The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-10-06
TO BECOME A
GOOD SWIMMER
The Style of Stroke is Of More
Importance Than
Strength.
"cRAWL" is THE FASTEST
Tho Dog Paddle" of Our Kid Days
Is Now Considered as tho Hardest
and Slowest Method
in Use.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
In the opinion Of many persons the
swimming race is to the strong. AS
they watch the brown shoulders of the
expert swimmer surging through the
water, making as much pother as a
shovel-nosed yacht, the more impress
sionabl exclaim. What magnificent
muscles he has!'
But strength does not win alone. The
style Of stroke also has something to
do with the success of a swimmer. For
example, a new stroke, which is said
to produce greater speed than m 9TH
er, a recently been introduced at the
New York Athletic club by Gus Sund-
strom, the swimming expert. 1t Is
APPLY, or inaptly. according to ones
point of view, called the Crawl The
stroke apparently originated in Aus
tralta. Its Introduction In New York,
according to Mr.. Sundstrom, came
about in this way:
w have every yea in February in
the swimming pool OF h New York
Athletic club match with the Brook
beat us four out of the six events, so l
began to stud up on the crawl I
practiced in the tank when no one was
around. and when l was certain that I
could make a second better time in
twenty-five yards with it than I had
oOAle UelOIc 1 Invited "A IuluDeF OIL pSO-
pie to come and watch me. / had them
time me. and I did the distance in II SIS
seconds. The worlds record is 12 1-5 Sec
Onds. OF purse that record doesn't
stand, for the timekeepers We're not
official. Well, I taught some OF the
swimmers the crawl and we had
something up our sleeves when we met
the Brookline men this year. Four of
our men had done IL 1-5 seconds OF bet
ter in practice with the new stroke.
When the match came off we won
everything. In the 2oe-yard relay race
we beat the record made by the Brook
line team the year before by seven sec
onds."
tnaptiy Named.
1t will therefore be seen that the,
stroke called the Crawl is inaptly
named from the point of view of speed.
Judging from Mr.. Sundstrom's testi-
nlony. the men who use 1T travel
through the water Like motor boats.
The stroke, If waggling the feet and
paving the water constitute a stroke,
certainly suggests crawling in appear
ance, n from this point of view it is.
rightly named. In he "crawl' the
feet are moved backward and forward
upon the ankles as hinges, the feet
moving alternately and as fast as pos
sible. In the arms circular or contin-
uous movement has been developed.
Up to the time of the discovery of the
crawl the only movements developed
for the legs in swimming We're the
froglike spasmodic kick and variations.
In the crawl the legs lie stretched
astern, with no movement above the
knee and little above the ankle.
The arm movement of the CRAWL is
a modification of the we'll known "trud-
geon," or double overarm stroke. In
stead, however, of throwing the arms
forward out of the water alternately to
the full length, h arms are crooked
until they suggest the plucked wings of
a chicken, and dipped smartly almost
in front Of the face. They are dipped
as rapidly as the swimmer can bring
them forward from the finish Of the
stroke and without regard to the move
ment OF the feet. Other arm strokes
can also. be used with the. "crawl' foot
movement. Mr.. Sundstrom has devised
q combination which he calls the
"windmill." With the waggling seet
he combines the "trudgeon" swimming
on his back. He says he secures even
greater speed with this. The value OF
the CRAWL lies In the fact that it
throws the body on top OF the water
md thus reduces resistance.
The Continuous Motion.
The tendency in swimming for speed
Nm this country appears to- be toward
ment, the limbs alternating in such q
49, r. car,,,o,y sy,;ro n,irr oao,n, :.
TESS. I'M ~ 1888 en1s ~
LAYS ~ sansn . az, the1 Iinsha ana n,o,a a.
sinnn,t enao,,s,v Retween the violen,
kick and the Simultaneous push with
the arms on the water. the body almos,
loses Roadway, n must be set in mo
ton again with the lex stroke. Thi:
method is said to be easter than The ON
tinuons movement of the American
swimmer. as there is a moment of res
between strokes.
In both countries the arm of th,
swimmer who desires speed is to get a.
much of his body out Of the water a
possible. For the same reason a raein,
yacht is built with a shallow under
body. in order to reduce the resistance
The oyerarm strokes, in which tn,
arms are lifted above the water befor
the swimmer catches h wave for tn
Fot this reason the simple and eas,
! breast stroke, which is the first ste
] away from the timid youths dog pad
de- produces the least speed. In TIL
breast. or chest, stroke one swims afte
the manner of the frog. 1t is easles
o.. ~. haoinoar hocauso moro Of th