Physical strength and performance test (PSPT) results for elite junior divers selected annually in the diving competition finals of the National Junior High School Selection Swim Meets (1998∼2005) were studied. It was found that the relationship between the PSPT results and the competition scores compared from the viewpoint of the annual results were as follows: the PSPT results for both genders indicated gradual improvements among male and female springboard divers, and male and female platform divers (ANOVA: p<0.05). The competition scores for springboard diving also indicated gradual improvements as mentioned above. Various athletic abilities, such as the flexibility of the shoulder joints, body tucks, etc., and especially muscular strength were improved during the PSPT. It was recognized that this unique improvement in the PSPT and competition scores have been achieved by using newly developed training systems.

View full abstract

We have been promoting the hydrotherapy consisting of the assumption that the water exercise would help to develop the empowerment not only the sociability but also the exercise ability of the children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the activity of individual support and the establishment of order to the tasks. Subjects were 13 children with ASD. We obtained informed consent with parent of participating members. We examined a five-points estimation during one year. Grade evaluation was in two stages ; can do and cannot do. The order of achivement of children with ASD was nearly consisted with the order of a healthy person both a beginner’s class and a middle class. These results suggest that the activity of individual support and the establishment of order of the tasks is practical method as the hydrotherapy.

View full abstract

The FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur) has changed the international rules of water polo to make the water polo more attractive globally in 2005. Although a major change was expected in aspects of the games by adopting the revised rules, a verification how changed has not been done yet. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the aspects of the games such as swimming distance, swimming velocity and time-motion analysis under a revised condition. The activities of 18 water-polo-players (6 center forwards, 6 drivers and 6 center backs) were videotaped and analyzed, in a total of five games of the Japan Swimming Championship which was held in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium from 29th June to 1st July in 2007. A two-dimensional DLT method was used to evaluate a position of player, swimming distance and swimming velocity by the Fame Dias II (DKH Cooperation). In addition the time-motion analysis was done to evaluate the game qualitatively. As results, an average of game duration was 48min 53second. An average of swimming distance of total is 1803.3 ± 137.8m. An average of swimming velocity of total is 0.65 ± 0.06m/s. It is revealed that the mean duration of contact was decreased, the mean duration of swimming was increased and the mean duration of vertical position was decreased. These results show that the intention with the revision of rules has been achieved.

View full abstract

Thrust generated by limbs is quite important in swimming. However, the fluid force acting on limbs during unsteady motion such as swimming has been difficult to measure. Therefore, the authors developed an underwater robot arm, which can perform 5 degrees-of-motion, and can represent both upper and lower limb’s swimming motion. The contents of this paper consist of the specification of the robot arm, an experiment to measure the unsteady fluid force using the robot arm, and the present status of the fluid force modeling based on the experimental results. As the result, it was verified that the unsteady fluid force during the swimming motion can be measured by the experimental setup. In addition, the validity of the fluid force model which was identified based on the experimental results was also verified.

View full abstract