Effects of Snorkel on Teaching Principal Swimming Skills in Non-Swimmer Children and Adolescents with Fear of Water

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of snorkeling on teaching basic swimming skills in non-swimmer children and teenagers with fear of water. This research was an experimental type with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The participants were 30 children (8.95±0.64 years old) and 30 teenagers (15.06±0.71 years old) non-swimmers who were afraid of water, and the participants of each group were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups (15 people in each group). After participating in the pre-test of skills of entering the water, opening the eyes in the water, gliding, orientation in the water and movement in the water and breath holding, all four groups entered a 20-session course of swimming training, so that the experimental group with snorkel and the control group without snorkel were taught basic swimming skills by an instructor. Then all four groups participated in the post-test. The data were analyzed by two-factor multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and Benferoni's post hoc test. The results of the findings show that the main effects of age were not significant, but the main effects of training and the interactive effects of age and training were significant. Using a snorkel in children and teenagers did not have a significant effect on the skill of entering the water, opening the eyes in the water, but it had a significant and positive effect on the skills of gliding, orientation in the water and movement in the water. Also, the use of snorkel in children and teenagers had a significant and negative effect on breath holding skill. Considering that the results of the present study show the positive effects of using a snorkel on learning the skills of gliding and orientation in water and moving in water and its negative effect on breath holding skill in children and teenagers, it is recommended that the instructors who use snorkel to acclimatize children and teenagers to the water, provide additional training to improve the skill of holding their breath.