The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-10-03
(Continued from last weekly

from crampS! mere aie
neople who drown from strangula-
ton than from cramps. People
think they know something about
cramps; therefore cramps get the
blame. A cramp is caused from
fight muscles. When cramp APP
pears in an arm or leg, the SWIM
mer must turn on his back and rest;
he MAY also take a firm hold of the
cramped muscle. By doing this, the
muscle may again be restored TO
working order. When cramps occur
in a pool, the swimmer goes to a
hot shower. While the hot water
relieves the cramp, the swimmer
must massage the sore part.
Strangulation, as | said before, Is
the cause of many accidents. 1t
comes about in this way. The water
enters the nose of the swimmer.
The swimmer, instead of blowing
the water out through his nose,
draws it up into the nasal channels.
The water once in the nasal chan
mel tends to shut off the air supply.
A good swimmer knows how to act
when his nose is filled with water,
But the. poor swimmer becomes
frantic when the air supply is cut
off; consequently he draws in water
and an accident is on the way
Every teacher of swimming should
impress upon his pupils the import
ance of exhaling the air through the
nose, and inhaling through the
mouth, while in the water. The
life guard has very little trouble
with the good swimmer, it is the fell
low who thinks he is an expert who
causes the trouble.
Just how does the fellow who
imagines he is an expert swimmer
commit his foul acts; he does it in
this manner. He sees a good swim
mer out beyond the danger line; be-
fore the guards know what is going
on, the would be Waterman is yell
ing for help. He got out too far
his inexperience and the poor judg,
ment of his own ability as swim
own folly. The fate he met will
meet all others, who do not study
their own ability, before starting
out On long swim.
The life guards should discourage
water fights. One will often find q
person in semi-conscious state as
a conclusion of one of these fights
Some boy or girl is bound to have
his mouth wide open, and drink
water instead of inhaling air.
Life guards must continuously
watch the ''show bathers''. The
"show bathers" are people who in
moments of great enthusiasm be-
come needless. Bathers of this
type are rarely full grown men;
they are young boys, and | might
add women of all ages. A bunch
of boys will gather upon the plat
form of the diving tower One often
times hears the following argument
Mike, you dive first"
"No."
"Oh, come on! You do It first
and III follow"
The argument will continue in
this manner for while, until some
one masters enough courage to dive
off. They will soon all be diving,
and in the heat of youthful enthusi-
asm someone usually gets hurt and
must be towed to safety
Whenever guard hears a woman
exclaim, Watch me, I'll show your
he gets the boat or the hfe-preserver
ready, because something is going
to happen. / recall an incident
which occurred in a pool. The
ladies were all gathered about the
diving board. One of the so-called
fair divers was urging one of her
less fortunate sisters to jump off the
springing board. The unfortunate
one, in spite of my advice not to
dive until she became a better swim
mer, dived off the board The
spring from the board sent her to
the bottom of the pool She, like
all other beginners, did not come to
the surface very rapidly; and when
she did emerge from the water, she
was short of breath. She became
frantic and began to struggle. One
bystander volunteered to save her,
with the result that the victim in
distress secured scissor hold
around her benefactor's neck. I,
with little assistance, succeeded in
Getting them out of the pool The
Schafer Method was used to revive
one of the two ladies. / can relate
many similar incidents Guards, be
on the lookout for the "show-off
bather".
The lifeguard who swims to the
rescue of a bather should always
approach the struggler from the
rear. If the victim struggles violent
~, he should be left alone until his
strength has ebbed out. The fact
of his being exhausted will lessen
the work of the rescuer. If what
just said is born in mind, no death
grips have to be broken A death
grip applied by a strong man, is
very dangerous to the life-saver.
provided assistance is not close at
hand.
The age old theory that a person
sinks three times does not hold true
in all cases. Some people sink only
once. They never return to the
surface again; therefore, a victim
should be saved just as he goes un-
der the first time. Getting him as
he sinks will prevent the hazardous
task of diving for him.
l am not going into detail in the
breaking of holds. Nearly all good
hfe-savers have worked out a sue
cessful system of their own. Life
savers should not exhaust them
selves by swimming too rapidly
towards their goal. They need all
their strength for the issue at stake.
Talk encouraging to Join subject
who may be of great aid to his own
salvation. Don't ever strike a dis
tressed person. A hard blow NAV
prove itself fatal at a moment when
the nerve tension is at its highest
pitch. Do not try to part tyo
people who are locked togethar IN q