Baxter O’Neill Discusses Proper Body Balance

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 21 January 1939, Page 14

Baxter O’Neill Discusses Proper Body Balance

EXPLODING POPULAR FALACIES. NO. 11.

IP the fact is kept clearly in mind that only by water displacement can propulsive power in swimming l>e secured a good many of t.he common errors that beeet the swimmer may be avoided. Your object must l>e to displace ee much water as you can as quickly as you can. That gives you propulsive power.

But, in order that propulsive power may achieve its maximum effect, you must eliminate every avoidable factor of resistance. Resistance i* reduced to the minimum when there are no arm or leg faults, when the body is kept quite straight from the head to the feet and when proper body balance in the water is attained.

Body balance plays a tremendously important part. I’onder on thin fact in relation to body balance. Len Newell, the great Canterbury miler, is by far the l«st distance swimmer we have in the country—so long ae he is swimming in a bath or other at ill water. But there are plenty of swimmers in New Zealand who can beat Len Newell in the surf.

The explanation, of course, is that surf swimming calls for a different technique. Body balance is being continually upset in the surf, and the result i* that many people who are expert performers in still water are

indifferent performers in the 6urf. When body balance goee, the angle of the body in relation to the line of progression through the water becomes faulty. Result: Resistance is set up and you pay 'the penalty in slower progress. Miss Mona Leydon is one of our ouUtunding examples of proper body balance. She wastes no energy in doing unnecessary things. There is no twisting or bending of the trunk. She lies easily and quite straight in the water. Here is a style that every novice mav study with advantage.

There are one or two things in swimming that seem to be accepted by even our best swimmers as a sort of natatorial Holy Writ that are long overdue for what the Americans expressively call debunking. The lirst is the “planing” theory. The planing principle is employed by those fast motor launches that race about our sheltered waters. The planing principle may be profitably employed wherever there is sufficient power to lift high out of the water the object that is being propelled. The power of the propulsion, meeting the resistance of the water, lifts the boat bodily almost above the surface, so that it skims above rather than flushes through the water. If you had sufficient driving power to lift your body from the water and, while propelling it along, sustain it aloft for an indefinite period, you

would be able to make use of the planing principle. I»ut you haven’t sufficient power. Neither lias any-

body else. Let the water sustain your body. Don’t try to sustain it yourself. The planing principle is one of the great myths of swimming. Of course, you have heard of “upthrust.” Even so great a ewimmer as Jean Taris was a firm believer in it. The up-thrust consists in thia: in making your leg thrash the power is exerted not on the downward thrash of the leg, but on the up-thrash. It is a theory that overlooks the basic principle of water displacement. The relative power exerted by the arms and the legs ' varies in different swimmers, but whatever power the legs do exert they exert by joint and not by independent action. The proper kick remains a “scissor” kick, in which the power applied to the upward and downward actions i* approximately the same.

1 huve recently seen our beet swimmers in action at the New Zealand championship meetings held at New Plymouth and Nelson. It is astonishing to find how many of them exhibit bad arm faults. The commonest fault is placing the hand in the water before the arm is at full reach in front of the head. If the hand is placed in the water before the full roach is attained, then it must be pushed forward under water. That entails unnecessary resistance. Study the arm actions of Len Newell

or Miss Leydon. These swimmers make the very best use of the driving power of their arms. Every inch of arm and hand go Into the direct drive, and the arms and hands are never in the water unless they are driving.

In too many cases the hands and arras are not making a straight sweep through the water—the arm sweeps either out from the body or too far in under the body. Some swimmers even impart a “sculling” movement to the hand as it makes the drive. The beet and strongest drive is in a direct line from a point in front of the shoulder to the hip. Not only does it impart the greatest power, but it is less likely to set up body faults. Any lateral movement of the arms under water is likely to set up trunk movements. The trunk should remain as pem aa it is possible to keep ft. There is too much reaching in the arm The arms are being “stretched” forward for the catch and “stretched” down for the stroke. Actually the arm cannot stretch. If your arm is 3ft long then no effort on your part can make it an inch longer. All you do by stretching is to throw’ the shoulder forward and downward. That upsets body bulance altogether. It imparts no added power, but it results in greatly increased factors of resistance, and you pay the penalty in slower progress. Again I refer you to Len Newell and Miss Leydon as the examples to be safely followed. Swimming style generally in New Zealand is steadily improving—the way -the records contiuue to tumble proves that. But more coaching of our swimmers, and especially of our better swimmers, is needed. The average good swimmer is left too much to himself, and he is just plodding along in the dark, for you cannot watch yourself swim. The result is that faults are permitted to continue to the point where it becomes almost impossible to eradicate them.