New-York tribune., 1910-03-20
rPfW,L TO GIN SPEED.
ua5;fcafions Of australians Stroke
by fmcrican SScimmers.

,.s,r ,,hi,h for some years has been "l
-, ,,,,,,rtance 90 the outdoor one, has graou-
- ,.,,oc % be looked upon as the more prae-
-, f,r the studying and developing "i Ahe
- Gar teaching beginners ana Tor i"iae'A-
= ..,,.s Swimmers. The clear. siiA iho"o'
-. .0er far better opportunities than open
- a., instruct correct and Improve, ana Ahe
s,,st activity in swimming Is Nitnessed from
s,..,,,. "a t,c opening Of the outdoor season
interest in swimming has been growing s'e""-
-, ana since The introduction az the crawl
.,-,le into Tins country there Is no a""o' tl'@'
=. bs,e advanced more rapidly than any other
nation. .,..,, b.lf q.
,.,,-s aco viii remember the great stir
4. i, ,,uatic circles by the discovery "i lhls
80, - Richard Cavi.. an Australian
-, formed II by combining With re-
s .-.,7.s.,r arm stroke the straight leg
.s.s IA, fhe natives ~ the south Sea
.,7 oben II euahlcd him 10 coNer one
-, ,,rss fr the thsn Sensational time oi
y ...,,5s e,.rg ono bocame eager 10 learn
mon about b.
81. sr,.nr ~ Iaoa the first descriptions oi
-. y,..re brought 10 The United States by
,...,-.iian newspapers and members 81 me
-. y,rt Athletic club thought they recog-
.., !, ,be new lcc drive one exhibited bg their
...,-,,.,,r Gus Sundstrom under the name oi
.-,ssb .trozc They tried il With their regu-
n, arm movements and called the combination
,be Australian crawl T-'otisIns il more IS =
"a tn4n uom amy "a "A n achieving SUCCESS
with b.
r, thei~ rpu and - cV"~v one else's surprise.
George Van CIeaf. Jack" Lawrence and Ted
Kurhinr urlcdiately npeased their sprnuns
-peaa ni,h t and were soon travelling my
,.,ris in record time The fact became known.
ana within short time every team IN me
,,,,fntry had taken up the study II the stroke
There was established great school Of crawl
.rs. with classes in an The swimming centres
-g,.se classes. although started on ideIiicai
rrinoinl,s and based on what Was supposed 10
10 a correct imitation Of the Australian stroke.
som iocan o. diverge. What with coaches ana
instructors introducing new ideas Of their own.
.aug.tI.ors eNp,rimcnting with theories they
themselves had evolved and the natural ten
6enc, ,f ever, swimmer 10 adapt every stroke
10 his Individual ,llaracterisIics in less than
lao years ilmc several well marked varieties
hai been Developed
Ana then occurred "a most curious thing.
0n lis return from the Olympic games Of
iaei G ~ Daniels brought the information
THAT tne Australian crawl. which he had seen
demonstrated Hy some of Sydney's hest ex-
ponents was Totally different from our interpre-
iatin af IT,
The rssult mas he imagined. Half tho crawl
ers nale haste a. md out where they were
wrong and modified their stroke Immediately.
uthcrs. however. insisted that our method was
an mproEomD ON the other and refused 20
change Daniels himself decided that q Conbi-
ration ot the Two would best suit his natural
faculties. ANA So the confusion increased.
a. J. Handy. ~ Chicago. added 10 il by in
trdacing another type. the legless crawl. hunt
"a the principle tlat the kick in swimming
DOS m-re harm than good. Then came SuIn-
vans CRAWL. which is mixture of crawl and
Eudseou and finally a few extremists took up
the amb.e crawl. which admirers Of the late
Barney k.erln. of Australia, have been alvo-
c.tlng
There has hardly been time az the present
stage. to discriminate as % the worth Of these
different varieties. OF even 10 separate thcm
property ANA they seem q merge into one aa-
other Sun The principles they are based on
differ widely and each should o-entually con-
dense into q definite type
Ot course. with The interest growing ane cX-
permerts ao.rg made in every part Of The coun-
Try i Is not urre-s1uable 10 believe that oth.l
varieties VlI so ,n being DEVELOPED until some
cay stroke H.u Doe isolated" allowing the 5cst
uss 70 The f.r.as az our disposal But that day
IS I'm away. ANA tac advance can only bc slow
and gradual
lresIe. .u.e % what the future may bring.
there can ie r, doubt that the advent OF the
crawl reso.1l'aaIz,d American swimming. As
Date as la4 experts were having hard time