Somatic traits in the selection of potential elite swimmers

STAGER, J.M. and BABINGTON, J.P. Somatic Traits in the Selection of Potential Elite Swimmers. Kinesiology, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 39-50, 1997. The identification of talent is a complex problem in competitive swimming. An assumption is made that adequate knowledge of the sport is available such that individuals with potential can be identified at an early age. For instance, traits consistent with success in the sport may vary as a function of the age of the athletes who are competing. Thus, traits judged to be important when competitors are peripubertal may not be those seen as important at a later age. One approach is to review characteristics of athletes who currently comprise the elite population. This makes a further assumption, however, that the sport has matured such that the competitors display traits which are related to swimming success. Other factors inherent in the selection or training process do not arbitrarily eliminate the eventual elite performers prior to their athletic maturity. An important case in point may be issues specifically pertaining to women swimmers and or the true sprint swimmer. Despite these problems, a number of somatic traits have been reported consistently in the literature pertaining to competitive swimming. Elite swimmers tend to be taller than a non-competitive cohort and have a greater arm to height ratio. This is true for both males and females. Swimmers weigh more than their sedentary peers due to greater lean mass as opposed to fat mass. The somatotype for swimmers is within the ecto-mesomorph region and the suggestion is that in general they are relatively late maturers, an observation that conflicts with earlier reports. The lung volumes of swimmers tend to be different from other athletes as well as the sedentary population. It may well be that as training, nutrition and other factors improve and the sport continues to mature, a clearer, albeit somewhat different, picture of the optimum traits necessary for success in swimming will develop.