through the keyhole movement pattern correctly. Or I didn't pull my hands back through the water hard/ fast enough to make my arms sweep over and lift my head to breath.

45 minute practice session. 

Reflection:  

The Schema theory (Schmidt, 1975) really was vivid in this training session. As I still find doing the up-sweep butterfly arms really hard and I had alot of failures compared to success. It was really important to make a rule of the relationship between movement and the outcome goal. My rule was only to do two butterfly kicks to one stroke, and the arm movement needs to be slow, forceful and relaxed. Looking at the four stages of competence theory (Burch, N. 1970) I believe I am still at the second stage (conscious incompetence). I am going to do another session on this same movement.

Session 5 - Learning the up-sweep movement

Here is my plan and reflection from session number 5!
This session I focused on learning the up-sweep movement of butterfly arms, with reference to Luebbers, M (2013).  Geez this is defiantly going to take some practice!

Design of session: 

1. Start with the hands at the entry position.

2. Sweep them down and in under your chest, almost touching your thumbs and index fingers together as your hands reach mid-chest.

3. Push them back toward your feet and apart, like you are trying to push the water from the middle of your chest over and down each leg.

4. As hand and arms reach an almost full extension as they move past your waist, throw your hands up (out of water) and out to the side, throw hard enough that arms almost automatically swing over the surface of water towards the entry position. 

This session will follow the four stages of competence theory (Burch, N. 1970), as this movement pattern of butterfly will take more than one session. Throughout the couple of sessions I will have on the up-sweep butterfly arm movement I will be able to move through the four different stages. This approach will encourage motivation as I will be able to see movement through the different stages, which also means improvement and I am getting closer and closer to mastering the skill! 

References informing design: 

Burch, N. (1970). Four stages of competence. Retrieved from http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/four_stages_of_competence

Luebbers, M. (2013). How to swim butterfly. Retrieved from http://www.swimming.about.com/od/breastandfly/qt/how-to-swim-butterfly.htm

      

Statistics/ detailed information collected:  

20 up-sweep butterfly arm movements were preformed.

4 were the correct technique.

16 were the incorrect technique. Where my arms didn't go all the way back, instead they came out of the water at the side of my body. Or I didn't get my arms out of the water enough to be able to enter the water again with correct technique. 

1 hour practice session.

Reflection: 

The four stages of competence theory (Burch, N. 1970) which this session was outlined by. I feel that I am at the second stage of this theory, which is the 'conscious incompetence' stage. This means that I recognise the value of the new skill but I do not know how to do the skill correctly yet. Making mistakes at this stage is vital to the learning process. Another session or two will be needed on this same movement, so I can learn the skill and move through the other two stages. Fitts and Posner (1967) have identified three stages of learning; cognitive stage, associative stage and autonomous stage. For this part of the butterfly stroke (up-sweep) I believe I am at the associative stage. 

Video of up-sweep butterfly movement: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sfXeBgDcpQ

  

   

Session 4 - Entry and catch of butterfly arms again!

Here is my plan and reflection from practice session four.

This session follows the same design as session three as I needed more work on this aspect! Think I am getting close to mastering the entry and catch of butterfly arms now, complicated I tell you. Again the design of this session is put together with reference to Dudley, D.(2007).

Design of session: 

1. Make sure hands enter the water with thumb and first finger first, in line with shoulders.

2. When hands enter water make sure elbows are slightly bent.

3. When hands have fully entered the water straighten elbows and your hands will then travel slightly outwards.

4. From entry position your arms will then extend forwards, downwards and a little outwards this is where the point of catch is found.

5. The catch should occur outside your shoulder width.

6. The movement will change to downwards as well as backwards.

7. The elbows are also kept in a high position at this point as the pull begins.

This session will follow a extrinsic feedback design (Franklin,W. 1996) in which the focus is to receive ongoing feedback throughout the session from an outside source. This approach will allow things to be picked up from the entry and catch which needs improved. Therefore resulting in gaining a better overall movement of the entry and catch of butterfly.

References informing design:    

Dudley,D. (2007). Swimming the butterfly step by step guide. Retrieved from http://www.swimming-techniques-learn.com/swimming-the-butterfly.html

Franklin,W. (1996). Coaching and feedback. Retrieved from http://www.diving.about.com/od/coaching/qt/feedback-1.htm

Statistics/ detailed information collected: 

30 entry and catch of butterfly arms movement were preformed. 

20 were the correct technique. 

10 were incorrect. Where I either was doing to many dolphin kicks for the catch movement of the arms, or both arms were not in time with each other.

1 hour practice session. 

Reflection: 

I feel having another session on the entry and catch of butterfly arms really helped. As I knew what the movement pattern already was, it was just about concentrating really hard on getting the kick movement and arm movement correct and working in with each other. Using an extrinsic feedback design (Franklin, W. 1996) was a real success in learning the movement. As this allowed someone other than myself to see what was happening and how it could be improved. As relying on feedback from yourself you don't often pick up many things that need improvement which others can see really easy.