SWIMMING

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 January 1926, Page 10

SWIMMING

Th© present week has been very interesting, and is noteworthy for the great- performances put up m various championship events. Th© Taranaki swimmers are not class enough generally, though n few have done fairly well.

One of the best .swimmers we ever had here was W. J. Claringbold, and he put up a good performance last year, although lie had no training. His performances for Hawera will be recalled by many enthusiasts. He made his mark hist in school swimming in Aielbourne in 1904, when lie won three school championships, at the age of 14-1 years. He annexed a cup and five medals also, and was the champion boy swimmer of his year. Ln 1908, at Geelong, he was second to the famous Beaurepaire, doing the haff-mile in 13niin. 10 2-ssec. The standard was 14mins. In the threequarter mile event in 1910 he cut the distance out in 21mins. lOsecs., five seconds better than the standard, and was again second to Beaurepaire. These, combined with his performances in Taranaki, are a pretty good record for any swimmer. “The 220 yards is the hardest race in the swimming category,” said a champion of long experience the other day when talking of the championships and the failure of Dowsett after his record ‘in the 100 yards. “It is like the 440 yards in running, a race where vou have to go practically at sprinting pace and over a longer distance. A man must he in the very best condition to. last it out.” Swimming, in any case, is one of the sports that takes a very. hard toll of a man’s strength and wind. Only those who have been succesful and really trained hard know the demands tit makes. Speed is largely a gift, and to on'y a comparativelv few is it given, but really good and efficient coaching can do a lot to put a young swimmer just beginning his career on the right track. There is no doubt more could be done in the schools, and this coaching is certainly needed in Taranaki if one is to have any champions or rather to give he.r beginners their utmost opportunity.

THE NEED OF COACHING. Talking on the subject, Aliss Hilda James, who was in New Zealand recentlv, was emphatic on the point that, without coaching, the best material m Hie world is next to useless. This is what she says on the subject: “Anything I have done I owe to Air. Al. cle’B. Handley, the coach to the 1920 American Olympic team, who coached me. When I went to Antwerp that year I was crude. I had natural swimming ability, and that was all. With coaching I went right ahead. . . . It is the swimmer who directs every ounce of strength in the right direction who goes ahead.”