Abstract
Taper represents a distinct period within an athlete's preparatory process preceding major competitive events. The effects of this phase are reflected through intentional and timely variability in the volume and intensity of training load attributes (functional, mechanical, motor, psycho-social). The essence of planning, implementing, and defining taper as a phenomenon of training-competition preparation arises from its unstable and dynamic nature, as well as from the challenges of its practical execution, which involve, among others: (a) recognition of individual residual effects of previously accumulated training and competitive load; (b) athlete-specific responses to mechanical, motor, and functional variations in training and competition stress; (c) reduction of mechanical and neuro-vegetative fatigue parameters; (d) stimulation of supercompensation processes across performance-relevant abilities and skills. In the context of competitive swimming, taper is one of the central components of training process finalization, ultimately shaping performance outcomes into concrete and competitive race results. Therefore, taper management requires systematic and precise control over residual, adaptable, and current determinants of efficient and economical swimming, primarily those within the kinetic, kinematic, physiological, and psychological domains, through which training stimuli are optimized and transferred into competitive ability and skill. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyse the factual foundations of the taper phenomenon and generalize them into conceptual knowledge frameworks, and to articulate their deductive value and usefulness for coaching practice and training programme design. Equally important is the intention to encourage further research towards more purposeful and methodologically refined interpretation of the tapering period.
Description
This paper analyzes the taper phenomenon in elite swimming training.