SWIMMING

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 92, 12 January 1939, Page 14

SWIMMING

Otago Defends Women’s Tour

REPLY TO CRITICISM

Lyall Bay Surfers’ Fine

Achievement

(By

Trudge.)

Commenting on Wellington s criticism of the educational tour now being undertaken by four prominent women shimmers, a writer in the “Otago Daily TiiniV’ expresses himself in strong termb. He says: “It is somewhat surprising that Wellington, of all the centres should be the first to criticize adversely the educational tour at present , being undertaken by four of the Dominions foremost women s swimmer®—three of them Empire Games representatives, in the? first place it is difficult to fathom just on what grounds Wellington bases its criticism, and 'blandly dismisses the tour as a ‘waste.of money,’ and ‘a joy ride round the country,’ to quote only two speakers who took part in the discussion. If Wellington, like other centres, had in the past few years done anything to encourage its young swimmers it might have held a different view on the tour and might, perhaps, have, realized that the team was never considered to be merely a company or coaches. “The -primary object of . the tour, as the writer sees it, is to stimulate interest in swimming, for before coaches can be of the least use in any district the people of that district must first of ai. be made what, might be termed swimmingminded. In any case, every member ot the team is well qualified -to instruct and coach, and the manageress has, for many seasons past, demonstrated her ability in -that direction. XVhy should her appointment be objected to? She is an lex-national diving champion, she is a 'first-class coach and. demonstrator, both in swimming and diving, and she possesses the administrative ability, which is the most important qualification for anyone chosen to take charge of such a t 0 “Now, as to the personnel of the team. Miss Leydon is a versatile swimmer who does not confine herself to one stroke, and she has the knack of passing her knowledge on to others. The same may be said of Misses Macdonald a:\d Grey, and Miss Dunn, as dozens of swimmers m Dunedin can testify, is a splendid instructress It is possible, of course, that the members of the Wellington centre who complain so bitterly have taken so little interest in active swimming during the past few years that they are not aware of these facts.

‘“Milk in the Coconut?” “Curiously enough, after condemning the tour by bell, 'book and candle, the Wellington centre wants to know why Miss S Gotlieb, the holder of the 100 yards women’s freestyle championship, was not Included in the -team. Is this the milk in the coconut’? . One cannot help wondering. Miss Gotlieb is a fine swimmer, but so far she has proved herself as a freestylist only over a sprint distance, and her winning time at the last senior championship meeting was comparatively slow.”

Based On Sound Lines. Wellington officials, on being shown the above comments, stated definitely that criticism of the tour is based on sound lines.

Lyall Bay Club’s Work. The great value of life-saving clubs to the community was fully demonstrated at Lvall Bar on New Year Day when members of the Lyall Bay Surf. Life-Saving Club effected four particularly smart rescues in less than an hour. Contests at Paraparaumu beach drew the majority of club members out of town for the day and beach patrol at the Lyall Bay clubs section was entrusted to four of the senior members. Messrs. G. Seeley. J. Blakeley, H Dickson and D. Buckley. There was a large crowd on the beach, in the afternoon' and patrol work in the circumstances was rather difficult. The work these four achieved was remarkable and a great credit to the systematic training members of the Lyall Bay club receive. *

Junior and Intermediate Trials. Junior and intermediate trials to select boys and girls to represent Wellington at the national junior and intermediate championships to be held in Rotorua this month will be held at Thorndon Baths, Murphy Street, on Saturday afternoon, beginning at 2.30. Aspirants for representative honours should be at the baths lo minutes before trial races begin. First Carnival of Season. The first carnival of the Wellington season will be held at the Riddiford Baths, Lower Hutt, on Thursday, January 26, under the auspices of the Hutt club. A long and varied programme has been arranged, the first event to start at 8 p.m. Water Polo Resumes Next Week. Wellington water polo grade championship matches, which were postponed for the Christmas and New Year holiday period, will be resumed at Thorndon Baths next Thursday. Attempts to Lower Records. It is understood that at the Auckland championship meeting next Tuesday and Thursday attempts to lower New Zealand records will be made by Misses Joyce Macdonald, Invertargill, and Winnie Dunn, Dunedin. Miss Macdonald, the brilliant young backstroke swimmer, will try to lower her own record of 1.16 1-5 for JOO yards. Miss Dunn will aim at her women's record for 200' metres breaststroke.