Men of Mark in the World of Sport

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 240, 30 December 1927, Page 10

Men of Mark in the World of Sport

“Carl” Atkinson is One of N.Z’s Greatest Swimmers

Winner of every distance free-style race on the New Zealand championship list, British Olympic Games representative, creator of ;i world’s record for the 220yds breast-stroke, handicapper for the Canterbury Swimming Centre, coach of D. P. Lindsay (present New Zealand Champion), A. T. Stokes, and N. Batchelor, former New Zealand and Canterbury champion, Carlyle Atkinson —or “Carl,” as he is generally known—is a man who has done a great deal in the swimming world. He is one of the men whose names sire bound to crop up in any discussion on swimming. STARTED EARLY

Atkinson started his swimming career by paddling around at the age of four years. He was coached by his father, who was the best breaststroke swimmer in England in the eighties. Coached upon sound lines, and taught the breast-stroke as the foundation of his swimming, it was small wonder that the boy developed fast as a swimmer. He won his first trophy at the age of seven, being third in the schoolboys’ championship of his home town, Darwen, Lancashire. At nine Atkinson won the championship, retaining it until he was 13 years old. He was swimming the trudgeon and the crawl then, and had the honour of being the first junior swimmer to use the crawl stroke in England. His father taught him the stroke. At 12 and 13 Atkinson swam third and second respectively in the northern counties’ junior championship, and he was senior champion of his town at 13, 14, and 15. Arriving in New Zealand from England in January, 1909, Atkinson was unable to compete in the New Zealand championships of that year because he had no residential qualification. He competed in the next year, however, and won the 220yds breast-stroke championship at Auckland in the world’s record time of 3min 10 2-ssec., breaking the record of Pat Matson (Australia), 3min 14sec. Atkinson knocked 19 seconds off the New Zealand record. The record still stands to his credit, as does his time of 3min 6 3-ssec for the 200 metres, made at Napier in 1915. A GREAT ALL-ROUNDER It would be futile to take every stage of so crowded a swimming career, so that it will suffice to say that Atkinson has won every free-stylo event on the championship programme of both New Zealand and Canterbury, and also every breast-stroke and b&ck-stroke distance. He has held the 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, mile, 220 yards breast-stroke (seven times), and 150 yards back-stroke titles. On the official side of things, he has been secretary and handicapper to the Canterbury Centre, and practically since his arrival he has been either on the centre or a member of the New Zealand Swimming Council. Although he has been in New Zea-

land so long, and has been so prominent a swimmer, Atkinson has never represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games, the fact that he had represented Great Britain barring him. In 1912 Atkinson was in England on a holiday trip, and because of his birth qualification was called upon to represent the Old Country at the Olympic Games at Stockholm. He got to the final in the 220 yards breast-stroke, and finished fourth, Germans—Bathe, Lutzoe, and Kilke—gaining the first three places. Bathe made a world’s record. Atkinson also played water polo for Great Britain, being in the B team, which was beaten by the A side in the final. He has a medal for the King Edward VII. Cup, the British premier life-saving trophy. The competition, unfortunately, has not been revived since the war. BREAST-STROKE ESSENTIAL The best way in which to teach a child to swim, Atkinson considers, is to instruct it first in the dog paddle, and then in the crawl, which is merely a glorified dog-paddle. The breaststroke, he thinks, is absolutely essential, as it is the only safe and sound life-saving stroke. In the breaststroke, swimming has evolved from the stage when it was thought that the legs were the main source of propulsion. Now the arms are considered more important, with the legs playing a subsidiary part only. Training plays a part in the success of a swimmer, for, provided a man’s stroke is sound, 90 per cent, of his success rests upon his training. Natural ability is not quite enough. The secret of speed in the crawl lies in a continuous arm action. During •no portion of the stroke should there be a pause, more especially as the arm is entering the water. This is where most crawl swimmers fail. Breathing should be ryhthmical, the inhalation taking place on the pull of one arm, and exhalation on the pull of the other, the same time being taken for each. The head should never be turned to breathe until the arm on which breathing takes place has begun its pull. That is the secret of body-balance in crawl swimming. VALUE OF TIMING Most of any pupil’s time must be concentrated on perfecting the arm action, the leg-drive taking a subsidiary part in the lesson. All actions in tho stroke should be of comparative relaxation, and the head should be held fairly high. The most modern improvement in the arm action is the speeding up of the recovery, as against the slow recovery of four or five years ago. This does not mean a faster stroke, but provides for one arm irting the pull before the other is finished, thereby providing continuous action. Leslie Olds, former Dunedin boy, who is the most phenomenal swimmer for his age the world has ever seen, has solved the problem better than any swimmer that Atkinson has ever seen. Arne Borg adopts the same principle.