SWIMMING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 19 November 1927, Page 8

SWIMMING

(By

“Diver”)

HINTS ON FLOATING.

BACK AND UNDER WATER MOVEMENTS.

Swimming instructors, both honorary and professional, are often asked whether they advise the use of mechanical devices to assist the swimmer to keep afloat. It is much better to do without them altogether —water-wings especially. Swimming is largely a matter of balance, and water-wings and aids of that kind are apt to destroy balance. The body floats naturally, and artificial buoy-ing-up destroys the right idea of how to keep balance. The head is the only portion of the body that is heavier than a similar bulk of water. Assisting a beginner to a realisation of this part is most helpful in establishing the confidence necessary to make a swimmer.. Learning is a matter of confidence and perseverance. When teaching a child to swim, it is often a good plan to teach him to float first. This illustrates clearly to him the buoyancy of the body. Lying on the back, the pupil inhales all the air possible. The head is thrown back, so that the chin is the highest point of the face; this brings the legs nearer the surface. The arms may be thrown out level with the shoulders and held loosely some inches below the surface, or they may be held close in to the sides, palms downwards. Floating is a matter of balance. If the pupil has any difficulty in keeping afloat, a slight paddling motion with the hands from side to side close to the body will assist in keeping afloat. When learning to swim or float, natural caution will keep a boy or girl from going into water that is too deep. The beginner should keep to the end of the bath, where he is not more than waist deep.

Various peopl e float in different ways. Fleshy persons Z.sually float more easily than thing people, because of the comparatively large amount of water displaced for each pound of water. Women usually float more easily than men. on account of the lighter bone construction. How ever, the wiry pupils usually pos sesses application and perseverance in a more marked degree us a learner.

Special attention should be paid tu breathing. The breath should bu inhaled rapidly through the mouth and exhaled through the nose. Tbo retention of a considerable amount of air in the lungs increases the size of the chest, thus giving a greater buoyancy to the body. As in all forms of swimming, care should be taken to keep as much of the body in the water as possible. Many persons can float with the legs near the surface, while others will find that the legs have a tendency to sink, thus causing th e person to assume a more upright position in the water. This cunbe counteracted by throwing the arms up over the hcud.

From floating, assuming that the breaststroke has been mastered, it is natural to turn to swimming on the back. This is the most useful style when life-saving work is being taken up, and when bathing at the seaside, open water or river, it is a rest as well as a change from other modes of swimming. To execute the backstroke, turn the body on the back, with chin and nose above the water; hold the arms to the side, with the elbows and the wrists straight. (This constitutes “ position” for the stroke). Then perform the following throe movements: —(1 Extend the arms laterally to the level of the shoulders, keeping elbows and wrists straight. (2) Turn the palms diagonally downward, so that they pass under the water lik e a paddle. (3) Return to position. During the arm movements mentioned, the feet will work in harmony with the hands in exactly the same manner as described in last week's article on the breast stroke.

A knowledge of under-watc iwimming is most useful, and tbu again is essential to life saving. Th' oreast stroke is necessary under tit? water. (A beginner often learns to »wim under water first.) For those who find that, after practising the land drill mentioned last week, they are not able to keep afloat, it is a good ihing to swim under water. Short spells of under-water swimming with the breast stroke will soon mean that the swimmer will be able to propel himself or herself on .the top of the water. At the first attempt the water, particularly if it is salt water, will cause the eyes to smart, but if he or sh e will deliberately continue to keep them open, this disagreeable feeling will soon pass away. The learner should begin gradually, practising a few strokes at a time, and firmly counter acting the very natural tendency to close the eyes.