Swimming School Worthwhile Venture

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29916, 1 September 1962, Page 9

Swimming School Worthwhile Venture

4 NYBODY who doubts the wisdom of the 12 weeks’ Empire Games swimming training school has obviously not seen the school in operation in the thermal pool at Tauranga. Gathered at Tauranga are 21 dedicated young swimmers. who are training with a spirit and purpose that New Zealand swimming has never seen before. They are training harder and longer than ever before. But they seem to enjoy every minute of it—many of them are asking for increases in their swimming schedules —and after five hours of daily training together, they still have strength and time to do the Twist in their poolside clubroom. The supervisor and chief coach at the school, Mr D. J. Lvons. is astounded with

almost every aspect of the school, which began on August 18. ‘‘The major thing,” said Mr Lyons,” is the way the swimmers are working as a team. Their spirit is quite amazing. There are 21 of them, but they have one mind. “Five hours of swimming a day is tough, really tough. But they seem to appreciate that this is their big chance in swimming.” Mr Lyons said the second feature of the school was the fitness of the 21, whose ages range from 15 to 22. “We just can't get them tired,” he said. “I don’t think their individual coaches realise just how fit they have got their swimmers during the off-season. ‘‘When I sent out offseason training schedules of road-running and calisthen-

ics. I had hoped that the swimmers would have a reasonable fitness. But when I got them here, I found to my amazement that I could have given them more work, and this week I have doubled the schedules of pool training for some of them.” The 21 swimmers, who will reduce to the Empire Games squad of 14 at the end of the school holidays, are billeted in houses all over Tauranga, but spend most of their time together. There are two training sessions a day. 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. No swimmer covers less than two miles at each session—some, uch as the men freestylers. G. Monteith and B. A. Crowder, do up to six miles a session. Training is held six days a week. Sundays are holidays. and later it is intended

that the Saturday afternoon session will be in the form of time trials, and possibly races to whieh the public will be admitted. Mr Lyons supervises training at the pool, but the swimmers organise their own spare time, entertainment, eating and sleeping. The major i .pressions of the professional coaches are that the school is possibly the greatest move ever undertaken by New Zealand swimming, and that Tauranga is the ideal venue for the school. "Nothing but good can come from this,” said Mr M. A. Doidge, who coaches D. F. Gerrard, A. H. Seagar, A. B. Robertson and B. C. Clarke. “In Tauranga, the swimmers can train as we have always wished they could—away from the continual interruption from the public that you always get in a public pool.”

Mr R. B. Frankham. who coaches T. Graham, Miss S. A. Nicholson and Miss G. Dennis, commented: "The swimmers have a remarkable singleness of purpose to do their very best.” Mr Frankham was full of praise for Miss Nicholson, the only Canterbury swimmer in the Miss Nicholson has filled out considerably since she was struck down by appendicitis during the national championships in February.

“Across the shoulders, Shirley looks more like Dawn Fraser every day,” said Mr Frankham. The school will run for seven weeks at Tauranga, before moving to the 55-yard Olympic Pool in

MISS S. A. NICHOLSON Auckland for the five weeks preceeding the departure of the Empire Games team for Perth. Originally, it was hoped to run the whole school in a 55-yard pool, but after a week of the friendly hospitality of Tauranga, Mr Lyons doubts that anywhere but Tauranga would be suitable for the first few weeks at least. The temperature of the Tauranga pool is 74 degrees —four degrees below the ideal 78 degrees, but equal to the agreed-upon international and Olympic Games temperature of 74. Whether or not New Zealand swimmers win medals at Perth, one thing is certain—the team that competes in the Empire Games will be the fittest New Zealand has ever sent away. The swimmers themselves are seeing to that.