Sports Sciences Commons^™

Performance Implications Of Rear Foot Movement In The Swimming Kick Start, Amber C. Hutchinson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The performance implications of changing rear foot joint angles in the kick start were evaluated using a replicated version of the Omega OSB11 starting block. Maximal effort dives were collected for twenty-six competitive swimmers. The block was equipped with two tri-axial force plates to differentiate between forces applied to the rear foot rest and forces applied to the block. Two high-speed video cameras recorded hind-foot eversion and dorsiflexion angles. Competitive swimmers with larger hind-foot eversion movement have larger lateral kick plate forces, longer kick plate times, and larger contributions of the kick plate to total impulse. These swimmers also have …