Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part C (2025)

The regulation of breathing during freestyle swimming is a fundamental element that affects technical and mechanical performance, particularly for beginners who often struggle to integrate basic movements with systematic breathing. This research aims to study the relationship between breathing frequency and the mechanical efficiency of freestyle swimming performance among first-year students at the College of Physical Education and Sports Sciences for the academic year 2024-2025. The research sample consisted of (20) male students who were purposively selected after completing their learning of basic skills such as floating and preliminary movements. Four (4) students were excluded due to frequent absences, and another (8) students who were experienced swimmers were excluded to ensure sample homogeneity. The students were divided into two equivalent groups: an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group performed freestyle swimming with regulated breathing (one inhalation per 2-3 strokes) using a pull buoy to help stabilize leg movement, while the control group performed freestyle swimming without any specified breathing frequency. The results showed significant differences in favor of the experimental group at a significance level of (α≤0.05) across all studied variables. The experimental group members recorded lower performance times and fewer strokes, along with a reduced breathing frequency compared to the control group, which resulted in higher mechanical efficiency. The results of Levene's test for equality of variances confirmed that the two groups were comparable in variance, which allowed for the use of the independent samples t-test. The research concluded that regulating breathing frequency is an influential factor in improving the temporal and mechanical performance of beginners in freestyle swimming, making it an important element to focus on in the early stages of learning to swim. The researcher recommends integrating regulated breathing drills into swimming instruction programs to enhance mechanical efficiency and completion time.