Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-07-15

up.
For the first three lessons l usually teach
a pupil how to work his legs. In SWIM
ming a set of leg muscles are brought into
use which are not required in any tcrres-
trial sport. The legs consequently feel
stiff and sore at first and should not be
overworked. 1t is a good thing to use a
gymnastic apparatus bringing these mus
cles, which are inside the thighs, into play.
The instruction in leg movements is
given TO the pupil while he holds onto the
of the bath. He must open his legs
wide in sending them out and turn his toes
out. The two legs should describe an oval
figure, not quite complete, us the heels
should not come together. Those who
themselves to swim often have a
motion of the legs-what we
call a double club action-which binders
them very much. The inside of the legs,
and not the shins, should strike the water.
If you cannot understand this go to the
frog and learn.
In bringing the legs back the feet should
be Strengthened out SO as to nearly form a
line with the leg. Holding the feet at
right angles to the legs binders greatly.
In the fourth lesson the pupil learns the
arm movements. He goes through them
twenty times or so out of the water and
then he goes into the water with a belt
round his chest, to which is attached a
line and pole, which hold. In working
his arms he must be taught to keep his
fingers together and his hands fiat on the
The arms should be drawn back
until the shoulder blades touch and no fur
Their. He mus. lie nearly fiat on the wa
ter. The tendency to kick the heels out of
water is easily checked. One cannot swim
properly with the legs nearly in the posi-
ton for treading water.
In the urs of two or three lessons with
the belt and pole a pupil learns to swim a
few strokes by himself. A good meaty boy
can be taught, us Il rule, in IL much shorter
time than a lean one. | have had a boy
learn to swim in two lessons. Ten is the
number more often needed. The beginner
must breathe through his mouth, not his
nose.
A boy under my care usually spends five
minutes i'll the water at the first lesson and
five additional minutes at every other les
son until he reaches a maximum of about
t~hree-quarters of an hour.
The next thing to do is to teach him to
dive. My plan is to make him stand on the
edge of the bath and fall in head foremost.
This is better than making him stand up
right and fall fiat on his stomach in the
water. He straightens himself out grad
ually till he can stand upright and dive
properly. In diving he must stretch out
his feet behind SO that he may not make a
second splash with them after the fore
part of his body has entered the water. He
must also keep those feet stretched out
when he is in the water. If the feet are
held at right angles to the legs they take
three or four yards from the length of the
dive.
The boy is next taught to float, which is
practically doing the breast stroke on the
back. I don't teach them any stroke but
the breast until they can swim about half
a mile. The first stroke then to be taught
is the side. This is an advance on the
breast stroke, because the arms give more
assistance to the legs in making progress.
Then comes the overland stroke. A man
swimming this stroke bears some resem-
blance to a porpoise, and it is as superior
to the breast stroke as the action of the
porpoise is to that of the frog.
In swimming the overland stroke a man
turns usually on his right side. He sends
forward his right arm. sends out his legs
and sends back his left arm, with hand fiat
against the water at the same time. When
he prepares to draw in his legs and his
right arm he takes his left arm, which he
has carried back as far as possible, out of
the water and brings it in front of his head.
This arm should be brought forward with
bent elbow and with the point of the arm
held so as to offer least resistance to air or
spray.
There are two or three kinds of overland
strokes. There is the familiar English
one. In this the taking of the arm out of
water causes the body to sink, and
three-quarters of every yard travelled is
spent with the face under water. This is
a splendid stroke for making time, but is
very difficult. Moreover, the swimmer is
liable to run his head into all obstacle be-
he cannot see three-fourths of the
time.
l teach what is sometimes called the
stroke and it obviates the last
unpleasantness. I saw it used by the In
dams on the Columbia river in 1869. The
difference between this and the other is
that the swimmer brings back his right
arm with a downward motion, while the
left arm is raised in the air. That down.
motion keeps UP the body, so that at
icooo ouo lcIV eye IculdluS OuG VI WdUcE.
Not quite such good time can be made
with this as with the English stroke.
Another thing to be done is to teach the
boys to see under water. Nine out of ten
ordinary swi; nmers close their eyes under
water, as they should not. l make a boy
get under water and count his fingers,
holding them at first against his face and
then at arms length. I have boys who
can pick up half. q dozen nickels at the
bottom Of twenty feet of water. They a
also get down to the bottom, starting from
the surface of the water, which is a deal
harder than starting with a dive.
Finally, let me say that swimming is a
very fine athletic sport. There is lone that
brings SO many muscles into use at once,
and there is therefore no more thorough
exercise. It is true that a man requires
plenty Of meat and warm blood to swim a
great deal. A lean man. has his adyan-
cages in making time, but IL he swims to
the extent o. his muscular capacity he is
liable to gst chilled.-Gns Sundstrom in
New York World.