AT HOME IN THE WATER

Northern Advocate, 15 November 1929, Page 3

AT HOME IN THE WATER

THE JOY OF SWIMMING.

COMMONSF.NHE ADVICE,

Professor D. B. Anderson, of Auckland, the well-known teacher of swimming, gave a most interesting demonstiration at the Primary School baths yesterday afternoon in the presence of a large gathering of school children, their parents and friends.

Professor Anderson said that the joy of swimming was the birthright of everybody. He had pupils whose ages ranged from 5 to 91 years. When a grandmother realised, after a lesson, the simplicity of controlling the body in the water, she said “Why didn’t I know this before, instead of waiting till my grandchildren had learned?” Another lady, 66 years of age, asked him “What is the secret of swimming?” “The secret,” he replied, “is simply this: You must learn to breathe as a water animal.” “Howcan I do that?” she asked. “You must get a basin of -water, till your lungs with air breathed through your mouth, put your face in the water and blow out the air through your nostrils.” Will that make me swim?” “When you can do that fifty times without stopping you will be safe in any rough sea where you otherwise would be drowned.” In a fortnight, that woman was able to swim. She had learned the law.

Professor Anderson then proceeded, by using gargling as an illustration, to explain how water could be kept from going dowui the throat, and he also showed the effect of water “going down the wrong way” and causing the sensation of choking for a few moments. It was the latter which happened to the uneducated swimmer. He advised any w'ho had doubts on the matter to fill his bath three-quarters full, and, after filling his lungs with air, try to keep his head on the bottom. He would find this impossible. The knowledge that a body could not sink so long as the lungs were filled with air gave great confidence to the would-be swimmer. This confidence was all important. Propulsion methods were a secondary consideration. To emphasise this fact, Professor Anderson pointed out that if a vessel could not float, the best engines in the world would be of no- use to it. In exactly the same way, the most important thing to learn about swimming was floating; the methods of getting through the water could be learned later. The first thing to be done by a teacher was to overcome in his pupil the subconscious fear of suffocation. The speaker then went on to show how this could be done, and his explanation cf the way in which a beginner should perform in the water was as clear as it was simple. “If you stood in Cameron Street all day,” said Professor Anderson, “you would not see anybody doing this when trying to walk”—holding a leg out and giving a sideways kick. “No, yon would see each person stepping out with one leg, placing one foot on "the ground and not lifting it till the other foot was about to take its place, A walker always has one foot on the ground. It’-s exactly the same in swimming. One arm and hand must always support the body, and this support must not he withdrawn until the other arm is ready to act as support. If a child was hanging on to a rope 20 feet in the air and wanted to come down to the ground, he would not. let go with one hand before he had got a grip on the rope with the other hand. Why should he act differently in the water? Yet the first thing a person did in the water when trying to swim or when in difficulties was to strike out wildly with both hands at once. Not only did he let go of the water in this way, but he used up his breath, just as a man running hard became puffed whereas if he had walked quietly his breathing would not have been disturbed. So soon as air went out of the lungs the body sank. It was commonly said that a body rose to the surface three times before sinking finally. That was a wrong idea. A body sometimes came to the surface 20 or JO times; sometimes, only once. It all depended on the amount of air in the lungs. That was why a correct method of breathing—like a water animal—was all important. Professor Anderson then went on to illustrate the proper method. Placing a basin of water on a table, he inhaled air through his mouth. Then, putting his face under the water, he exhaled the air through his nose, the bubbles coming to the surface of the water. Tins was repeated time after time, the professor explaining that this -was exactly what should be done by a swimmer, though, of course, the head would be out of the water.

Before going into tho baths to give a practical demonstration the speaker paid tribute to the quality of the Whangarei water. “You are exceedingly fortunate to have water of this description,” lie said. “Its vitalising qualities arc simply wonderful. Why people do not realise it I icannot understand. You can fool tlm tonic effect after coming out of the water. The idea that cold water will affect the heart is quite wrong, as Hir Trilby King had shown. Warm water does not give the same results as cold water. A man 90 years of age, when I asked him if swimming in cold water was not too much for him, replied that swimming across the bath arid back gave him a reaction which nothing else did. That Was why he always

went into the water. In Whangarei, where you have sub-tropical conditions,” said the speaker in conclusion, “the skin is inclined to become lazy and the involuntary organs are not stimulated as they should be. Therefore there is great, need for everybody to indulge in swimming in cold water.

PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION

Professor Anderson, with hands and feet tied, then jumped into the water ami proved that use of anus and legs is not necessary to keep a body afloat. He lav on the surface of the water, rolled about, and was perfectly at home. A boy attempted to push him to the bottom, hut he might as well have tried to sink a cork, the Professor coming to the surface as soon as pressure was relaxed. Then, holding a bar of iron (341bs) in his mouth, he floated on the surface. He did likewise holding the bar at arms’ length. During the whole of the time lie breathed quietly and steadily, and lay perfectly still, his body entirely relaxed. Having demonstrated that the human body, with lungs full of air, cannot sink, he deflated his lungs. Immediately lie went to the bottom like a stone. The same thing happened when he made his body rigid. An arm or a leg sank as soon as the muscles were stiffened, but came to the. surface when relaxed. “Keep your: lungs filled and your body limp, and and you can lie on the water as long as you like,” said the swimmer. Then followed illustrations of various kiiulsj of swimming—breast-stroke, sid“-j stroke, trudge, back-stroke, torpedo,, propeller and a host of others. Ho simple, in its gracefulness, did it oil seem that it was difficult to believe evrfybodv could not do it.”

“Everybody can do it,” said the professor, as he climbed out of the water. “All that is necessary is to remember what I have told you and tr put it into practice.”

On the call of Mr C. F. Collins, headmaster of the school, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Professor Anderson, who, Mr Collins said, had earned the gratitude not only of the people of Auckland but of Whangarei, because of the way in which he was helping to make it possible for every school child to be able to swim.