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Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation

Maxwell J. Stone, Camilla Knight, Ross Hall, Brendan Cropley, Catherine Shearer, Ross Nicholas, David A. Shearer

Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Pages: 1 - 26

Swansea University Author: Camilla Knight

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/10413200.2025.2507636

Abstract

Taper is an important component of race preparation in swimming but often misunderstood by athletes and coaches. Thus, through a multi-phase qualitative investigation, we aimed to examine swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) asso...

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Published in: Journal of Applied Sport Psychology
ISSN: 1041-3200 1533-1571
Published: Informa UK Limited 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69642
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last_indexed 2025-06-07T05:10:16Z
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spelling 2025-06-06T10:13:21.1061566 v2 69642 2025-06-06 Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation 6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60 Camilla Knight Camilla Knight true false 2025-06-06 Taper is an important component of race preparation in swimming but often misunderstood by athletes and coaches. Thus, through a multi-phase qualitative investigation, we aimed to examine swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) associated with taper. An interpretive descriptive methodology was used in both phases, with data collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed in line with interpretive description recommendations. Findings from Phase 1 and 2 suggested swimmers and coaches understood taper as an idiosyncratic, multidimensional, and unpredictable training phase, and their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors centered around ensuring taper had positive psychological and performance related effects. Findings from both phases were also examined to identify similarities in key psychological features associated with taper. This revealed the psychology of taper is complex, imperfect, and multilevel in nature. Overall, our research provides the first detailed insight into the psychology of taper in elite athletes and highlights the need for further research and applied considerations in this area. Journal Article Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 0 1 26 Informa UK Limited 1041-3200 1533-1571 28 5 2025 2025-05-28 10.1080/10413200.2025.2507636 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This work was supported by the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships. 2025-06-06T10:13:21.1061566 2025-06-06T10:07:17.4289878 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences Maxwell J. Stone 1 Camilla Knight 2 Ross Hall 3 Brendan Cropley 4 Catherine Shearer 5 Ross Nicholas 6 David A. Shearer 7 69642__34411__ad9f933a999a44a49564e43aef9e2f66.pdf 69642.VOR.pdf 2025-06-06T10:11:01.5514820 Output 1360983 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation
spellingShingle Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation
Camilla Knight
title_short Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation
title_full Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation
title_fullStr Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation
title_full_unstemmed Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation
title_sort Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation
author_id_str_mv 6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60_***_Camilla Knight
author Camilla Knight
author2 Maxwell J. Stone
Camilla Knight
Ross Hall
Brendan Cropley
Catherine Shearer
Ross Nicholas
David A. Shearer
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Applied Sport Psychology
container_volume 0
container_start_page 1
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1041-3200
1533-1571
doi_str_mv 10.1080/10413200.2025.2507636
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Taper is an important component of race preparation in swimming but often misunderstood by athletes and coaches. Thus, through a multi-phase qualitative investigation, we aimed to examine swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) associated with taper. An interpretive descriptive methodology was used in both phases, with data collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed in line with interpretive description recommendations. Findings from Phase 1 and 2 suggested swimmers and coaches understood taper as an idiosyncratic, multidimensional, and unpredictable training phase, and their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors centered around ensuring taper had positive psychological and performance related effects. Findings from both phases were also examined to identify similarities in key psychological features associated with taper. This revealed the psychology of taper is complex, imperfect, and multilevel in nature. Overall, our research provides the first detailed insight into the psychology of taper in elite athletes and highlights the need for further research and applied considerations in this area.
published_date 2025-05-28T06:02:06Z
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score 11.068451

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