AQUATICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 62, 13 March 1915, Page 16

AQUATICS.

'Now that Harry Floyd has returned to Sydney, after * twelve months' ■ojourn in Great Britain, the oarsmen of Australia and New Zealand are anxiously seeking hie opinion ac to the beet way of recovering the sculling ohampionehip of the world. Floyd's opinion it that, for an Auetralasian eculler to have the brightest chance againat Barry, he muet put in a long term on the Thames to get used to the water there. In a niitehell, Floyd holds the opinion that the moat likely man of our presentday ecullere to bring back the title k Arnst, ac the big Mew Zealander not only pat up the best race against Barry, but displayed a far greater aptitude for combating the difficult waters of the "English course than any of our prominent ecullere. Floyd goee on to relate that the eeaway which rune on the Thames is>' more of a "side-thrust" than a eide-roll, and at moving in such water Barry as a pastmaster. To the inexperienced .eye there may not appear much in it, but on getting right behind the ecullere the difficulty of combining speed with the "side-thruet" is made apparent. Flovd •believes that Arust could get back "to hie old form if he adhered to strict training and went through a fresh and thorough course of tuition. •WnOOHG. Harold Uardwick, a great swimmer as well ac a clever boxer, writes on aninteresting subject. He saye:—"lt.has always been a favourite contention of mine that, providing he suffers from no special disability, the swimmer whose body has been developed by that best of all exercises has acquired a physique the possession of which is indispensable to succese as a boxer.-1 maintain that the development which results from natatorial exercise is superior to that procured by any strong-man system, for the muscular bulginess co pronounced in wrestlers and weight-lifters is rarely conspicuous in the swimmer. When in repose, the swimmer's muscles do, not obtrude themselves upon the public notice or call for" admiration from the spectators, but nevertheless when the effort is wanted, when the strain is put upon them, they respond readily, and only those who have experienced it realise what that effort .means in a hard-ew-um race. Jt is tome■what of a coincidence, too, that in build the swimmer end boxer are much the same. Boxers usually have their weight where it is most needed, being bie of shoulders and light in hips and legs'aad while there have been many good ewimmers who were heavy limbed, the majority chow a tendency to taper from the chest down, and, by the way, thereby approach the ideal of physical beauty immortalised in Greek statuary. In both swimming and boxing the muscle* brought into play are regularly tensed and relaxed. The swimmer making hie etroke exerte all his etrengttu and then recovering for the next one the muscles are at rest. The boxer delivers ™ bl <>w with termed muscles, and then relaxes; co it goes on throughout a contest in the water or in the ring, alternate strain and rest for the muscles employed, and both produce a condition where the muscles retain their elasticity and respond readily and quickly to all calls upon them. So far as my experience of boxing goes, the favoured few I who have the handy gift of being able to dispose of an opponent with one clout are always men with loose shouli der action and good ehoulder development. Now, with the crawl etroke much of the work falls upon the shoulders and arms, and the continual effort to pull the body through the water with a swinging ehoulder action results in such development.