The Impact of a 70-Day Speed, Agility, and Quickness (SAQ) Intervention on Sprint Performance in Pre-Adolescent Swimmers

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of a 70-day Speed, Agility and Quickness (SAQ) training programme on swimming performance for pre-adolescent male swimmers associated with a swimming club in Beijing, China. Twenty male swimmers, consisting of 10 male swimmers aged under 10 years and 10 male swimmers aged under 12 years, participated in the study. Using a one-group, repeated measures design, all swimmers incorporated SAQ training into their regular swim training schedule, participating in five SAQ training sessions per each 10-day period throughout the 70-day intervention period. Each SAQ training session lasted between 20 and 25 minutes, and performance was measured by a 100-metre sprint time, collected at each 10-day interval from baseline (day 1) to completion of the study (day 70). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated a statistically significant overall improvement in swim times during the study (F = 155.689, p < 0.001, partial η² = .876) with no difference between baseline (day 1) and follow-up (day 10) (p = 1.000), while statistically significant improvements were shown by day 20 (mean difference [MD] = .401, p = .007) and continued to day 70 with the largest improvements recorded (MD = 2.531, p < 0.001) across all 4 data collection points in both age groups. The results of this study indicate that a structured (scientifically based) 70-day (approximately 2.5-month) SAQ programme significantly enhances 100-metre sprint performance in pre-adolescent swimmers. The results of this investigation suggest that the use of SAQ strength training methods leads to improved muscular coordination (more cohesive and quicker). Therefore, the establishment of strength through the use of modalities such as SAQ at an early age will produce successful athletes. Coaches should consider combining aquatic and non-aquatic strength training with swimming training in order to facilitate performance gains at an accelerated rate, and to produce faster performance gains with earlier initiation of such training than later initiation.