KINESIOLOGIA SLOVENICA 4 {1998)1 : 17-21 17 
Venceslav Kapus 
Boro Štrumbeli 
Boian Leskošek 
Jakob Bednarik 
AN EXTENDED TWENTY-TWO TESTS SYSTEM 
FOR IDENTIFYING CHILDREN TALENTED FOR 
SWIMMING 
Dorka Šajber-Pincolič RAZŠIRJENI DVAINDVAJSET TESTNI SISTEM 
ZA IDENTIFIKACIJO OTROK, TALENTIRANIH 
ZA PLAVANJE 
Abstract 
In this article an information system is presented 
w hose purpose isto discover children talented for 
swimming and help include them into swimming 
schools or clubs in which they w ill have the possibi-
lity for further developmentof thei r talent into a suc-
cessful carri er, if they so desire and have their pa-
rents' support. The system is based on the sports 
educational chart, which is practised in practically 
all primary and secondary schools in Slovenia, with 
the purpose of evaluating and monitoring the morp-
hological and motor developmentof the child ren. A 
rough assessment of their suitability for swimming, 
on the basis of the eleven tests from the Sport card, 
is made by the physical education teacher with the 
help of the »Talent« system. The children that show 
talent for swimming (four types: sprint, long distan-
ce, breast and medley) are invited by the teacher -
in co-operation with the swimming clubs - to a be-
ginner' s swimming course. The pupils that respond 
are involved into an extended twenty-two tests sys-
tem fortalentassessment, with additional tests. The-
se additional tests are: anthropometric (weight and 
spec. weight, vita! capacity) and motoric (flexibility: 
barextended beh ind head; feet flexibil ity: toes poin-
ting, toes curling and foot turn. outwards; dynamic 
power: sit-ups and pu li force on land; special moto-
ric: slide length, pu li force - in water and swimming 
speed on 50 m). 
Used methods: normalisation of original measure-
ments, assessment of basic criteria both quantitati-
vely (ND) and qual itatively (DEX), balancing the fi-
nal assessments between the various swimming 
types. 
Keywords: swimming, talent, identification system 
University of Ljubljana - Faculty of Sport, Go rta nova 22, 
51-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 
phone: ++38661140-10-77 
fax: ++38661 448-148 
e-mail: Boro.Strumbelj@sp.uni-lj.si 
Izvleček 
V članku je predstavljen informacijski sistem katere-
ga namen je iskanje otrok talentiranih za plavanje. 
Slednj im se omogoča vključevanje v plavalne šole ali 
klube v katerih bodo imeli možnost nadaljnjega raz-
vijanja talenta v uspešno plavalno kariero, če tako 
tel ijo in imajo podporo staršev. Sistem je osnovan na 
Sportno-vzgojnem kartonu, ki se izvaja v praktično 
vseh osnovnih in srednj ih šolah v Sloveniji, z name-
nom evalvacije in spremljanja morfološkega in mo-
toričnega razvoja otrok. Grobo oceno primernosti 
za plavanje, na osnovi enajstih testov športno-vzgoj-
nega kartona opravi učitelj športne vzgoje s pomoč­
jo sistema imenovanega »Talent«. Učenci, ki kažejo 
nadarjenost za plavanje (štiri zvrsti: šprint, dolge pro-
ge, prsno in mešano) so povabljeni v povezavi s pla-
valnimi klubi na začetni plavalni tečaj. Učenci, ki se 
odzovejo so vključen i v razširjeni dvaindvajsettestni 
sistem za ugotavljanje talenta z dodatnimi testi. Ti 
dodatni testi so: antropometrijski (teža in specifična 
teža, vitalna kapaciteta) in motorični (gibljivost: za-
klon s palico; gibljivost stopala: ekstenzija stopala in 
rotacija stopala; dinamična moč: dvig trupa v sedu, 
poteg z rokama na suhem; specialna motorika: dol-
žina drsenja, sila potega v vodi in hitrost plavanja na 
50 m). 
Uporabljene metode: normalizacija originalnih me-
ritev, določanje osnovnih krite rijev kvantitativno 
(ND) in kvalitativno (DEX), uravnoteženje končni h 
odločitev med različnimi plavalnimi tipi. 
Ključne besede: plavanje, talent, sistem identifikaci-
je 
18 
Venceslav Kapus, Boro Štrumbelj, Boian Leskošek, Jakob Bednarik, Dorka Šajber-Pincolič 
AN EXTENDED TWENTY-TWO TESTS SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFIYING CHILDREN TALENTED FOR SWIMMING 
lntroduction 
The knowledge about onese lf and one' s abi lities 
goes hand in hand w ith securing the qual ity of life 
and employment for the individual and the ent ire 
society. It remains an undisputed fact that the com-
plex web of sports activities, and particularly physi-
cal education itself, play an important part in that 
process. According to the publication Guidelines for 
Physica l Education in Schools(12,4), the ultimate 
goal of physical education should be seen in »metho-
dical stimulation of and search for individuality and 
talent for a particular sport«, which a young person 
can grow fond of and improve later in his/her life. 
Discovering individuals with talent for sportand their 
join ing in train ing of that sport wh ich suits their cha-
racteristics, abilities, capabilities, and interests best 
of al l, are part of the basic, expertly and organisatio-
nally extremely demanding processes dealt with by 
the modem sport science and profession (1 ). The 
consequences of wrong decisions are numerous and 
often painfu l. The w rong choice of a sport and 
unrealistic goals, especially those set too high, often 
show only after years of intensive training and nu-
merous sacrifices made by the young athletes and 
their families. Facingthe reality can in such cases end 
in bitter d isappoi ntment and may cause psychologi-
cal traumas. 
Competitive sport is a field of activitywhich is relati-
vely highly valued in Slovenia. Considering the size 
of its population, Sloven ia is one of the mostsuccess-
ful countries in the world as far as sport is concerned. 
In Slovenia, great importance is attributed to com-
petitive sport, and consequently to the fie ld of selec-
t ion and orientation of ch ildren talented for sport. 
With this aim in view, the Faculty of Sport in Ljublja-
na has for severa! years been carrying out a project 
named Computer-Aided System of lnitial Selection 
and Orientation of Chi ldren to Sports, in collabora-
tion with the Jožef Stefan Institute, the Faculty of Or-
ganisational Sciences as well as numerous coaches 
and PE teachers (3,5,9, 11 , 13). The aim of the pro-
ject has been to develop procedures of initial selec-
tion and ori entation to sports and employ these in 
practice. The system builds on lnformation System 
for Monitoring Motoric and Physical Development 
in the School Youth in Slovenia, w hich has al ready 
gained ground throughout Slovenia (12). 
Methods 
Multi-attribute decision models forthe evaluation of 
children ·s talents for swimming on the basis of the 
eleven tests (three morphological and eight motoric 
tests) have been developed and tested in pract ice. 
Table 1. : The example of decision model based on ND method . (Swimming-shortd istances) 
Utilitv fu11ction (scores) 
Weight Correla Cham- 12 20 30 40 so 60 70 80 88 
tion pion 
with 
sucess 
SCORE 100 
+ ANTHROPOM 32 
+height 19 K 69 o 9 20 41 61 82 99 88 80 
+MASS 13 
+ rel.weight* 8 K 53 20 36 55 75 94 80 51 23 o 
+skin-fold 6 p 12 100 89 76 63 50 37 24 11 o 
+MOTORICS 68 
IN FORM COMP. 19 
+ forward t. bend. 6 N 80 o 11 24 37 50 74 98 100 100 
COORDIN 13 
+ polygon 4 p 19 100 100 93 72 50 37 24 11 o 
+ tapping 9 N 82 o 11 24 37 50 70 90 100 100 
ENERCY COMP. 49 
+POWER 36 
+ bent arrn hang 9 N 79 o 11 24 37 50 75 100 100 100 
+ DYN. POWER 26 
+ sit-ups 2 N 83 o 11 24 37 50 68 86 100 100 
+ long jurnp st. p. 24 N 84 o 11 24 37 50 67 83 100 100 
+60 rn run 13 p 12 100 89 76 63 so· 37 24 11 o 
+600 m run o p 22 100 100 100 87 69 51 33 15 o 
* rel. weight = weight / height 
Venceslav Kapus, Bora Štrumbelj, Bojan Leskošek, Jakob Bednarik, Darka Šajber-Pincolič 19 AN EXTENDED TWENTY-TWO TESTS SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFIYING CHILDREN TALENTED FOR SWIMMING 
Decision models have been developed forfourtypes 
of swimmers: sprinters, long distance swimmers, 
breast and medley stroke swimmers. The model s are 
transparent and presented both in the quantitative 
(ND models) (9) and qualitative (D EX models) (3) 
forms. Normalisation of original measurements, as-
sessment of basic criteria, assessment of deri ved cri-
teria both quantitatively (ND) and qualitatively (DEX) 
and balancingthe final assessments between the va-
rious swimming types have been made. 
For th is purpose the Talent expert system has been 
developed, a computer program (source written in 
Delph i) for personal use running under Microsoft® 
Wi ndows ™ 3 .1 orla ter versions. 
Results 
In table 1 the example of basic decision model (11 
tests) based on quantitative (ND) method is presen-
ted. 
lnstructions for explanation of the decision 
model 
On the left side of the Table there is given the struc-
ture of the decision criteria. The tests are wri tten with 
small letters, whi le the abiliti es measured by these 
tests, or nodes are written with capital letters. The 
highest node represents the score of the performan-
ce potentials of a candidate in the chosen branch of 
sport. Then there follow weights wh ich show the re-
lative signifi cance of individual tests, or nodes for the 
performance of candidates. For each test the follo-
wi ng data are also given: 
• the correlation between the test resultand expec-
ted performance in respective branch of sport: N 
means growing mutual relation (higher test result 
value means better performance), P- fa iling rela-
tion (lower test result value means better perfor-
mance) or K = combined relation (the optimum 
result is somewhere in the middle, while the worst 
either extremely high or extremely low results); 
• the champion model, i.e. the values of an »ideal« 
athlete in the chosen branch of sport expressed in 
T-values (standardised and normalised values with 
m = 50 and s= 10); 
• the normalisers, i.e. test results which determine 
the utility function, or mark for the respective re-
sult attained by an individual pupil (expressed in 
T - values). 
In table 2 comparison between qualitative (DEX) 
and quantitative (NO) method for a randomly selec-
ted children is presented. 
We have developed also decision model on the ba-
sis of extended system for talent assessment (twenty-
Table 2.: Comparison between ND and DEX met-
hod. (Swimming- short distances) 
NO DEX 
Res. T Ded i. Mark 
SCORE 58 16,2 77 exc. exc. 
+ANTHROPOM 59 13,4 76 exc. exc. 
! +height 141 ,0 61 8,0 84 exc. exc. 
i +MASS 57 21,1 66 good. good. 
+rel.weight 0,266 60 7,0 80exc. exc. 
+skin-fold 10 52 40,0 47 sat. good. 
tMOTORICS 57 17,5 77 exc. exc. 
+INFORM COMP. 56 21,5 71 good. good. 
j +forward t.bend. so 63 17,0 81 exc. exc. 
-i-COORDIN 53 23,4 67 good sat. 
i +polygon 12,5 41 22,0 70good sat. 
i +tapping 31 58 24,0 66 good sat. 
+ ENERGY COMP. 58 16,0 80 exc. exc. 
+POWER 68 14,9 81 exc. exc. 
j +bentarm hang 59 59 20,0 73 good good 
+ DYN. POWER 71 13, 1 85 exc. exc. 
+sit-ups 35 55 28,0 59 good exc. 
+longjump st.p. 186 72 12,0 87 exc. exc. 
+60 m run 10,1 31 19,0 75 exc. exc. 
+600m run 138 32 10,0 100 exc. good. 
two tests), which also ta kes into account special mo-
tor and functional abilities and morphologic charac-
teristics important forthe success in swimming. The-
se additional tests are: 
a) anthropometric: spec. weight and weight, vita l. 
capacity; 
Specific weightand weight have influence on swim-
mers buoyancy (7,8) . With better buoyancy the 
swimmer is able to swim w ith less energy loss (8) . 
This energy can be used for creation of propu lsion 
instead for keeping buoyancy. Vita! capacity also inf-
luence buoyancy (7,8). However, for the swimmers 
is well known that have higher vital capacity than po-
pulation (15). With highervital capacity they are able 
to increase their aerobic capacity since ventilation 
seems to be one of the limiting factor during swim-
ming (13) . 
b) motoric: 
• flexibility: bar extended behind head; 
• feet flexibility: toes pointing, toes curlingand foot 
turningoutwards. 
Flexibility is one of the most important factors, which 
influence success in swimming (6,7) . The swimmers 
with better shoulder flexibi li ty are able to ach ieve 
better stroke characteristics (i ncreased stroke length) 
in front crawl, butterfly and backstroke discipl ines, 
wh ich resu lts in faster swimming (10,8). A good 
shoulder flexibility also allows to the swimmer more 
20 
Venceslav Kapus, Bero Štrumbelj, Bojan Leskošek, Jakob Bednarik, Dorka Šajber-Pincolič 
AN EXTENDED TWENTY-TWO TESTS SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFIYING CHILDREN TALENTED FOR SWIMMING 
efficient energy ut ilisation because of better co-ordi-
nation of agonists and antagonists duringsingle stro-
ke. A good extension of ankle (measured with toes 
pointingand toes curling) is very important for an op-
timal leg kick of swimmers in butterfly, front crawl 
and backst roke d isciplines. On the other hand a 
good rotation of the foot is necessary to obtain so cal-
led propeller effect o f the foot w hich is very impor-
tant in breaststroke kick (1 5). 
• dynamic power: sit-ups and puli force on land; 
Today's technology of measuring force duringswim-
ming is very complex (2). Because of that we inserted 
two tests for measuringdynamic power on dry land. 
A pu li force capacity of sw immer on land has very 
good correlation w ith success in sw imming on short 
distances (2). Sit-ups allows us to have a better 
check-up of sw immers cond it ion and training status 
w ith other tests (8). 
• special motoric: sl ide length, puli force - in water 
and swim. speed 50 m. 
The length of the swimmers slide in the water, puli 
force and maximal swimmingspeed on 50 m allows 
us to est imate some hydrodynamic characteristics of 
the swimmers important to orient a single swimmer 
in the most adequate discipl ines for him (8). 
The formal structure of decision model (Table 3.) is 
the same as the structu re of basic model Table 1.). 
Table 3.: The example of extended decision model based on NO method . (Swimming- long distances) 
SCORE 
+- ANTHROPOM 
i +- height 
i +- vital. cap 
i +- MASS 
+-rel. weight 
+-skinfold 
+- spec. weight 
+-weight 
+-MOTORICS 
+-BASIC MOT. 
+- INFORM COMP. 
, i +-FLEXIBILITY 
Weight 
100 
25.6 
3.5 
7.0 
15.1 
3.5 
2.3 
7.0 
2.3 
74.4 
57.0 
32.6 
26.7 
= = 1 +- forward t. bendingS.8 
, ' i +-bar extend.b.head7.0 
, ' +-FEETFLEXIBILITY 14.0 
! +-toes pointing 7 .O 
i +- toes curling 3.5 
i +-foot turn.outward3.5 
+- COORDIN 5.8 
' ! :=~a0~~f~; ~:! 
+- ENERGY COMP. 24.4 
1,. +- POWER 
, +-bent arm hang 
+-DYN. POWER 
15.1 
4.7 
10.5 
+-sit-ups 3.5 
+- long jumpst.p 2.3 
+- puli force on land 4.7 
i +-60 m run 
! +- 600m run 
+- SPECIAL MOT. 
+-slide length 
+-puli force - in water 
+-swim. Speed som 
2.3 
7.0 
17.4 
7.0 
5.8 
4.7 
Correla Cham-
tion pion 
with 
sucess 
K 
N 
K 
K 
p 
p 
N 
p 
p 
N 
N 
p 
N 
N 
N 
N 
N 
p 
p 
N 
N 
p 
60 
73 
56 
53 
73 
71 
67 
73 
73 
58 
58 
60 
69 
68 
63 
63 
63 
74 
82 
73 
68 
63 
12 
o 
o 
20 
20 
100 
100 
o 
100 
100 
o 
o 
100 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
100 
100 
o 
o 
100 
20 
9 
11 
36 
36 
100 
100 
11 
100 
100 
11 
11 
100 
11 
11 
11 
11 
11 
89 
100 
11 
11 
100 
30 
20 
24 
55 
55 
93 
93 
24 
93 
93 
24 
24 
93 
24 
24 
24 
24 
24 
76 
100 
24 
24 
100 
Utility function (scores) 
40 50 60 
41 
37 
75 
75 
72 
72 
37 
72 
72 
37 
37 
72 
37 
37 
37 
37 
37 
63 
87 
37 
37 
87 
61 
so 
94 
94 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
69 
50 
50 
69 
82 
74 
80 
80 
37 
37 
74 
37 
37 
74 
74 
37 
70 
75 
68 
67 
67 
37 
51 
67 
67 
51 
70 
99 
98 
51 
51 
24 
24 
98 
24 
24 
98 
98 
24 
90 
100 
86 
83 
83 
24 
33 
83 
83 
33 
80 88 
88 80 
100 100 
23 O 
23 O 
11 O 
11 O 
100 100 
11 O 
11 O 
100 100 
100 100 
11 O 
100 100 
100 100 
100 100 
100 100 
100 100 
11 O 
15 O 
100 100 
100 100 
15 O 
 
Venceslav Kapus, Bora Štrumbelj, Bojan Leskošek, Jakob Bednarik, Dorka Šajber-Pincolič 21 AN EXTENDED TWENTY-TW0 TESTS SYSTEM F0R IDENTIFIYING CHILDREN TALENTED F0R SWIMMING 
Discussion 
The basic aim of the Talentexpert system has been to 
bring expertise in swimming talent identification to 
physical education teachers and coaches, to pupils 
and thei r parents. The system does not deal with 
identification of talent swimmers that might even-
tually lead to world-class sport results, but deals pri-
marily w ith counse lling children who have no wish 
or abil ity to take up competitive sport. The Talent sys-
tem should encourage physical education teachers 
to deepen thei r expert work and support them in 
their judgements and advice to pupils who are choo-
sing their sport. In our case the children that show 
talentfor swimmingare invited bythe teacher in co-
operation with swimming clubs - to a beginner's 
swimming course. The pupils that respond are invol-
ved into an extended system far talent assessment, 
which also takes into account special motor and 
functional abilit ies and morphological characteristic. 
The children with the bestobtained results and w ith 
will to practice after additional testing are included 
into special groups which train in as best possible 
conditions as can be organised fortheir further deve-
lopment. 
Conclusion 
In conclusion we would like to emphasises that no 
decision model and thus no computer program can 
with certainty predict a child 's talent and even less 
the future sport results. The complexity of human 
being, his/her w ishes, w ills, and, naturally, the envi-
ronment in which he/she lives and works, (un)fortu-
nately cannot be entirely mirrored by forma! models. 
That is why ali results of the Talent system should me-
rely be used as guidelines, as they have been desig-
ned only as an aid in advising children. 
In the future a twenty-two tests system has to bete-
sted with measurements far single age category of 
swimmers and eventually corrected on the basis of 
obta ined results on the sample of Slovenian swim-
mers. 
References 
1. BednarikJ., Kapus V. Odnosi med nekaterimi morfološkimi 
ter osnovnimi motoričnimi in plavalnimi razsežnostmi mla-
dih plavalk. Ljubljana: Fakulteta za telesno ku lturo, 1988 
2. Bednarik J., Kugovnik O., Kapus V., Stroj nik V. Tethered 
swimming as an instrument far evaluation swimming force 
and correlation of swimming force and success in swim-
ming. In: Proceedings of the 6th ICHPER-Europe congress, 
Physical activity far better life-style in a new Europe. Prague: 
Faculty of physical education and sport, 1992: 29-32 
3. Bohanec M ., Rajkovič V. DEX: an expertsystem shell far de-
cision support, Sistemica 1990; 1 (1 ): 145-157 
4. Bohanec M. et al. Talent: ekspertni sistem za usmerjanje 
otrok in mladi ne v športne panoge: uporabniški priročnik. 
Ljubljana: Zavod Republike Slovenije za šolstvo, 1997 
5. Kapus V., Jošt B. Računalniško podprt sistem začetnega iz-
bora in usmerjanja otrok v športne panoge in evalvacija mo-
dela uspešnosti v posameznih športnih panogah na podlagi 
ekspertnega modeliranja. Ljubljana: Fakulteta za šport - In-
štitut za kinezilogijo, 1995 
6. Kapus V. Konstitucijski tipi plavalcev. Telesna kultura 1984; 
4(32): 13-15 
7. Kapus V. Structure and canonic relations of some morpho-
logic and motoric dimensions of psychosomatic status of 
youngswimmers. In: Researching motor abilit ies of children 
between 6 and 14 years of age. Ljubljana: Faculty of physi-
cal education - Institute far kinesio logy, 1988: 161-181 
8. Kapus V. The influence of morphologic characteristics on 
the relations between basic and swimmingabilities. Ljublja-
na: Faculty of physical education - Institute far kinesiology, 
1988: 293-314 
9. Kapus V., BednarikJ., Leskošek B. Asystem of earlyselection 
and advisingof chi ldren to engage in sport swimmingon the 
basis of expert modellingaccording to the NO programme. 
In: Proceedings of the 11. 1 nternational Symposium Sport of 
the Young, Ljubljana - Bled: Faculty of Sport, 1993: 4 70-
473 
1 O. Keskinen KL. Stroking Characteristics of Front Crawl Swim-
ming. Jyvaskyla: University of Jyvaskyla, 1993 
11. Leskošek B., Bohanec M., Rajkovič V., Šturm J. ND-Expert 
System far the Assessment of Sports Talent. 1 n: Proceedi ngs 
of the II. lnternational Symposium Sport of the Young. Ljub-
lj ana-Bled: Faculty of Sport, 1993: 441-446 
12. Strel J. etal. Sports Educational Chart. Ljubljana: Ministryof 
Education and Sport, 1997 
13. Štrumbelj B. Nekateri omej itveni dejavniki v plavanju na 
400 m prosto (Master's thesis). Ljubljana: Fakulteta za šport, 
1998 
14 . Šturm J. et al.. Izbor in usmerjanje otrok v športne panoge 
na podlagi ekspertnega modeliranja. Ljubljana: Fakulteta za 
šport- Inštitut za kineziologijo, 1992 
15. Volčanšek B. Sportsko plivanje. Zagreb: Fakultet za fizičku 
kulturu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 1995