Norwich bulletin., 1911-03-25
Aus7RALtAN,s cRtTicI6M
 OF AMERICAN syslksAAERs
Much piseussiop of 4crssvls' and kici<ss Lsaves Athtstse Of Same opinian sfili. .s..

The wholesale criticism of American swimming strokes and methods by Richard CavI1I. former champion of Australia and now instructor at the Illinois Athletic club of Chicago, has aroused coaches. throughout the'c 'cour1- try and brought to light some interest ing facts concerning the development of the crawl since its introduction here seven years ago. And discussion on the relatives merits of the Ameri- ca1 and Australian varieties of this stroke must of course prove an idle one, both because there is no definite type in either country, and because widely differing conditions make i'm may be added that Cavill cannot be counted competent judge of the ques- tion owing to his having studied Am erican methods only in the middle west. Considering that New York holds the championships at all distances in straight swimming, his views are not at all conclusive.
 After reading some of the replies to the Australians comments, one is apt to wonder what constitutes the true American crawl. There appear to be conflicting opinions on the subject, and certainly the descriptions given by Sullivan Meffert, Mackenzie, Kistler, WahlS, Cady and some other of our leading authorities differ greatly.
 How Does He know7
 | One thing stands irrefutabIe, how ever. CaviIl bases his criticism on our supposed use of a straight arm stroke and yet every one of the coaches above mentioned teaches his pupils to catch with elbow raised, which makes a straight arm drive impossible. If some insist on the arms being brought down at right angles to the body, it is be- cause they know that this is the best way to prevent fine beginner from get ting an exaggerated inward hook that minimizes the effectiveness of the drive.
 It is made. evident by the published arguments that in the last few years students of swimming have given par tieular attention to the obtaining of a set of movements that would insure the propelling forward of the body. from start to finish of the arm drive. In the old style stroke, when the hand was carried to the chest and then out, there was considerable loss of power, and later when the trudgeon came in- to existence and a straight arm was preached, both the early part and the finish of the stroke were useless, be- cause the pressure was applied down ward at first and upward at last To obviate this the raised elbow catch ] was introduced, and it gave immediate results, because it enabled the swim mer to begin to draw his body forward the minute the hand dug into the wa ter.
 Hold Elbows High.
 In the new method the hands plunge into the water with force on either side of the head and above it. The elbows are held high and the wrists bent slightly downward. As the arm sweeps down in this position the shoulder is made to do most of the work until the hand reaches the height of the chest, when the upper arms slackened speed (the elbow is still lhigh) and the fore arm comes strongly into play, pressing backward hard until it reaches the thigh, when it is lifted out of the wa ter and carried forward for another stroke. As can be seen, this action en- tails no loss of power or cessation of forward propulsion at any part of the drive.
 Curiously Cavill makes no mention of this stroke. He claims that the arm should be carried down along the cen ter of the body and close to it, but any one with even slight Knowledge of applied mechanics will understand why such method is inferior to the other, as the leverage is at no time as good.
 Of the leg drive very little was said in the recent controversy, but Coach Richards of Yale expressed the Opin- ion that an improvement in the present thrash was being tried out at New Haven and another step forward was anticipated through it. He has been