SWIMMING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 775, 26 March 1910, Page 12

SWIMMING.

(Bi Smash,)

At the. conference of delegates'from the various centre's.of the' New. Zealand' Amateur Swimming.' Association, held on the occasion.of.the.recent championship meeting, a remit was received from the Wanganui Centre relative to diving rules... A discussion on the matter, resulted in a .decision to recommend/to the council::-r-(l). That the scoring of points' ho amended as follows:—Style/ 2,' flight 4,entry 2, recovery 2; (2) that a diving championship should be placed on tho : annual;programme. ' •

, Writing from- Hastings oh' the" above Mr. W.' S.;.'B;';'Ribbands says:—The second recommendation needs no comment, .as it meets- with the : approval of all clubs who. have .tested the value of diving as a public draw, and it also gives hope to individual members who have now no show for their skill outside an occasional neat header competition. The swimming events -placed be-fore-the 'public - .on the occasion of the last New South Wales. State championships confirm" the increasing popularity of this branch of natation. At tho Sydney Carnival, of ,33 events equally spread over three _ days, only 14 were assigned to straight-out' swimming, whilo of the remaining 19 items, 9 were devoted to humorous novelties and 10 to. diving . competitions and displays. - The conditions of the diving championship of New South Wales were as follow dives: (1) Plain dive, standing, forwards, from an altitude _of at least 40 foot; (2) plain dire, running, forwards, from the low springboard ; (3) plain dive, standing, backwards, from the low springboard; (4) swallow.'diyo, from an altitude of' at least, 30 feet. The fifth dive was to be chosen, from the following :-r-(a) Backscrew dive off low springboard; (b) hand-balance and one-turn somersault off low springboard; (c) screw dive, one turn, from low springboard; (d) somersault, 1 i turns forwards, from an altitude of at "least 25 feet; (e) somersault, one turn forwards, from an altitude of at least 25 feet; ■ (f) -somersault, ono turn backward, from an altitude of 12. feet. The Domain Bath, Sydney, has a diving tower, from-' which dives or any altitude up to 40 feet may bo taken. '

There is no reason why our New Zealand divers should not be capable of qualifying for' so severe a test a few years hence—it has only-taken Sydney swimmers three years to reach the above proficiency—and if, as was unani- : mously recommonded at the Auckland conforen.ee, the New Zealand body rejoins with' the Australasian Union, we may bo sure that equal diving skill will be demanded- off- all New Zealandera desiring to obtain honours in the Australasian diving championship.

Bearing.the probability of conjunction with Australia in mind, the Wanganui Centre's, first cTiving recommendation relating to the scoring of points, should bo most carefully weighed before the council definitely arrive at a, decision.'

.It .is recommended that "style" in diving should, score two points. This conclusion seems perfectly ' sound. "Good-style, in diving must oombine oonfidence, boldness, and dash with' suppleness and grace." Without this so-called "stylo"- a diver may enter tho water with little or no splash, and so secur'o' tho applause of the crowd, yet his whole performance will bo lacking in.that one necessary quality—finish—which alone can stamp him as a champion from the moment ho appears on the springboard.

-- Flight, it is suggested, should score four points, and hero consideration Is required. First, tho vagueness of the term—in this caso intended to apply to tho holding of tho diver's limbs during transit from tho board to tho water —is unsatisfactory from a judgo's point of view. What is it that distinguishes good flight from bad, aiid how is a judge to adequately apportion tho four points to the performer? Certainly; dofinito features of the position of'a. diver's.limbs should bo distinctly laiij down, so that faults may bo easily dis-' covered, and unanimously recorded by tho threo judges which a diving competition demands.

, The council would do well to consider the advisability of increasing these four points to six, and by thus doing covering all the distinct faults whidh a diver is liable to make, not '/mJy in "flight-but txna the niomeoi

he takes up his position on the board until the first contact of his feet or hands with tho water. Tho six points might be adequately apportioned as follow:— (a) Attention at starting; (b) tho take-off. and a-un; (c) straight knees and pointed toes; (d) united logs; (e) straightened arms; (f) correct holding of hands. And now let us take each of thoso points in detail. (a) Attention at starting, 1 point. When the competitor is called upon by tho starter, he should advance, according to tho nature of tho dive, either to the running or standing position line. At tho word "Teady" given by tho starter, the competitor should cross the start line, and standing in running dives with heels to a white line at Ift. from the board end, and in standing dives anywhere between a white lino drawn Ift. from tho diving end of the board, his body drawn up at attention. The attention position shows the diver's body oroct, head up, . chest out, legs straight and heels together. The. shoulders must be set back, while the arms, extended downwards, lie close to the chest, tho foroarms inclining to the front of tho body, so that the straightened, touching fingers and palms of the hands shall rest on tho front of the thighs just abovo the knees. (b) The take-off and run, 1 point. After a brief pause at attention not exceeding fifteen seconds, lie divo must be proceeded with: On commencing a run, the attention should change instantly into a second position, by the ■right" kneo being smartly raised, the foot resting on-the. toes, at the same time the extended arms are lifted into a position parallel to each other and the top of tho raised right thigh, the other limbs remaining .as they were at attention. ;. After a ,! momentary pause' the body is slightly inclined forward, throwing tho weight on the toes of the right foot, from which a push-off start is effected by the launching forward of the left leg.' When running down the board tho diver must maintain his straightened arms at an angle of forty-five degrees to the front of his perpendicular thighs. His body must be erect with hollowed back. In taking-off, the feet must be close to each other and leave tho board at the samo instant;

,(c) Straight knees and pointed toes: After leaving the :board, the legs, inolusivo. of tho whole distance between foot and hip, must form an unbroken line. The toes must bo pointed. .

(d) United legs, 1. point.-The legs, after leaving the board until- their disappearance below tho water, mns J : not he parted, neither, although united may they overlap.-

(f) Correct holding ;of : hands, ; 1 .point.. The fingers on cither hand must be touching laterally and extend in lino with the whole arm. The .fingers on each, hand must touch eaoh other, down their length,,..while the. thumbs are tucked under., The palms of both hands must lie,in tho same place, neither fronting each ' other nor . turned away. .-.•''■■.';

■■ Such definite rules for the holding of limbs from tie moment the performer prepares to dive until the water is reached would' not only inform the diver of -the-;requirements, but they would greatly assist an observant judge to-detect faults wbioh would go unrecorded if he-merely :allowed his own personal judgment to rule the constitution of good, fair or indifferent flight, and._tho number of points each classification deserved.

. /Tho Auckland Conference's suggestion that "good entry" should be entitled to two points is also just. Good entry,..minimum splash;, .two points. Splash is occasioned by the diver's body and' arms, or legs, throwing over or falling;flat on the. water;'and therefore the line of direction taken by the body should not exceed tho perpend dicular. . The body's ■ watcrrstriking angle depends, on the former's velocity and distance out from the board, and its correctness, comesi of .intuition, born of long practice. ■■-■. From' the foregoing, suggestions, it will be seen that ten points in all have been allotted: Style 2, flight, including starting,' 6,.entry .2,- and with'the last it is to be' strohglyr recommended that the scoring of: points should cease. Such was tho case 7at the ' Olympic Games, when ;■ Swedes, Germans, .French, and English competed in high and fancy diving. The rule that a; dive should be counted as commencing with the diver standing at attention' on board, and ending'with the final disappearance of his ' limbs beneath the water holds good not only in European countries, the States of. New South Wale 3 and Victoria ( . but, if further confirmation is required of its acknowledgment in England, where most of our swimming laws wore originally framed, the following quotation- from such an authority as Charles L. Hamr raond, in."J?ry;s Magazine,": July, 1906, .should be.convincing. He writes: "It is important to remember that the divo begins from the moment, that you 'address' tho water (to borrow a term from golf), and; therefore the. run tip and take-off are as nearly important as the position of.the body in the air, in the same 'way that the, run and take-off affect, the' success of the long jump. It was at one time the custom, I in judging a dive,' to take into. consideration the quickness with which the diver appeared again upon the surface, but now the matter of greatest importance, especially where the high splash as possible." Now, "as little splash as possible." Now," 'aB little splash as possible" is not assisted by a quick recovery, and this leads us to the Wanganui Centre's concluding, but all-important suggestion, that two points should be given for the ."recovery."

On the recognition, or otherwise, of the "recovery," namely, the diver's rise to the surface solely by the impetus of his entry • without assistance of arm or leg movement,' depends the whole future of New Zealand diving. If diving is to be confined to the classical neat header,' then let us remain selfsatisfied that wo possess noble exponents of this art, and have nothing more to. learn, but '. if' our divers are to perform tho feats : that, were . presented at tho_ New South .Wales diving championship, then scoring for, any dive whatsoever, be it neat-header, screw, or somersault, should be the same, and must cease with the final disappearance of: the diver's feet or hands below the surface of the water..

Taking the,dives of the .New South Wales championship as set forth at the beginning of this article, the New Zealand "recovery" Tule could not possibly be applied to compulsory dive, No. 3—only with danger to the executant in dives 1 and 4—and not at all to any of the voluntary buck-screw, hand-balance, screw, and somereault dives, ' ,

Every diver, learns that in..a. neat header from a considerable height, and even from a low altitudo, a rapid recovery—and a recovery to bo successful must be rapid—is dangerously.liable to rick tho back. Tbo sudden upward recovery movement of tho body from th/> waist up while tho legs are stijl continuing their downward way is the causo of this back-wrench.

Wo havo two courses open to us, either to let tho gravitational force of a divo expend itself naturally and gradually in the rosistanco afforded by deep water, or to check it violently and suddenly on tho .vcrtebrao at tho lower end of the spinal column.

The swimming centres have already shown their : desire to cultivate tho clean, healthy, and fascinating sport of diving, and therefore they should carefully consjdor, before deciding to cling to an antequatcd rule, which not only, renders diving dangerous to the porson-, but, what is moro, prevents it from brandling out into that variety of form which is..its. chief, attractioa to pw'.owners <uid .public />!jko.'