Thursday, March 19, 2020

Evaluation of Strengths And Weaknesses Essay Example

Evaluation of Strengths And Weaknesses Essay Example Evaluation of Strengths And Weaknesses Essay Evaluation of Strengths And Weaknesses Essay I am evaluating the strengths of my performance, in swimming. Front crawl is the fastest stroke and gives you the feeling of being powerful in the water. I know that the skill of freestyle in swimming is one of the strengths of my performance because I have had video analysis of my strokes. It shows I have good arm action when entering the water, and my breathing is efficient because I breathe bilaterally. I can see that my leg action in this stoke is very strong, this is because I practise training my legs regularly with a kick-board. The overall efficiency of the stoke is fluent because it is smooth and well practised. My body position is at water level, this is the correct technical model. Breaststroke is the slowest of the four strokes, but that does not mean it cannot be swum powerfully and at speed. I also know that breaststroke is another strength in my performance because my coach tells me I have a wide leg action this is because I have good flexibility in my hips. My body position is flat and stationary in the water, the technical model states that you must keep your body level at the surface. The overall efficiency of the stroke is smooth and fluent, I know this because my coach informs me that I dont make any rapid splashes. My arm action entering the water is fully stretched, and during the arm pull through my elbows are high at a right angle. Butterfly is a difficult stroke to swim as it needs both stamina and style, but because I train more on this stroke I find it easier. I know that butterfly is one of the best strengths in my performance because I have had feedback from my video analysis. It shows I have a good arm action and pull through the water in a keyhole shape, because I bend my elbows at the start of the pull and keep them close to the surface. I swim butterfly well because I breathe every two strokes as this will keep my body more streamlined, and the streamline position is the more effective body position, and a more efficient way to move through the water. The video also displays that I have good hard leg action, which is the dolphin-like motion of the body through the water is known as undulation. This is because I am able to keep a fluent regular kick action, going throughout the stoke all of the time, so the overall efficiency is better. A Racing start is an really important aspect to swimming because it can determine 1st and 2nd place so you need to move off the blocks quickly as possible and into the water smoothly. I use a track start dive. I feel this is an important strength of mine because my coach has gave feedback telling me, I push off the blocks with a lot of power and it looks a fluent. I am able to consistently perform this skill correctly. Also my coach shows me I have a excellent streamlined body position when entering the water, my arms are up, squeezed by my ears with one hand on top the other. Another strength of my performance are my freestyle tumble turns, I know this because I have had video analysis. It shows that I carryout a fast somersault and a twist, this is because I have a strong leg action which flips me around, also I always practise tumble turns every training session and never miss any out. My overall efficiency is good showing that this skill has been learnt well and it is a fluent. After every tumble turn I glide and streamline off the wall. The video footage shows my body position is tight and straight, every muscle is pulling in towards the centre, trying to make my body longer and thinner. This is a different strength to my performance. Also it indicates that my legs are adducted with my toes are pointed. My arms are extended, pointing to the direction of travel, my bicep muscles are behind my ears. My fingertips are stretching and reaching as far forward as possible, this follows a technical model. A) Strategies/Tactics Strengths:  Starts and turns  I know this tactic is a strength in my performance because, when I dive into the water I can determine how long I spend gliding in a streamline position under water. I know this is a good strategy because my coach informs me I have a good streamlined position. The same technique can be used for turns you can gain a lot more length streamlining under water when pushing off the wall than swimming. Also I have a fast approach (acceleration) into wall, the speed into wall effect the speed out of the wall. This is an important tactic in a race. I know this is a strength of mine because I have had video analysis of my starts and turns and I see that my turns are consistent and fluent. Negative split through middle distance swims  A negative split is when you swim a race e.g. 400m and you swim the second 200m faster than the first 200m so your building up. This is an important tactic to have in a race because your body will know when to increase the pace and then go on to win. I know that this is a strength in my performance because I have had myself timed in a 400m race doing a negative split, so I have swum the second 200m faster than the first. This shows it is a good tactic of mine. Sprint finish  When you are swimming a middle distance race e.g. 200m and you are able to have some power left to sprint the last length or 1/2 length. This is a good tactic to have because you are able to keep your last bit of energy left at the end of the race, this can promote you to win. I know that this tactic is a strength in my performance because I have had video footage showing that in various races, I have used a sprint finish and gone on to win the race.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

How To Calculate the Variance and Standard Deviation

How To Calculate the Variance and Standard Deviation Variance and standard deviation are two closely related measures of variation that you will hear about a lot in studies, journals, or statistics class. They are two basic and fundamental concepts in statistics that must be understood in order to understand most other statistical concepts or procedures. Below, we’ll review what they are and how to find the variance and standard deviation. Key Takeaways: Variance and Standard Deviation The variance and standard deviation show us how much the scores in a distribution vary from the average.The standard deviation is the square root of the variance.For small data sets, the variance can be calculated by hand, but statistical programs can be used for larger data sets. Definition By definition, variance and standard deviation are both measures of variation for interval-ratio variables. They describe how much variation or diversity there is in a distribution. Both the variance and standard deviation increase or decrease based on how closely the scores cluster around the mean. Variance is defined as the average of the squared deviations from the mean. To calculate the variance, you first subtract the mean from each number and then square the results to find the squared differences. You then find the average of those squared differences. The result is the variance. The standard deviation is a measure of how spread out the numbers in a distribution are. It indicates how much, on average, each of the values in the distribution deviates from the mean, or center, of the distribution. It is calculated by taking the square root of the variance. A Conceptual Example The variance and standard deviation are important because they tell us things about the data set that we can’t learn just by looking at the mean, or average. As an example, imagine that you have three younger siblings: one sibling who is 13, and twins who are 10. In this case, the average age of your siblings would be 11. Now imagine that you have three siblings, ages 17, 12, and 4. In this case, the average age of your siblings would still be 11, but the variance and standard deviation would be larger. A Quantitative Example Let’s say we want to find the variance and standard deviation of the age among your group of 5 close friends. The ages of you and your friends are 25, 26, 27, 30, and 32. First, we must find the mean age: (25 26 27 30 32) / 5 28. Then, we need to calculate the differences from the mean for each of the 5 friends. 25 – 28 -326 – 28 -227 – 28 -130 – 28 232 – 28 4 Next, to calculate the variance, we take each difference from the mean, square it, then average the result. Variance ( (-3)2 (-2)2 (-1)2 22 42)/ 5 (9 4 1 4 16 ) / 5 6.8 So, the variance is 6.8. And the standard deviation is the square root of the variance, which is 2.61. What this means is that, on average, you and your friends are 2.61 years apart in age. Although it’s possible to calculate the variance by hand for smaller data sets such as this one, statistical software programs can also be used to calculate the variance and standard deviation. Sample Versus Population When conducting statistical tests, it’s important to be aware of the difference between a population and a sample. To calculate the standard deviation (or variance) of a population, you would need to collect measurements for everyone in the group you’re studying; for a sample, you would only collect measurements from a subset of the population. In the example above, we assumed that the group of five friends was a population; if we had treated it as a sample instead, calculating the sample standard deviation and sample variance would be slightly different (instead of dividing by the sample size to find the variance, we would have first subtracted one from the sample size and then divided by this smaller number). Importance of the Variance and Standard Deviation The variance and standard deviation are important in statistics, because they serve as the basis for other types of statistical calculations. For example, the standard deviation is necessary for converting test scores into Z-scores. The variance and standard deviation also play an important role when conducting statistical tests such as t-tests. References Frankfort-Nachmias, C. Leon-Guerrero, A. (2006). Social Statistics for a Diverse Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.