Swimming THREE DAYS’ LECTURES BY AUSTRALIAN COACH

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29179, 13 April 1960, Page 6

Swimming THREE DAYS’ LECTURES BY AUSTRALIAN COACH

The three-day visit to Christchurch this week by the noted Australian swimming coach, Don Talbot, could be the most important thing which had ever happened in swimming in Canterbury, said Mr C. E. MacDonald, a member of the management committee of the Canterbury Swimming Centre, who is responsible for arranging details of Talbot’s tour.

Talbot will arrive in Christchurch this evening by air from Sydney, and will be here for three days before leaving for Dunedin. During his three weeks in the Dominion, Talbot will deliver five series of threeday lectures in Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington, Hamilton, and Auckland. The main purpose of Talbot’s visit, which is being financed by the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association, is to raise the standard of coaching in New Zealand, said Mr MacDonald, and in this way to raise the standard of the country’s swimmers. Talbot is the coach of the Australian swimmers, Jon and lisa Konrads, both of whom have broken many world freestyle records in the last two years since coining under Talbot’s guidance.

“Our amateur coaches never see a world-class swimmer in action,” said Mr MacDonald, “and have gained all their knowledge on coaching techniques from books. Their teaching, therefore, depends upon their own individual interpretation of the written word, and this can vary widely from coach to coach.”

“Talbot’s main task in his New Zealand tour will be to tell the coaches what they should be doing with their pupils. He takes the attitude that, while what he teaches may not be the one and only correct method, it has brought certain results with his swimmers, and these results are seen in the large number of world records broken by his charges in recent years,” said Mr MacDonald. Nine Lectures

The Australian’s lectures, three a day for three days, will be accompanied by poolside demonstrations and the showing of films. The Canterbury Swimming Centre has selected some junior swimmers who will display their styles in the learners’ pool at the Centennial Pool for Talbot and the audience. The swimmers will be criticised by Talbot so that the coaches will see what errors they have been making in their coaching.

Mr MacDonald said that the main hope of the national body was that in future the amateur coaches of New Zealand would turn out swimmers with fewer faults and would return better times.

“This will be a golden opportunity for all poolside coaches, like myself, to gain some really first-class knowledge. Different coaches have their own theories of teaching, and we have no way of knowing whether any one method is better than the others.” Talbot’s one lecture in Christchurch last year attracted a very large crowd, said Mr MacDonald, and all who heard him were impressed by the Australian’s grasp of his topic, and the confidence which he had in his own methods. This confidence had been fully justified by the results, he said. Opportunities Needed

It young New Zealanders had the same opportunities in coaching and sustained competition as was available overseas, their times would be as good as any in the world, said Mr MacDonald. He mentioned the case quoted in the newspapers last week of a Christchurch youth who had gone to live in the United States when a child, and recently returned the very fine time of 9.4 sec for the 100 yards at an athletic meeting. This youth’s success would be due to the benefits of good coaching available in the United States, which had brought out his talent, said Mr MacDonald.

The course of lectures tomorrow, Friday and Saturday was primarily for adult amateur coaches, said Mr MacDonald, but all swimmers and swimming enthusiasts were welcome. All who were in any way connected with the coaching of young swimmers would derive great benefit from the lectures, and the swimmers themselves could gain valuable knowledge if they attended. Mr MacDonald said the lectures were open to the general public, and were not confined to members of swimming clubs. Talbot will show his own instructional films at the evening sessions. Programme Talbot’s programme is:— Tomorrow morning at the Ridgley Hall next to the Centennial Pool, a demonstration of the teaching of swimming; tomorrow afternoon at the Ridgley Hall, calisthenics and demonstrations: tomorrow evening at the National Party’s rooms in Lichfield street, stroke technique of freestyle and butterfly, Friday morning at the Ridgley Hall, elementary coaching, stroke formation, turns and starts in freestyle and butterfly; Friday afternoon at the Ridgley Hall, same as morning on breaststroke and backstroke; Friday evening at the National Party rooms, stroke technique for backstroke and butterfly. Saturday morning at the Druids’ Hall, in Manchester street, opposite the Civic Theatre, advanced coaching of freestyle and butterfly; Saturday afternoon at the Druids’ Hall, advanced coaching of backstroke and breaststroke; Saturday evening at the National Party rooms, conditioning.