OSLO, Norway, July 20. COLLEEN McCracken, a doctoral student at the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming at Indiana University, took home one of three top awards from the International Symposium on Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming held in Oslo, Norway on June 16-19. McCracken's presentation on cognitive and cardiovascular function for Masters swimmers was chosen as the best poster.
McCracken's award follows another Counsilman Center student (Dr. Josh White), who won the Archimedes Award for best young investigator at the last symposium in Portugal in 2006. McCracken and White both studied under Counsilman Center director, Dr. Joel Stager.
Swimming experts from over 30 countries made 250 oral and poster presentations, including nine keynote talks. The presentations spanned the fields of sport science and included many presentations that produced information to improve performance. Abstracts are posted on the website of the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.
Two Americans presented keynote lectures. Dr. Jan Prins (director of the Aquatics Research Laboratory at the University of Hawaii, pictured below) talked about aquatic therapy and Dr. Steve Langendorfer (professor at Bowling Green State University) made a presentation on skill learning. The videos from all nine keynote presentations are posted on coachesinfo.com.
Two coach-oriented presentations were made by Dr. Rod Havriluk (president of Swimming Technology Research). In the first talk, Havriluk showed how fast swimmers can take better advantage of their strength on the butterfly push phase and the breaststroke inward sculling motion to generate more force and swim even faster. In a collaboration with Dr. Ted Becker (Everett Pacific Industrial Rehabilitation), Havriluk explained strategies for improving butterfly technique that minimize shoulder stress and maximize both hand force and stroke rate.
The Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming Symposia began in 1970 in Belgium and have been held every four years since then. The meetings bring swimming scientists and coaches together for the opportunity to communicate with their colleagues. Counsilman Center representatives made a bid for hosting the 2014 conference; however, the BMS International Steering Group selected the Australian Institute of Sport.
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