180 Chapter 8 Overarching insights on the pathway to swimming expertise It is apparent from this thesis that swimmers on track to the elite level are generally characterized by athletic profiles that set them apart from their lower-performing peers, who attained success at the national level but were off track to reach the elite level. Examining these profiles from a broader perspective by interconnecting and integrating the findings from all chapters, three overarching insights emerge regarding the pathway to swimming expertise. Level of swim performance matters, but so does progression The findings of this thesis highlight a consistent trend: swimmers who reached higher levels of performance (in terms of season best times) later in their career consistently outperformed their lower-level peers at earlier stages of development (Chapters 2,6 and 7). Moreover, these higher levels of swim performance (i.e. being on track) at younger ages seem to reflect a minimum level of proficiency necessary to progress to the elite level. However, it is important to note that these early achievements in itself do not necessarily guarantee successful development towards higher performance levels. This is evident in the fact that only a minority of swimmers who excelled in their early careers were able to sustain their performance levels as they advanced. Those who did so, showed significantly faster progression in swim performances between seasons (Chapters 6 and 7) and within seasons (Chapter 3). As such, we argue that once swimmers are on track to the elite level, their ability to improve over time holds equal, or perhaps even greater importance than their current performance in the advancement towards swimming expertise. Proficiency is propelled by all dimensions Swimmers on track to the elite level were not merely proficient in terms of season best times; rather, they excelled on all fronts throughout their career, outperforming their lower-performing peers on a comprehensive multidimensional profile (see Figures 1 and 2). This is line with the notion that the progression of swim performance is driven by the advancements of underlying performance characteristics (e.g., anthropometric, physiological, psychological, technical and tactical variables) linked to the swimmer (Elferink-Gemser & Visscher, 2012; Morais et al., 2017; Barbosa et al., 2019). Moreover, the distinguishing characteristics observed varied across developmental phases, building upon the findings of Morais et al. (2015) who reported similar results within a single season. This reinforces the notion that there may be potential shifts in the relative importance of underlying performance characteristics in relation to levels of swim performance over time. Nonetheless, a defining factor that consistently distinguished swimmers on track from their lower-performing peers was maximal swimming velocity - a critical parameter in which they significantly excelled. During the pubertal years, levels of maximal swimming velocity were within 5% of the elite standard, whereas at late junior age, swimmers on track
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