Introduction: In acrobatic, rhythmic and expressive gymnastics, the goal is performance and the score is given by judges. In synchronized swimming the panel is composed of seven judges who assess figures and fifteen judges who assess technical and free routines. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to verify the reliability of this strategy - the evaluation of technical elements in a synchronized swimming routine via video. Method: The study included three synchronized swimming athletes aged 17 to 18 and ten level A and B judges on the FINA list with at least ten years of experience in national and international events. Results: Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was 0.85 for T1 (test) and 0.83 for T2 (retest), indicating high internal consistency above 0.70. As regards agreement between scores awarded at both T1 and T2, significant correlation (r: 0.530 p> 0.0005) was found between them, confirmed after Bland-Altman reliability analysis (bias: 0.0553334 95% of limit of agreement -1.25043 to 1.36110). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that video is a reliable tool for training synchronized swimming judges. Level of Evidence II; Diagnostic studies - Investigating a diagnostic test.

IntroduçãoVários pesquisadores têm investigado o efeito do foco de atenção no desempenho e aprendizagem de habilidades motoras. Mais especificamente, tem-se comparado os efeitos do foco de atenção externo com aqueles do foco de atenção interno. O foco interno se refere aos movimentos do corpo e o externo, aos efeitos desse movimento sobre o ambiente (WULF, 1998). Estes estudos têm sido desenvolvidos com tarefas variadas como batida do golfe (BEILOCK, 2001; BEILOCK el al., 2002;PERKINS-CECCATO, 2003;BELL, 2009), Motriz, Rio Claro, v.18 n.3, p.449-455, jul./set. 2012 Artigo Original Verbal instruction: requesting an attentional focus does not ensure compliance and better performanceAbstract: The purposes of this study were to investigate a) the effect of redundant and non-redundant instruction on external focus of attention adoption, b) the effect of adopting an external focus of attention on performance in a front crawl swimming task, and c) the effect of redundancy in the wording of a verbal instruction on the above variables. 43 college students (m/f) aged 17 to 46 swam 25 m crawl at maximum speed, once under each of three conditions: without focus instruction (SF), following a focus instruction (CF) and a redundant focus instruction (CFR), in counterbalanced order. For focus adoption control, after completing the task participants were asked about what they had focused on while swimming. As a measure of performance, time and number of strokes were taken and the stroke index was calculated. The results showed that under redundant focus instruction (CFR) condition, 42 % failed to adopt the attentional focus as asked, and following focus (CF) instruction, 23 %. Under CF condition, the frequency of participants that adopted the focus was higher than of those who did not. Performance did not differ significantly among the three conditions (p>0,05). These findings stress the need of manipulation checks in attentional focus research, regarding both performance and motor learning efficiency, as well as the need for further investigation into the relation between instruction extension and performance.

Introduction Partial body weight support (BWS) systems have been employed for gait training of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Therefore, it would be important to analyze if the type of walking surface and the amount of body weight unloading over lower limbs change the way these children walk. Objectives Investigate the influence of walking surface and amount of body weight unloading on the spatial temporal characteristics during walking of children with CP. Materials and methods Seven children with spastic CP between four and eight years old and GMFCS (Gross Motor Function Classification System) between I and IV, were videotaped walking with 0%, 15% and 30% of BWS on both dynamic (treadmill) and static (ground level) surfaces. Walking spatial temporal variables were calculated. Results Children walked with similar velocity in all experimental conditions. While stance duration decreased as the percentage of BWS increased, no differences were found for stance and swing periods and cadence. Children walked with longer steps and strides and with faster strides on static surface compared to dynamic surface. Conclusion Children with CP presenting different levels of motor impairment presented some alterations in the spatial temporal walking parameters as they walked with body unloading. However, such alterations might be due mainly to the type of walking surface than the percentage of body weight unloading on lower limbs.

INTRODUÇÃOO nado sincronizado é um esporte olímpico regido pela Federação Para interpretar um tema musical, nadando com estética e fluência, as participantes devem ter capacidade aeróbia e anaeróbia desenvolvidas em nível de excelência, além da potência, flexibilidade e domínio das habilidades motoras envolvidas (CHU, 1999;MOUNTJOY, 1999). Para ser considerada habilidosa, a execução deve ter harmonia e suavidade, isto é, aparente ausência de esforço para alcançar o objetivo.As competições de nado sincronizado podem conter provas de figuras e de rotinas. Figuras são sequências de posições codificadas pela FINA, das quais 36 são pré-estabelecidas a cada quatro anos, segundo a categoria etária. Nas provas de figura, não há música, e as atletas se apresentam individualmente. As provas de rotina, por sua vez, são constituídas por coreografias denominadas solo (uma atleta), dueto e equipe (de quatro a 10 atletas), em que se interpreta um tema com música, num tempo estipulado.As figuras são os fundamentos do nado sincronizado. O ensino das habilidades do nado sincronizado começa com as posições e os movimentos básicos, e a sequência de uma posição básica para outra resulta nas figuras listadas