SWIMMING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1710, 29 March 1913, Page 12

SWIMMING.

. TBt "SrLABH."] THE CANADIAN GEO. HODQSON. Gentle Paean for the Surfers, / Only the "whole-souled" one 3 may now be soun daily at the city baths,'lor,' with the steadily i'uli\ng temperatures ot March the water is not so alluring as it was unthe hot breath of summer. Iu your ■matutinal dip now you hear almost every second, swimmer, as ho niakes play with the towel, say something or other "to the elfect that "it was cold/' This is a sure sign., The brave swimming days of 11)12-1,3 pre all'-.but gone. : On the other hand, surf bathing at Lyall Bay remains iiopular amongst the general hin of swimmers. At eaili week-end nearly all the .members of both the surf clubs may be seen "diving through it" like porpoises. - Is surfing becoming more popular each year? One has little hesitation in answering "Yes." Surfers,, taken as & class, are about the last batch of swimmers to give in to the coldness of tho water, and they generally retire some time after the general body ;of swimmers have quitted the sceno of aquatic activities for the year. To state that theso folk "deserve considerable credit" ■ for .their enthusiasm is not putting the base'at all.' Those deft swimmers and hawk-eyei] ivatohers'of the tossing bay island to tho parlous amateur very much 'in the. relation of Mentor to the young Telemaehus in tho old Grecian myth— they at least s?e to it that the inexperienced plungei; com® 3 back from his plunges olive.

The yfriter once asked a surfer who was a particular (riend of his, where. he wis going on a certain Sunday. Tho' surfer replied in effect that he was "on duty" ot Lyall Bay, and ho would have to go out there. And they do it partly, for the love of the sport and partly on the off: chance of being at hand when someone happens to be, in neixl of a little "lifesaving." , " By the way, surfers are expressing approval of tho new life-saver, which the southern swinjmers brought to Wellington last week,' and gave exhibitions "at Lyall Jtyy. The .writer, who has seen the now invention, is also of opinion that it U far and away better than the lifebelt and wheel. He hopes that it will not be long before two,- or even three, of the'new applia'ncesi will be found on the Lyall Bay beach. The World's Greatest Swimmer. Experts in natatorial matters who were present at the swimming meet between tho Al'Gill University and the University of Pennsylvania, held pn January 25,1913, says the "Philadelphia Inquirer," had a splendid opportunity of feeing Georgo lfodgson, the Canadian boy, who is now undoubtedly the world's greatest all-round s.wimmer, and studying lis stroke.

This lad, who beat all tho greatest swimmers of tho world at tho Olympic Games at' middle-distanco swimming, breaking all previous records, is now 19 years of age, weighs IGO pommels, sft. llin. ill height, and built on the proper lines for a speed swimmer, having a good, round, fleshy body, with fine chest development c.id splendid shoulders and well-built, but tapering legs, and looks tho'part of a natural-born swimmer when in the wafer, rathet than tho specially developed expert. Hodgson is both a first-class shortdistance swimmer and the fop of the heap at the longer events, as his recent performances flnd great records testify. For shorter races he uses the crawl stroke, while at the distance events he swims the douhle-ovpr-arm, more frequently s]»ke» of as the Trudgeon. But it is the study of his double-over-arm stroke, the method which made him

famous throughout tho lvorkl, that is most interesting. For comparison, lie is nearest like Dick Cavill, the Australian, who had all the great swimmers at his uicrcy in his time. There are two uther noticeable features of Hodgson's swimming that are conspicuous to those who have seen most of the great swimmers'pf the world perform. The first is that the Canadian has a splendid wide scissors kick, the under leg being very much like that of "Joey" Nuttall, of England, but when he drives tlio legs together, and as they partly cross from the force of the stroke, there is a complete relaxation of the lower limbs, and os ho runs along from the effort of the kick, they separate easily, instead of being held tensely together, thus minimising resistance. The second feature is that while he swims oil one side, lie occasionally Tolls completely over to the other side, like Barney Kieran used to do, in order to see his competitors on' the other side of him, and this he easily does without slacking his pace. He turns at the end of the, tank the opposite way from the average swimmer, but is very dextrous in this part of his work, and pushes off veil, losing, no time, but apparently quicker than his opponents. Hodgson looks the part of tho amateur champion of the world, and as ho is still a young lad, and'coming on, lie is sure to break some more records not yet annexed bjr himself when; he gets up again it other swimmers capable of extending him to his limit, a thing that no one so far has bc'.m able to do.