Peer-to-peer online video feedback with pedagogical activity improves the snatch learning during the COVID-19-induced confinement in young weightlifting athletes

Abstract

The lack of training caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could have significant consequences on the performance and health of athletes. The aim of the present study was to test the effects of two innovative distance education methods on improving motor skills in weightlifting. We randomized 35 children (aged 10 to 12) into groups of peer-to-peer online video feedback with a pedagogical activity (P-VF-PA), peer-to-peer online video feedback only (P-VF), and control group (CONT). Learners underwent a test one week before (T0) and one day after (T1) an eight-session training intervention and a retention test session a week later (T2). Kinovea was used to measure the kinematic parameters of the snatch performance. After the distance learning sessions, the training with the P-VF-PA method improved most of the kinematic parameters compared to the P-VF method, and the advantages derived from its application persisted in the retention test (e.g., the difference between the right side and left side distances of the bar trajectory Diff-Tr (T1 vs. T0: 42.32 ± 41.33%, Hedges’ g = 1.16, p < 0.01; T2 vs. T0: 37.82 ± 37.57%, Hedges’ g = 1.37, p < 0.05)). In conclusion, distance motor learning based on the P-VF-PA method improved performance and technical knowledge of the snatch in 10–12 years weightlifters.