Top 3 Reasons Swimmers benefit the most from Video Analysis Software.
Posted by David Keefe on Wed, Mar 23, 2011 @ 03:01 PM
I am sure there are a few people out there that might disagree with this one. Swimming comes up often in the office because they are well represented as customers. I personally believe that all athletes benefit from video and it is unrelated to the sport. Some athletes may respond better than others to video. Test your athletes and see how they do.
The top 3 reasons to use video with swimmers are:
1. The obvious reason is that the most important aspect of the stroke happens under the water where you cant see it. The entry, the pull, and the exit all happen out of the coaches view. A bad entry that creates bubbles and resistance will slow you down. An ineficient pull and you are loosing propulsion. You get the idea. How do coaches see any of these things if they are not using video? You cant. Even if you could see underwater remember of the intricacies of the stroke. Watching the swimming in slow motion is essential to understanding the strike. Please use video.
2. Body position is #2. Water is much more difficult to get through than air so body position is much more important to a swimmer than say a runner. Everytime I think of body position I think of Alain Bernard getting out touched at the wall in the Beijing Olypmics. I couldnt find the slow motion swimming video that showed Bernard looking at Lezak at the wall but that poor body position cost him the gold. Take a look at the head position in your local pool - it isnt pretty. Is missing a gold medal a good enough reason to use video in your training?
3.. Video is an eqaulizer for coaches and athletes. Ever thought the athlete didnt understand what you were trying to tell them? Video is a language everyone understands. By annotating frames of video and shareing with your athletes you ensure that you are on the same page. If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth a million!
Many of these points are transferrable to other sports and to be quite honest I do not know what sport is best suited for video but I do know it plays one very large aspect of all sports training. If you are not using video now please start and do your athletes a favour. Video is the easiest and most efficent way to get your athletes better.
Search the web for some solutions. Keywords and Companies that are in the business of sports video analysis software include the following:
Dartfish
Silicon Coach
Motion Pro
Video Analysis Software
Sports video Analysis Software
Online video analysis
Video analysis program for sport
Good luck with your search. If you need any further help on the subject please call or ask a question. I am extremely passionate about the use of video in sport and will talk to anyone who will listen. If you have ideas or concerns please drop a line. I am glad to help.