From the Deck: The Relevant Has To Become Relevent

Lets Pretend.

Imagine your ideal seats at your bucket list event. Are these seat the “nosebleeds”? The seats where you get a birds eye view of the game. That isn’t the seat you imagined. Chances are high that you imagined the seat that provides the most real life perspective of the event, the seat that nearly places you inside that event so that you are a part of it. Chances are low that you picked watching the Super Bowl from an airplane or Taylor Swift from the back row.

Humans are built to seek out perspectives that provide the greatest level of insight aboutexperiences. We are unsatisfied and have trouble comprehending experiences when the perspective that a person is seeking is unavailable or unobtainable. For example, when we see Justin Verlander wind up for a pitch we are shown him standing in the center of the frame as if he is almost facing us. We are able to clearly watch the relevant mechanics of his body as he delivers a pitch. This is how a pitch during a MLB game is often displayed, and people would likely complain if it wasn’t. A person with a DVR recording the performance can pause it, stand in up in their living room, replicate each of the motions one at a time until they are able to mimic the movement exactly as it has been displayed.

The ability to comprehend the performance is dependent on the way it’s displayed and on the perspective that it’s presented. If the presentation was done from a different perspective, lets say 180 opposite (from behind), where less of the relevant mechanic obviously appear, the ability to comprehend it would be reduced. The person standing in their living room could make attempts at replicating the motions but chances are very low that they would be able to replicate the desired motion as well. Furthermore, if the presentation was done from the birds eye perspective(looking straight down at the head of the pitcher) where even less of the relevant mechanics obviously appear, the ability to comprehend would be diminished almost entirely.

The Current Problem

Very sadly, the perspective most often occupied by swim coaches is the last one we described above, where they are viewing their swimmers from above the water at an undesirable angle. What’s even more sad is that this is the perspective that is presented to all swim spectators. The most relevant body mechanics in swimming occur underwater, yet the majority of camera angles used are above-water shots, while the majority of the race happens out of sight. I would wager that most coaches and all spectators have spent less than 20% of their total time viewing swimming from this perspective. This why we only watch it once every 4 years. Swimming is an incredibly cool sport but it’s displayed incorrectly. The perspective is wrong. If displayed correctly (from beneath the surface of the water), with frequent shots of the swimmers entire body from the side, the understanding of swimming (and swimmings popularity) would grow. Swimmers would better understand the techniques of the pros, be able to improve at a faster rate, and would also be able to achieve higher speeds through the water.

Underwater Perspectives

Tweak has been working hard now for 6 years to change this perspective. In our swim analysis appointments swimmers are provided a huge dose of the most relevant perspective. There are signs beyond tweak that change is coming too. More and more pictures and videos of swimming are actually being distributed online that show the most relevant perspectives of swimming. To continue on the path towards this most relevant perspective, tweak is starting the #UnderWaterPerspective initiative. We want to see underwater perspectives of you! So when you post a picture or video of you or your swimmer from the underwater perspective on our Facebook page, instagram, or twitter with the hashtag #TweakUnderWaterPerspective attached we will give you a single lesson for free! We can’t wait to see your stuff!