Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-11-04
LEARNING TO SWIM.
AN ATHLETIC SPORT WHICH ONE
SHOULD BEGIN EARLY.

Ms,hoas of One Successful Teacher.
Points That WIN Help Many.
Every hoy should learn to swim. 10 DO
a good swimmer it is in most cases heeee-
s.rv that man should have learned when
he was small boy.
Never frighten very small child Win
the idea of getting him used TO the "aeei
a good deal of harm is done by pareh's
..dnckingn children who don't want TO go
| :, the water. | see full grown, strong
men who can never be at home IN the
| water because they were frightened 1his
way when cE ldren ..,,..;,
Ibave classes at the New York Athletlc
| club for boys mostly the sons OF mempels'
and will tell you how | go to work Win
them. c.
| or course the breast stroke is the first
| stroke taught. That is the simplest and
| most natural way OF swimming, DeinB
practically an imitation OF the irogs
| method. In it the legs do nearly all the
nronulsiop aid the arms merely keep the
body up.
/ For the first three lessons usually teach
n nupl how to work his legs. In swim
minp a set of leg muscles are brought into
use which are not required In any terres
| trial sport. The legs consequently feel
stiff and sore at first and should not DC
nverworked. 1t is good thing to use
gymnastic apparatus bringing these mus
cies which are inside the thighs, into play.
The instruction in leg movements Is
| given to the pupil while he holds onto the
edge of the bath. He must open his legs
wide in sending them out and turn his toes
ont. The two legs should describe an oval
figure, not quite complete, as the heels
should not come together. Those VINO
teach thems lives to swim often have a
downward motion of the legs-what we
| call a doubla club action-which binders
them very much The inside of the legs,
and not the Sims, should strike the water.
If Won cannot understand this go to the
frog and learn.
h In bringing the legs back the feet should
be Strengthened out so as to nearly form
line with the leg. Holding the feet at
right angles to the legs hinders 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
water. The arms should be drawn back
until the shoulder blades touch and no fur
Their. He mast 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 treat';ng water.
l. In the course of two or three lessons with
the belt and pole pupil learns to swim a
few strokes by himself. A good meaty boy
can be taught, as rule in a much shorter
time than a lean one. have had 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 in the water at the first lesson and
|, five additional minutes at every other les
, son until he reaches a maximum of about
, three-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
I dive.
, The boy is next taught to float, which is
) practically doing the breast stroke on the
. back. don't teach them any stroke but
the breast until they can swim about hall
; 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 mar
. swimming this stroke bears some resem
: blance to porpoise, and it is as superior
t to the breast stroke as the action of the
| porpoise is to that of the frog.
4 In swimming the overland stroke mar
8 turns usually on his right side. He send.
forward his right arm. sends out his legs
4 and sends back his left arm, with hand fat
t against the water at the same time. Wher
!, he prepares to draw in his legs and hi:
+ right arm he takes his left arm, which bt
+ has carried back as far as possible. out O.
the water ami brings it in front of his head
$ This arm should be brought forward witt
: bent elbow and with the point of the arm
t held so as to offer least resistance to air OF
e spray.
n There are two or three kinds of overland
e strokes. There is the familiar English
i one. In this the taking of the arm out OF
e the water causes the body to sink, ant
y three-quarters of every yard Travelled is
" | SnpDt with thp faca m.
a splendid stroke for making time, but i,
} very difficult. Moreover, the swimmer i,
q liable to run his head into an obstacle be
d cause he cannot see three-fourths of the
: time.
0 l teach what is sometimes called tn,
e Sundstrom stroke and it obviates the last
: unpieasantness. saw it used by the In
d dams on the Columbia river in 1869 Tn,
difference between this and the other Is
that the swimmer brings back his ripbt
arm with a downward motion, while tn,
left arm is raised in the air. That down
: ward motion keeps up the body, so that al
ieast the lett eye remains out of water
: MOI quite such good time can be made
q with this as with the English stroke
Another thing to be done is to teach the
t boys to see under water Nine out of ter
0 ordinary swimmers close their eyes unde,
water, as they should not. | make a box
get under water and count his fingers
holding them at first against his face and
, theh at arm S length. have boys who
, can PICK up half dozen nickels at the
1 bottom OF twenty feet of water. They car
l also get dowh to the bottom, starting from
= .he surface OF the water, which is dea
o harder than starting with dive.
+ rihaiiy' iet me say that swimming is {
very nhe athletic sport. There is none that