SWIMMING

Evening Star, Issue 19793, 17 February 1928, Page 12

SWIMMING

[By Hooker.]

FIXTURES

February 18.—New Zealand ladies in Melbourne.

March 3.—Swimming events at Ravonsbourno regatta. March 31.—Otago Centro’s Olympic Appeal Carnival.

NEW ZEALAND LADIES JN AUSTRALIA.

By tho latest mail the writer received a letter from Mrs A. Miller, who is manageress and chaperon of bliss Kathleen Miller and Miss Ena Stockley, the New Zealand lady champions, during their Australian tour.

The New Zealand ladies were both victims of seasickness on the trip across, and after their arrival in Sydney intense'heat had been experienced. The visitors were met at the boat by Mrs Chambers, Mr Kelly (secretary of the Australian Swimming Union), and several other officials. On Wednesday of last week they were given an official welcome at the Ambassadors, and in the evening joined a party at Her Majesty’s to see ‘ The Girl Friend.’ Last Friday Miss Miller was to speak over the wireless.

The heat has been trying on the New Zealand girls, especially after the _ sea trip, but by Saturday last Mrs Miller expected them to feel better. A clipping from the Sydney ‘ Sun ’ was as follows:

“At tho New Zealand championships a couple of weeks ago both girls shattered existing records. Miss Miller, who lives in Dunedin, improved on Gwitha Shand’s times for 220yds and 440yds free style, with unchallenged victories in 2.51 and 6.9 2-5., Miss Miller is a plucky swimmer, with a graceful crawl stroke, and she has yet to be extended over her favorite distances. That should come on Saturday, when Edna _ Davey (Australian and State champion) races her in the 440yds at the Domain Baths. Miss Stockley’s programme is confined to the 100yds. The Auckland girl won the Australian sprint title two years ago in the Domain Baths, but this season her task will he harder. Her New Zealand freshwater record is 68 3-5, and salt water 65 3-5. Miss Stocklcy has recently lowered her 100 metres back-stroke record to 1.26 2-5, and she passed the 100yds mark in tho great time of 1.18 3-5. Thus the State champion, Bonnie Mealing, will have to record something sensational to head off the New Zealander.” Since Mrs Miller’s letter was written the New Zealanders have made their first appearance in Sydney, and to say the least the results are eminently satisfactory from tho dominion point of view.

Despite the fact that they were but a few days off the boat and had little time to become accustomed to the conditions, both girls registered splendid victories.

Miss Miller did not like the 100yds length baths, but, nevertheless, _ she showed just what a champion she is by annexing the 440yds championship of New South Wales in the great time of 6rain 3 9-10 sec. It was a great race, and Miss Miller showed her usual indomitable spirit by coming with wonderful dash in the closing stages to beat the Australian crack and 150yds record holder, Miss Edna Davey, by barely a touch. The time is the fastest Miss Miller has yet registered for the distance, and in view of the 100yds laps it was a particularly fine performance. It was 4 l-10sec better than the New Zealand salt-water record time standing to Miss Gwitha Shand’s credit, and shows just what Miss Miller is capable of when she has someone te extend her. She will probably further improve upon these times before her tour ends, _ and already she has strengthened considerably her claims to be sent to the Olympic Games. Her time was only Jsec outside Miss Fanny Durack’s Australian record.

Miss. Ena Stockley’s effort in tho 100yds championship of New South Wales was little less noteworthy. She was not really extended, and yet the New Zealand 100yds ladies’ champion won in 66 l-ssec, which was only Isec worse than Miss Fanny Durack’s Australian record. It was the fastest time registered by Miss Stockley since she established her New Zealand record of 65 3-ssec in 1925, and as it was registered in a 100yds bath, it is all tho more creditable.

The New Zealanders appear at Melbourne to-morrow, and their doings will be watched with an over-increasing interest. KIWI DOINGS. The Kiwi Club intends making a bold bid for honors in tho interclub water polo competition, and at the club hour last Tuesday night a good, solid practice between two picked sides was again indulged in. L. Pithie has shown marked improvement at the game during the season, and the experience ho gained in the Otago team at the New Zealand chnmpionsips is now beginning to hear fruit. He was in good form on Tuesday night, his throwing being strong and accurate. R. Hector is another who showed up prominently, while W. Hamilton is a player who should prove a thorn in the side of any opposition. Short will do well when he obtains better command of the ball, and C. Rose, too, is now beginning to settle down to the game. R. Affleck is quite a solid player on defence, and with more training should be an acquisition to one of his club’s teams.

The club will be represented by two teams in the competition, and with such players to draw from as W. Boyd, L .Pithie, Chapman, R. Hector, W. Hamilton, N. H. Bailey, Gill, Affleck, Clark, and Short it should be possible to field a strong seven, while the B team should by no means disgrace itself.

R. Geddes was putting in some good work on the diving boards, and Miss M. Morrison showed that if she can do as well with her voluntaries as she did in plain diving she will be a contender for the club's diving championship. She executed several neat dives, and was getting above the board in something like her old style. L. Pithie would he a good diver if he were taken in hand, for he possesses the first essentials, though he has yet to learn to enter the water with toes pointed. The club championship races are expected to be commenced next Tuesday, and in both men’s and ladies’ sections some splendid swimming should be witnessed.

Competition for the men’s cup promises to bo keen, the contenders including W. Boyd, N. H. Bailey, W. Hamilton, and D. Short, all of whom have been training steadily. In the absence of Miss K. Miller, who expressed a desire not to compete this year, as she had already won the oup five times, the ladies’ competition should be very interesting. Miss P.

Lang is swimming well at present, and over 100yds particularly she should be hard to heat. Miss M. Morrison should swim good races over the shorter distances, and 'the Misses Morgan and J. Taylor are _ also expected to provide good opposition. For the junior girls’ championship there should be some very good races between Miss C., Lang and Miss P, Taylor, both of whom are training hard. R, Gecldos is the favorite in the junior boys’ division, and will be hard to beat. Miss M. Rowley promises to develop into a neat little diver, and her keenness should be a big asset when she learns some of the finer points of the art. WATER POLO COMPETITION. Swimming followers will feel most grateful to Mr Donald Stuart, who has presented a handsome banner for the interclub water polo competition, which is' to be commenced shortly. Mr Stuart was at one time a keen competitive swimmer himself, but then there are few pastimes that this popular sportsman has not shone in. The, trophy should help to create considerable interest in water polo, and as the competition is likely to be contested by live teams some interesting matches should be witnessed before it is brought to a close. With every team meeting every other team the standard of play, particularly among the weaker sides, is bound to improve during the pr.-gtess el the banner competition, and the results should be noticeable next season, wlun the Otago team comes to be selected. Water polo is a splendid game when it is played properly, and if the competition ‘is conducted along good lines by the time the final is reached more than ordinary public interest should be aroused in it. It has been suggested that if the matches have reached that stage the final between the two leading teams might be played at the carnival to be hold on March 31. DUNEDIN BOYS IN AMERICA. By the" latest mail from California an American paper brings tidings of the success of the ex-New Zealanders, Douglas and Leslie Olds. Competing at the annual San Diego Junior High School League winter swimming meet at the Mission Beach plunge recently, they were largely responsible for the success of the Roosevelt Bears, Douglas Olds being responsible for 15 points for the winners and the ex-New Zealand junior boy champion for 10. ... , Leslie Olds won the 40yds freestyle in 22 2-ssec, and also, the 80yds free stylo in 49sec. Brother Douglas won the 40yds back stroke in 29sec, the CO, yds medley in 41 4-ssec; while both boys were in the winning relay team. What a loss to New Zealand swimming has been the departure of E. H. Olds for America, whore ho is now holding down an important coaching position. It will not come as a surprise one of these days to hear of Leslie Olds as an American champion when he is a few years older. DUNEDIN DASHES. Matters are fairly quiet in the ranks of the Dunedin A.S.C., though the writer understands that the senior cup competition will shortly be completed. The-x;lub’s troupe of divers were busy oh the boards on Friday night, and Roy Calder is going as well as, ever. H. E. Walker is diving well, and it is a pity that he may be leaving Dunedin shortly to be absent for some time. A. M. Rix is not resting on Ins laurels, but is out to effect further improvement in his form,, and if he pays attention to what ho is told there is no doubt that he will dive better yet. Miss D. Foote, runner-up in the New Zealand ladies’ diving championship, is taking things fairly easy, just now, but Miss Eggers, whose displays were a long way below those of Miss Foote, is persevering in her attempts to reach championship standard. If keenness and enthusiasm count for anything Miss Eggers deserves any success that may come her way. So far no organised polo practices have been held, but an attempt is be‘ing made to sort out a team to represent the club in the, banner competition. A possible side is Calder, Staples, Standring, Walker, Fleming, Rix, ami Ferry, and with practice and coaching it should be capable of making a good showing. OTAGO CENTRE’S CARNIVAL. The Otago Centre is to be complimented on its decision to stage a swimming carnival on March 31 for the purpose of raising money in an endeavor to augment the funds to send the Now Zealand swimmers to the Olympic Games. Four swimmers have been nominated, and of these L. Moorhouse, the New Zealand back-stroke champion, is defraying his own expenses. The council of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association is allotting £IOO towards the expenses of each of the other throe swimmers nominated, but another £3OO for each swimmer's exponses will have to be found. As Miss Kathleen Miller, the Otago lady speedster, is among the three nominees whose expenses are to bo defrayed, it is to be hoped that considerable support will be forthcoming for the carnival that is being arranged. There is just a chance that Miss Miller will have returned from Australia by the end of March, and may make an appearance at the fixture. With an attractive swimming and diving programme, augmented by two or three original novelty events, the carnival should serve as a fitting wind-up to a memorable season, and it is to be hoped that local swimmers will support the fixture by entering in large numbers and doing their snare in assisting in the despatch of the New Zealand team to the Olympic Games. ST. CLAIR ACTIVITIES. With the Sagar Cup surf competition to he decided to-morrow afternoon, the beach activities of the St. Clair Club have been confined to practice for this important event, and, though, after all, it is unlikely that any but St. Clair will be represented, keen-interest is attaching to to-morrow’s contest. Four teams from the St. Clair Club will take part, and these have been selected as follow, the first man in each case being the beltman : —J. L. M‘lndoe, J. Swan, E. M’Kewan, and A. Knights; J. B. Simpson, H. Devlin, J. Hore, and A. Gorrie; G. J. M‘Lean, J. Lewis, A. Harrod, and Conradi; C. B. Lewis, A. Wootton, B. Haig, and S. Fogg. The club will shortly be obtaining a new line, the belt has been repaired, and the reel overhauled, so that before very long the gear will be right up to New Zealand championship roquirequirementa. " Club night at the Municipal Baths on Monday night was devoted to the staging of two of the events in the Shaw Cup competition, the 100yds

championship drawing, a good field of eight swimmers. The swimmers were well bunched over the first two laps, but the leaders then hega to sort themselves out, C. J. M'Lean forging to the front to win by syds, in tho fair time of 66 3-ssec. J. B. Simpson being second, and S. Fogg third.

M‘l.eaii swam one of his best races over 100yds for a long time, and showed considerably more dash at the finish than usual. M'Lean has shown noticeable improvement during the present season, and the way ho is swimming at present suggests that even better efforts on his part may be looked for in tho future.

Simpson has registered fair time in trials over 100yds, and .if he could develop staying power would be a dangerous man eve:- this distance.

Stan, Fogg was at one time one of the most promising swimmers in Dunedin, but he has not lived up to his earlier promise so far as free style swimming is concerned. In this race ho swam only a fair race, and could not do better than third, a yard behind Simpson. He is moving along nicely on the breast-stroke, however, and should provide a splendid raco with Simpson when this championship is decided. The latter, by the way, recently clocked in at 1.22 for 100yds back-stroke—a very fair performance. The plain diving championship produced several competitors, but the only one up to standard was A. Knights, who carried off tho honors. Knights is a consistently good man on the boards, but tho others have a good deal to learn about Simpson was second, and M'Lean third. Few ladies are attending the chib hour just now, and the reason may be that no ladies’ club races have been arranged. It has been suggested that tho ladies might be catered for by the staging of a few club events, and there is no doubt that they would create a considerable amount of interest.

The various clubs will be pleased to hear that Wednesday _ night will be available for polo training until the end of March, and it is likely that some of the matches in the interclub water polo competition will be played off on this ight. NEW ZEALANDER’S APPOINTMENT. E. H. Olds, coach of the Pacific AllStars, lias been appointed swimming instructor of the new San Diego Athletic Club (says the San Diego ‘ Independent,’ a Californian newspaper). Olds was well known for bis aquatic coaching talents in New Zealand, and the short time that ho has mentored 'the All-Stars he has built up an enviable reputation. GERMAN CHAMPION’S STYLE.

Speaking of the style of the German champion Gustav Froelich on the back stroke, a writer says: But it was in the 100yds back stroke swim that Froelioh gave of his best. In the early stages ho moved at a pace, and, as was only to be expected in the circumstances, tired a little towards the finish. His foot work is orthodox, but his arm action will bear close scrutiny by all swimmers. In the recovery position his arm is taken back straight at the elbow, with the hand and wrist limp. All the limpness disappears as soon as the hand makes contact with the water. The whole arm becomes vitalised at once. Firet the arm goes straight down into the water for a short distance, and then takes up a horizontal sweep more like a half-breast stroke than an inverted free-style movement. At the change from a vertical to a horizontal action the baud rolls over at the wrist with incredible speed, to take up a position square to the line of thrust. Froelich is not only the fastest back stroke swimmer we have seen, but a great artist, judged from standards of symmetry of movement. Another interesting study with Froelich is his method or turning in hack stroke. Our swimmers have been in the habit of catching the wall in both hands and pushing off above the surface of the water, at the same time throwing the hands above the head, giving a sort of hydroplane action, which soon loses pace. Not so with Froelich, who turns the same way as our men do, but instead of turning above water goes underneath the water quite a considerable distance, and pushes off the wall with what is best described as an orthodox freestyle turn inverted. The advantages gained are too obvious to require elaboration. Froelich’s style is reminiscent of that of Saitoh, except that there is more finish to his stroking and he swims distinctly higher out of the water.. There is a resemblance in their methods which leads me to the opinion that the basic principles of their stroking have originally emanated from the same source.

SPLASHES. Several swimming events are included on the Ravenebourne regatta programme on March 3, and a large entry of Dunedin swimmers is anticipated. The relay event for the Ravensbqurne Cup, at present hold by St. Clair, is expected to provide a _ well-contested race for regatta swimming now seems to attract most of the local “cracks,” filling in a gap admirably between ordinary carnival fixtures. D. P. Lindsay (Canterbury) won the national 880yds title in llmin 45 4-6 sec. This time and those of Miss Stockley are claimed as dominion fresh water records (says the Sydney. ‘Referee’). But this is not so. The great majority of world’s records are established in fresh water, which world experts declare to be speedier for sprint swimming than salt' water. South Africa’s leading sprint swimmer, R. E. Dyason, of Transvaal, recently covered 100yds in 59 2-ssec in a 50yd pool at Doornfontein, and it_ is claimed by authorities of the dominion that, making allowance for the altitude of Doornfontein and the gain at the turns, the time is equal to about SSsec in a 75ft tank at sea. level.

Scotland’s champion girl swimmer, Miss Ellen King, of Edinburgh, meanwhile is credited with lowering the international standard for 200yds breast-stroke to 3min ,02sec in a 25yd tank, but in view of the fact that the time represents about 3rain 31 sec for 200metres the performance is not cause for worry. A rather proud boast, is made in a recent issue of the ‘ Southland Daily News,’ in which the following appears relative to Otago’s support of Southland’s application for affiliation as a separate centre :—“ This is very fine indeed. Seeing, however, that Southland has, numerically, more swimmers than Otago, it was hardly possible for them to act otherwise.” Southland is very young in the swimming world, and a little boasting may not harm the sport. Enthusiasm, however, appears to be running away with some of the Southland supporters. Just what the writer in the ‘ Nows ’ means by swimmers is hard to say, but if he means members of an affiliated club, which is all that counts for anything, it is worth while mentioning to him that one Dunedin club alone has 700 mem-

hers, this being the St. Clair Life Saving and Surf Club. And the Kiwi and Dunedin Clubs, which are purely swimming organisations, have in the vicinity of 100 members each. What has Southland done in competitive swimming to compare with Otago’s splendid record in recent years? Otago was second in the Yaldhufst Shield (representing the provincial championship of ftfew Zealand)' this season, and it is also worthy of note that Otago was the home province of one of the greatest swimmers of his age Now Zeaaland has ever produced—Leslie Olds. Apart from the affiliated clubs, there are clubs in Central Otago and along the Peninsula . The erection of municipal baths in Invercargill is going to be a big thing for swimming in the south, but it will be a year or two before Southland produces a champion in her own right. Champions are not made in a day. Southland’s greatest star is a Dunedin product, Miss V. Scatter, who represented Otago when she won the intermediate girls’ breast stroke championship of New Zealand and was run-ner-up in the 220yds ladies’ national breast stroke championship. Until Southland shows what she can do in championship competition her supporters would be wise not to vaunt the claims of a province that for years has lagged badly behind in the swimming world.

Reg. Grier gave competitors in the Australian 220yds championship, at Brisbane, recently, a taste of his quality by winning by 21yds from “ Brusher ” Jones (Western Australia) and Hans Robertson (New South Wales), in the fine time of 2min 21 4-ssec, the best time ever put up by any Australian except Andrew Charlton, whose Australian-born record for the distance is 2min 22 4-ssec(says the Sydney ‘Referee’). Grier’s_ victory gave Queensland the only Kieran Shield point scored during the Brisbane section of the Australian championships. The New South Wales fifteen-year-old country lad, Fred._ Jacobs, won the Australian 100yds junior championship from West Australian Noel Unhehaun, and Young Pike, of Queensland, in 62sec, 1 9-lOsec outside Noel Walpole’s Australian junior record. The visit of the Invercargill Club members to the Lumsden swimming carnival last Saturday will do a lot of good in pushing swimming along in Southland. It was pleasing to see the numbers of girls and boys gathered around oiir crack lady swimmers, listening to advice freely given (says the swimming writer in the ‘Southland News’). Nothing was too mlch trouble for our ladies to do, and was much appreciated by the Lumsden people. Our champion lady swimmer. Miss V. Scotten, gave a splendid exhibition of swimming and diving, and was easily the idol of the spectators, her 50yds swim from scratch against the best of Lumsden breaststroke swimmers (men) being a splendid effort, as was also her win m the 30yds race. . Southland may claim to lead Otago numerically in the swimming arena, but it looks as'if Southland scribes must depend upon Dunedin newspapers for their swimming news. In a recent issue of the ‘Southland Times’ practically the whole of the swimming column, with the exception of the opening paragraphs by way of introduction and the last paragraph, was culled from the ‘Star.’ No objection could possibly be taken to this if the paragraphs were acknowledged suitably. However, only one paragraph was acknowledged as coming from the ‘Star_’ of the four that were used. Where is the news of local swimmers? Enough said! The proposal to form a life-saving and surf club at St, Kilda has now assumed definite shape, and during the week the old club was revived. As there are still funds in hand from this club there seems every prospect of those who are behind the project meeting with success. There is room for such a club at the St. Kilda end of the bead), and if the residents support the movement it will be only a matter of a short time before the club will be functioning actively.'