Page 6 Advertisements Column 1

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18626, 7 August 1922, Page 6

INSTRUCTION IN SWIMMING. TO THE EDITOB. Silt, —Mr Hanna lias in a lengthy letter attempted to show that harm results from the crawl and trudgeon strokes, but he has not been able to submit any concrete evidence to support his statements. It is more likely that children are suffering from spinal ourvative through leaning over school desks about five hours a day than from swimming for perhaps three or four hours a week. Moreover, Mr Hanna appears, as I previously said, to be more interested in rectifying these deformities than in finding the cause of the trouble. •Will Mr Hanna define a correct spine and will he state whether one correct spuie would be found in an average of every hundred children? Surely all these deformities are not caused by crawl swimming. I offer the suggestion for what it is worth that the Education Board should instal better desk accommodation in schools and so tend to alleviate one cause of curvature of the spine which is causing Mr Hanna so much ecnoern. I have before me an extract from a statement by a Wanganui specialist which has a distinct bearing on the subject. The specialist says hr is sure that no medical man, unless ho had “a bee in his bonnet” would make such a statement that the crawl or trudge has a tendency to produce or intensify curvature of the spine. A physical instructor might, he thinks, be pardoned for making such a statement, possibly through ignorance, but tho doctor could not understand a responsible body of men prohibiting the use of the strokes complained of without making the fullest investigation. As a matter of fact, it was the variety of exercises which provided the best results, and curvature of the spine was only the outcome of long-continued malposition in weak rachitic-disposed children, find could not bp caused by a short period of any type of exercise, of which swimming was perhaps the most beneficial. This is only one of many opinions, all jof which refute the statement that the strokes in question cause spinal curvature. The opinion of the medical profession is more reliable than that of a physical instructor. It would be strange if all the deformities were caused by crawl swimming—a stroke which has been practised hero for about two years, children of tho Fourth Standard receiving only 10 hours’ tuition over a period of six months. In swimming this stroke the children are taught to swim with a straight back, chest out, and head up, which is an ideal position. As Mr Hanna states, imitation is the sincorest form of flattery. Such being tho case, if children are taught the breast stroke only, they try to imitate their seniors in other strokes, and acquire a cross between the two. Would it not be better to teach the children the correct crawl? If they were able to swim it correctly the effect would bo to remove the possibility of the harm which might bo caused by swimming a stroke of thoir own invention. Why has Mr Haima made his attack on crawl swimming? There is a greater possibility of children contracting spinal curvature by playing football, hockey, or other games where the posture of tho child is anything but desirable, the shoulders being drooped and the trunk bent forward. _ Mr Hanna has apparently a poor concoction of tho physique of our champions. To excel in the crawl stroke the swimmer must have a correct spine, otherwise the body would offer too much resistance to the water. Is not the correct spine tho end Mr Hanna is striving to obtain? Mr Hanna states that ho is pleased to see the stand which the Education Board has adopted. Of this I have no doubt. Mr Hanna must have other reasons for desiring the prohibition of the crawl stroke, for he is not connected in any way with the Education Board. lam disappointed in tho manner Mr Hanna has attempted to answer criticism. Instead of coming to the point he has given a long discourse concerning his ideas of tho crawl and trudgeon strokes. After perusing them 1 have come to the conclusion that he does not do justice to these strokes as they are taught to-day.—l am, etc., Dunedin, August 5. G. Frte.

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