Becoming an Expert Swimmer: Enjoying Each Stage of Development

Erin1 logs hours of practice in the swimming pool before most of us are out of bed in the
morning, is one of the top collegiate swimmers in the nation, and has her eyes on the 2012
Olympics in London. She took her first swimming lesson at age three and has been hooked ever
since. Seventeen years later she finds herself swimming for one of the top collegiate programs in
the country, in a conference that boasts four teams ranked in the top fifteen. Erin’s 200-yard
medley relay team recently posted the fastest time in the country at their conference
championships, and on top of that she finished second to the world record holder in her favorite
event, the 100-yard backstroke. So what has it taken for this little three-year-old girl with a love
of swimming to become an elite collegiate swimmer and potential future Olympian for the
United States?

Researchers are constantly looking for a scientific means of studying expert performance
and establishing what separates those who make it from those who do not. In addition,
researchers in the domain of sport have looked at different stages of development for athletes,
often drawing from and expanding on research done by those interested in childhood
development. Côté, Baker, and Abernethy (2003), leading researchers in expert development in
sport, have identified three stages that elite athletes go through during their development: the
sampling years (ages 6-12), the specializing years (13-15), and the investment years (16+) (p.
92). Each stage is distinguished by different levels of commitment to sport, varying types and
amount of practice, and changes in social influences, most notably that of coaches, parents, and
peers.

When watching top collegiate and professional athletes who make their skills and
expertise look so natural and effortless, it is easy to forget the many hours of hard work and
number of factors that have gone into their development. Côté, Baker, and Abernethy (2003),
referring to a study conducted by Côté in 1999, found that during the sampling years children not
only participated in the sport that they would become experts in, but that they “were given the
chance to sample a range of different sports and develop fundamental motor skills, such as
running, jumping, and throwing. The main purpose was to experience fun and excitement
through sport” (p. 92). Erin’s experience supports these findings as she participated in many
sports as a young girl. Although she had her first swimming lesson at age three and started
competitively swimming at age five, she was involved in a number of other sports. She stated,
“sports were a huge part of my life when I was young. I not only loved swimming but I loved
every sport. I played soccer, t-ball, volleyball, ran track, even took a dance class.”

As expert performers move into the specializing years (13-15), they often focus in on a
couple of different activities. Their choices are usually a result of “critical incidents that made a
child pursue one activity over others including positive experiences with a coach, encouragement
from an older sibling, success, and simple enjoyment of the activity” (Côté, Baker, and
Abernethy, 2003, p. 93). Once again Erin’s experience mirrors the findings from the researchers.
By the time that she reached middle school, she was focusing on swimming and volleyball. Her
mother had been an All-American volleyball player in college, and she liked playing a sport that
her mother could help her with. She also chose to focus on swimming after winning her first
club swimming championship in 8th grade, as well as following the example of three of her
siblings who were all high school level swimmers.

The investment years (16+) defines the developmental time period of expert athletes as
they become “committed to achieving an elite level of performance in a single activity” (Côté,
Baker, and Abernethy, 2003, p. 93). This transition occurred a little bit earlier for Erin as she
decided to focus solely on swimming during her freshman year of high school. She described
her decision:

It was really during my freshman year that I decided that I wanted to put all of my focus
into swimming. I was starting to have more and more success at the club level and I was
getting pretty good. The biggest thing is that I just really loved the sport, love, love,
loved it. Don’t get me wrong. I still liked volleyball but I like swimming more and I
realized that if I wanted to reach the college and maybe even pro level that my best
chance was in swimming, so I just went for it.

Erin went on to say that although she had been swimming year round since age 10, once she
decided during her freshman year to focus completely on swimming, all of her training then went
into that sport, and along with school work it took up most of her time. Côté, Baker, and
Abernethy (2003) also point to studies that show that “after age 15, the rate of sport-specific
practice accumulation by experts escalated dramatically beyond that accumulated by nonexperts”
(p. 101), which is consistent with Erin’s experience.

K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University and leading

researcher on expert performance, has found that the specializing and investment years stages
“require increased challenges and the engagement in selected activities specifically designed to
improve one’s current performance—or in other words, deliberate practice” (Ericsson, 2003, p.
79). This deliberate practice is in contrast to the sampling years when the focus is more on
deliberate play, when the motivation and fun come from participating in the activity itself rather
than focusing on winning or reaching the highest possible level. Erin loved swimming from a
very young age and continues to love the sport today. While Ericson argues that deliberate
practice is not intended to be fun, but rather as a necessity for achieving success, Erin seems to
show that you can have both and has found a healthy balance of motivational factors. She
explained:

I have always just loved swimming. I still love jumping in the pool, the feeling of being
in the water, and pushing myself. I truly just love the sport…. I won’t lie though that I
also love winning and I am a very competitive person. There is a selfishness to it all and
I want more success and I want to beat everyone.

Currently, Erin trains year round and during the season she spends two to three hours in the pool
six days a week. She also lifts weights for an hour three times a week and on the other days
works on flexibility and core strength. During the summer when she is not under NCAA
restrictions, she increases her time in the pool to four or five hours a day.
 Côté, Baker, and Abernethy (2003) also refer to the different social influences throughout
the stages of development of expert athletes. They indicate that “children have three main
sources of influence as they progress through their development in sport: coaches, parents, and
peers” (p. 104) and that the role and degree of involvement of these three changes over time. At
all three stages, coaches play an important role. Research suggests that in the sampling years, it
is important for coaches to be enthusiastic and to make it fun for the participants. As athletes
move into the specialization years and finally into the investment years, they rely on coaches to
design training programs that will maximize the quality of the deliberate practice that they
engage in. Erin described her current collegiate coach as being very smart and systematic in the
way that he structures practice:

There is a reason and structure to everything my coach does. He carefully plans out each
workout beforehand and he never does the same workout two days in a row. One day we
will do a day of aerobic endurance, followed by a day of recovery drills, followed by a
day of sprint work. We follow this three day pattern Monday through Wednesday and
then Thursday through Saturday. He definitely has a different approach than my club
coach back home, but it seems to be working for me as my times keep dropping.

Erin admitted that a change in coaches can be risky, but she has developed so much confidence
in her coach’s ability to help her get to the next level of national and international competition
that she has decided to spend the summer training with him rather than returning home to a
different state and working with her former club coach.

Parents also play an important role in the development of expert athletes. Côté, Baker,
and Abernethy (2003) refer to a study by Bloom in 1985 that highlighted the importance of
parental influence on the development of expert athletes. This study found that early on during
the sampling years, “parents tended to be supportive, which allowed their children freedom to
decide whether to practice formally or not” (p. 106). In the case of Erin, her mother was the
driving force signing her up for swimming as well as the other sports that she participated in.
Although her mother had been a high level volleyball player, she never pressured Erin into
choosing volleyball over swimming, something which Erin really appreciated. The study found
that the specializing years are “a period of dedication for both the performers and the parents”
and that by the investment years “the parents’ role was more restricted, consisting mainly of
financial support” as well as that of spectator” (p. 106). While Erin’s parents no longer have to
drive her to practice or pay for her coaching, they still remain very involved, often driving hours
to see her swim. She stated, “my parents often drive for five or six hours to see me swim and no
one is a better support. My brother also decided to go to graduate school here, so he gets to go to
all my meets as well.” Although parental support changes across the three stages of
development, this support appears to be an important factor in the development of expertise.

Erin described her swim team as being like a second family to her. This is some
indication of the importance that peers can play in the development of expert athletes. Although
most of the research indicates that it is important for elite athletes to have friends both in and out
of sport, Erin stated, “All of my best friends both growing up and now have been swimmers.
They really are much more like sisters to me than anything else.” Erin went on to say that
although her teammates are her friends, they also push each other to perform better and that they
help to make practice fun and something to look forward to rather than to just get through each
day.

Becoming an expert level athlete takes a lot of devotion, hard work, and support from
coaches, family, and peers. It appears that most expert athletes played a variety of sports as
young children, narrowed their activities down as they got closer to middle school, and by high
school had specialized in their sport, training year round to be the best. Erin, a top collegiate
swimmer, mirrors what much of the research shows in the development of becoming an expert in
a sport, as she combines her genuine love for the sport itself, with the love of success which is
increasingly coming her way. With Erin’s strong base already established and her ongoing
commitment to high level training, London 2012 might have to make room for a new swimmer
in town.

References
Côté, J., Baker, J., & Abernethy, B. (2003). From play to practice: A developmental framework
for the acquisition of expertise in team sports. In J. L. Starkes & K. A. Ericsson (Eds.),
Expert performance in sports: Advances in research on sport expertise (pp. 90-113).
Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Ericsson, K. A. (2003). Development of elite performance and deliberate practice: An update

from the perspective of the expert performance approach. In J. L. Starkes & K. A.
Ericsson (Eds.), Expert performance in sports: Advances in research on sport expertise
(pp.50-83). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
1
Erin is not the swimmer’s real name; a pseudonym has been used within this article.