The effect of using goggles and snorkels for water adaptation of non-swimmers with fear of waterMisimi, Fatmir (Avtor) Kapus, Jernej (Mentor) swimming / fear of water / goggles / snorkel / non-swimmerObjectives. The use of masks, goggles and snorkels has become popular in some swimming schools. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the usage of goggles and snorkels during learn-to-swim program on aquatic skills of young non-swimmers with or without fear of water. The research objectives fall into a number of broad groupings: •To discern differences in learning water adaptations skills (such as water entry skill, skill of open eyes underwater, breath-holding skill, blowing bubbles skill, prone gliding skill, back gliding skill) in young non-swimmers with and without fear of water between two learn-to-swim programs, i.e., using goggles and snorkels or without these swim aids. •To look into the differences in learning swimming skills (such as prone swimming skill, breathing during prone swimming skill, back swimming skill, skills of changing position) in young non-swimmers with and without fear of water between two learn-to-swim programs, i.e., using goggles and snorkels or without these swim aids. Methods. Eighty children (forty female and forty male) aged between 10 and 11 years voluntarily participated in the study. They were non-swimmers and had no previous experience of formal swimming lessons. According to the results of the Fear of Water Assessment Questionnaire, the participants were assigned to either the group with fear of water or the group without it. Moreover, each group was further randomly divided into a group that used goggles and snorkels and a group that did not use these aids during the learn-to-swim program. Thus, each participant was assigned to the one of four groups: •F-GS (participants with fear of water who used goggles and snorkels during a learn-to-swim program), •F-NGS (participants with fear of water who did not use goggles or snorkels during a learn-to-swim program), •NF-GS (participants without fear of water who used goggles and snorkels during a learn-to-swim program, •NF-NGS (participants without fear of water who did not use goggles or snorkels during a learn-to-swim program). All four groups undertook five learning sessions per week for four weeks. Each session lasted 45 minutes. The learn-to-swim intervention was similar for all four groups. It follows an ordered pattern with beginners progressing from water entry, opening their eyes underwater, exhaling into the water, developing buoyancy, gliding, kicking, and finally arm stroke exercises. For F-NGS and NF-NGS, all of these take place without the use of a goggles or snorkel. This order was reversed for F-GS and NF-GS so that the goggles and snorkels were integrated and introduced after water entry exercises. Familiarization with wearing the goggles and breathing through the snorkel continued during exercises for improving buoyancy, gliding, kicking, and arm strokes. With this revised program, coordinating breathing with the natural stroke cycle and opening the eyes underwater followed only once participants mastered swimming with the face submerged while breathing ad libitum through a snorkel. The final goal was the same for all four groups: to swim the desired stroke without the goggles and snorkel, with breathing integrated into the natural stroke cycle. Before and after the learn-to-swim intervention, we evaluated participants’ water skills by using scores on a 5-point scale. Results. All four groups improved water competence skills with learn-to-swim interventions. The comparisons of the intervention effects between the groups with fear of water showed that the learning improvement in water entry (4 ± 0.68 at F-GS vs. 3 ± 1.38 at F-NGS; p = 0,02), back gliding (3 ± 0.96 at F-GS vs. 2 ± 1.09 at F-NGS; p = 0,02; p = 0,03), and prone swimming (3 ± 0.71 at F-GS vs. 3 ± 1.32 at F-NGS; p = 0,05) scores were bigger in F-GS than in F-NGS. At the contrary, the intervention effect was lower in the blowing bubbles scores in F-GS than in F-NGS (3 ± 0.83 at F-GS vs. 4 ± 0.56 at F-NGS; p = 0,04). The comparisons of the intervention effects between the groups without fear of water showed that the learning improvement in prone swimming (2 ± 1.86 at NF-GS vs. 1 ± 1.15 at NF-NGS; p = 0,01) scores was bigger in NF-GS than in NF-NGS. At the contrary, the intervention effect was lower in the blowing bubbles scores in NF-GS than in NF-NGS (2 ± 1.66 at NF-GS vs. 3 ± 0.70 at NF-NGS; p = 0,02). Conclusion. The results of present study indicated that the usage of goggles and snorkels during learn-to-swim programs exerted positive and negative effects on participants' during aquatic skills improvement. The positive effects were shown for the participants with fear of water particularly. Goggles and snorkels helped them to decrease their hesitation upon water entry, back gliding and at the acquisition of prone swimming skills. Thus, using googles and snorkels during learn-to-swim programs induced greater learning improvement in these skills compared to non-usage. On the contrary, there were no significant different effect on aquatic skills of young non-swimmers without fear of water. Moreover, participants' improvement in blowing bubbles was significantly smaller in the learn-to-swim program with the goggles and snorkels than program without them. These effects were confirmed for all participants, regardless of their fear of water. A similar but not significant influence was shown on acquisition of breathing during prone swim as well. These results illustrate the negative effects of the usage of goggles and snorkels during learn-to-swim programs.20212021-04-15 07:16:10Doktorsko delo/naloga126290sl