Learning a sports skill is a complex process in which practitioners are challenged to cater for individual differences. The main purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach for learning a sports skill. Twenty-four 10-year-old females participated in a 4-week intervention involving either a Nonlinear Pedagogy (i.e.,manipulation of task constraints including equipment and rules) or a Linear Pedagogy (i.e., prescriptive, repetitive drills) approach to learn a tennis forehand stroke. Performance accuracy scores, movement criterion scores and kinematic data were measured during pre-intervention, post-intervention and retention tests. While both groups showed improvements in performance accuracy scores over time, the Nonlinear Pedagogy group displayed a greater number of movement clusters at post-test indicating the presence of degeneracy (i.e., many ways to achieve the same outcome). The results suggest that degeneracy is effective for learning a sports skill facilitated by a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach. These findings challenge the common misconception that there must be only one ideal movement solution for a task and thus have implications for coaches and educators when designing instructions for skill acquisition.

This study introduces a novel approach for automatic temporal phase detection and inter-arm coordination estimation in front-crawl swimming using inertial measurement units (IMUs). We examined the validity of our method by comparison against a video-based system. Three waterproofed IMUs (composed of 3D accelerometer, 3D gyroscope) were placed on both forearms and the sacrum of the swimmer. We used two underwater video cameras in side and frontal views as our reference system. Two independent operators performed the video analysis. To test our methodology, seven well-trained swimmers performed three 300 m trials in a 50 m indoor pool. Each trial was in a different coordination mode quantified by the index of coordination. We detected different phases of the arm stroke by employing orientation estimation techniques and a new adaptive change detection algorithm on inertial signals. The difference of 0.2 ± 3.9% between our estimation and video-based system in assessment of the index of coordination was comparable to experienced operators’ difference (1.1 ± 3.6%). The 95% limits of agreement of the difference between the two systems in estimation of the temporal phases were always less than 7.9% of the cycle duration. The inertial system offers an automatic easy-to-use system with timely feedback for the study of swimming.