Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-07-07
LEARNING TO SWIM
IN ATHLETIC SPORT WHICH ONE
SHOULD BEGIN EARLY

my oiher ENerciSe-The
"ethods of One Successful Teacher.
Points That VIII Help Many.
Every boy should learn to swim To be
good swimmer it is in most cases noceS-
sary that man should have learned when
ne was small boy
Never brighten very small child with
the idea of getting him used to the water
good deal of harm is done by parents
uucKinS" children who don't want to 90
III Cne water. L see full grown, strong
men VINO can never be at home in the
water because they were frightened this
way when children.
nave classes at the New York Athletic
cluo Tor boys, mostly the sons of members
and Will tell you how | 90 to work with
them
VI course the breast stroke is the first
stroke taught. That is the simplest and
| most natural way of swimming, being
practically an imitation of the frogs
method. In it the legs do nearly all the
propulsion and the arms merely keep the
body up.
For the first three lessons usually teach
pupil how to work his legs In swim
| ming 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 be
overworked. 1t is Il good thing to use a
gymnastic apparatus bringing these mus
| Giles, 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
| out. The two legs should describe an oval
figure, not quite complete, as the heels
should not come together. Those who
teach themselves to swim often have a
downward motion of the legs-what we
call 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 l hold In working
| his arms he must be taught to keep his
| fingers together and his hands fiat on the
| until the shoulder blades touch and no fur
| Their, He must 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 course of two or three lessons with
the belt and pole pupil learns to swim
| few strokes by himself. 4 good meaty boy
| can be taught, as a rule, in a much shorter
| time than a lean one. | have had a bow
| 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 ut 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
| 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 half
| 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 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 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
the water causes the body to sink, and
three-quarters of every yard Travelled is
spent with the face under water This is
splendid stroke for making time, but is
very difficult. Moreover, the swimmer is
liable to run his head into an obstacle be-
cause he cannot see three-fourths of the
time.
| teach what is sometimes called the
Sundstrom stroke and it obviates the last
unpleasantness. l 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 downward motion, while the
left arm is raised in the air. That down.
ward motion keeps up the body, so that at
least the left eye remains out of water
Not quite such good time can be made