JAPANESE SWIMMER’S VISIT

Evening Star, Issue 23370, 13 September 1939, Page 7

JAPANESE SWIMMER’S VISIT

SECRETS OF SUCCESS POPULARITY OF RUGBY FOOTBALL During a business visit to Dunedin, Mr Hiroshi Nomura, formerly a Japanese coach and Western Districts swimming champion of Japan, attended the Municipal Baths and gave demonstrations of swimming and advice to interested swimmers. Mr Nomura has been transferred to Wellington from Sydney as ••manager of the firm he represents, and before coming to New Zealand to reside he was an active member of the Sydney Amateur Swimming Club._ He has a great knowledge of swimming, and was a popular member of his club, having acted as coach for a_ number of prominent Australian swimmers. From 1930 to 1934 Mr Nomura was 100 metres free style champion of Western Japan, and at one 'period was rated No. 4 in the first 10 swimmers in Japan over this distance. The secret of the success of Japanese swimmers in international competition is ’ not hard to find, for Mr Nomura stated that from five years of age Japanese children are trained to swim correctly, and the schools have swimming departments which have < their own systems of training. The intercollege carnival invariably creates great interest, he stated, and vies with the All-Japan carnival for keenness and popularity. Mr Nomura believes that the Japanese owe a lot. of their success in swimming to the fact that they are stronger in the legs than Europeans, and this enables, them to keep more of their body put of the water. The art of swimming, he holds, is to keep the body as much on the surface of the water as possible on the principle of a speed boat. Japanese instructors teach their pupils to keep their bodies high by hand action. The aim of instructors in Japan is to increase the number of strokes, and this he illustrated in the course of his demonstration, the recovery being very quick. They also aim to have their pupils swim 1,500 metres fast, and when this can be accomplished without signs of distress being shown they are then able to concentrate on the shorter distances. Mr Nomura has already met Mr Baxter O’Neill, secretary of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. and they discussed the question of the visit to the Dominion of a Japanese swimming team when conditions return to normal. 'Mr Nomura said that it might bo difficult to arrange for all of Japan’s first flight swimmers to visit New Zealand, but he is satisfied that a very strong combination could be induced to travel. “Carry on as usual ” is the slogan of sports bodies in Japan at the present time, said Mr Nomura, but it was only to be expected that the JapaneseChinese war should deplete _ the ranks of the competitors in the various sports. He brought news of Kenshi Togami. who, in company with Kohei Murakoso. visited the Dominion two and a-half years ago under the auspices of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association. Togami, a fine jumper, is now serving his country in Korea. Mr Nomura is a very keen Rugby player, taking up the game when he attended Kobe University. He stated that the game had made rapid strides in Japan, which had greatlv appreciated the visit of the New Zealand Universities’ team some years ago. He also remarked that many prominent swimmers engaged in Rugby during the winter, one of the most notable being Hamura, the Olvmpie breast stroke champion, who. by the way. is an orthodox breast stroke exponent, and does not favour the “ butterfly ” stvlc. Mr Nomura left on his return to Wcl-