Comprehensive Swimming Education – The Relationship Between Basic Aquatic Skills and Swimming Distance

Introduction
In aquatic environments, the economy of movements is more essential for safety than the swimming style of a person (Stallman et al. 2017). To cover more distance in water, learners need to consciously perceive the resistance of water and develop an understanding of how to use this for buoyancy, stability, and, consequently, propulsion (Staub & Fokken, 2020). Teaching basic aquatic skills (i.e., breathing, submerging, floating) can promote the development of this understanding, as the acquisition enables a comprehensive exploration of the physical properties inherent to water. This study, therefore, aims to empirically examine the relationship between the proficiency level of basic aquatic skills and the distance of swimming.

Methods
Within an Erasmus+ Project that focuses on assessing aquatic literacy in children (ALFAC), we will test participants aged between 6 and 12 regarding their basic aquatic skills and their ability to swim. In order to quantify the basic aquatic skills of our participants, we will use a scoring system. We will measure the swimming distance covered in 120 seconds of swimming in the prone and supine positions. We will use our data sets for exploratory data analysis using Spearman correlations to examine the relationship between our variables. The study's exploratory nature allows for further investigation in addition to the main analysis, for example, of the relationships between the isolated basic aquatic skills.

Results
The data collection and analysis process are still ongoing. We expect a positive relationship between the proficiency level of basic aquatic skills and the swimming distance. All results will be presented at the conference.

Discussion
The existing literature uniformly assumes that it has a practical impact on improving the swimming economy in real-life scenarios. However, more empirical evidence is currently needed to support this assumption. This study's results could contribute to a lasting transformation of practices in teaching and learning swimming, especially in practical applications.

References
Stallman, R. K., Moran Dr, K., Quan, L., & Langendorfer, S. (2017). From swimming skill to water competence: Towards a more inclusive drowning prevention future. International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 10(2), 3. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.25035/ijare.10.02.0
Staub, I., & Fokken, I. (2020). Vermittlungsinhalte einer umfassenden schwimmerischen Grundbildung. In T. Vogt (Ed.), Vermittlungskompetenz in Sport, Spiel und Bewegung (pp. 129–148). Meyer & Meyer.