ART OF SWIMMING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19946, 13 November 1926, Page 26

ART OF SWIMMING.

Although swimming is the most useful of all athletic accomplishments, still there is something almost pathetic in the determination of certain heroic souls to swim the Channel, a feat that time and experience seem to show depends a good deal on stamina, but largely on luck. Since Captain Webb swam the Channel in 1875 Britain has become a nation of swimmers, for the great and permanent value of his wonderful feat lay in the encouragement it gave to swimming, and the splendid achievement of Burgess, the Yorkshire swimmer, about 15 years ago, had an equally stimulating effect upon the progress of a very necessary, useful, and healthful physical exercise. Indeed, every hjy feels that it is incumbent upon him at least to learn to swim, and most girls look upon swimming as an accomplishment well within their reach, given the necessary time, instruction, and opportunities. That every person ought to be taught the art there cau bo no question, as it is not only useful for self-preservation,_ but also in saving the lives of others. Briefly, it promotes health and strength by invigorating the body, and stimulating the skin to the health and uninterrupted performance of its many and important offices.

■ There is about the Channel that separates so narrowly England from the Continent a definition, a palpable precision that few other stretches of land or water can rival. Men have flown longer, and perhaps more dangerous flights, before Bleriot slipped one still morning from France to Dover in his monoplane, but that flight will always remain a supreme picture on the imagination of those who heard the news of it. Curiously enough, such a picture was printed in the imagination of the world in times so long ago that the history has dwindled to myth—when Leander swam the Hellespont; but it was not a very wonderful swim as our swimmers now regard distance, and Lord Byron proved that the feat needed no special training or genius. However, that swim bad definition, and deserved its fame. About three years ago, Henry '-'ullivan, the American swimmer, managed to swim from Dover to the French coast, thus earning for himself a place in the temple of fame beside Captain Webb an I Mr T. W. Burgess. I saw him beat the surges under him, And ride upon their backs; he trod the water. Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted The surge moat swollen that met him; his bold head ’Bovo the contentious waves ho kept, and oar’d Himself with his good arms, in lusty stroke, To the ehoie. Burgess and Sullivan are probably vastly superior in physique and as swimmers to Leander, and. the laudable attempts of a number of swimmers during the last few years suggest that long-distance swimming as an art has improved vastly. Nothing that we did not know before is proved by these accomplishments. Indeed, we were apt to forget the existence of the Channel altogether. That it can be crossed in a few minutes by foreign aeroplanes rather rules out its former importance to this island kingdom. On the question of swimming alone, howdo we compare with other countries ? Although the people of these islands have claimed that “Britain rules the waves,” it is rather a ludicrous fact that a very large percentage, of the inhabitants—a considerable majority—cannot swim. Swimming is not compulsory in the Army, and not. a few soldiers arc said to have lost their lives in attempting to cross rivers iu the Great War.

But our foreign neighbours seem fully to understand the value of swimming, as regular schools ip which it is specially taught are established in Paris, Vienna, Beilin, Munich, and numerous other Continental towns and cities, where it is considered a very important and essential portion of the education of youth. Happily, cur own legislators have been sufficiently aware of the importance of swimming, and have recommended all large and populous centres to adopt public baths, the expenses to be paid for out of the rates of the parish in which the baths are situated. This is as it should be, for swimming is not only a highly-important, indeed, necessary accomplishment as a means of preserving life in the ivater, but is also an exercise that brings into play nearly every rnusclo of the body.

It may confidently be said that if we British as a nation were all swimmers, the vitality of the race would be very largely augmented. We should enjoy better health, and realise more full- the. “mens sana in corpore sano,” the net result of which would be less disease and fewer prisons and asylums. Of course, it is not claimed that swimimng would prove a panacea for all the human ills, and the abolition of crime, but something would be done to these ends.

Just prior to the war the decadence of our athletes was among the most popular of themes, out an exciting refutation of the charge was this rage for Channel swimming. Probably in no other country could such a number of men be found eager to face the task, and we believe it would prove true in all branches of athletic that, if international competition were extended beyond a few picked men, this country would be found further ahead of the rest in physical aptitude than she has ever been * Illustrations may be taken from almost any game or field sport, and it is natural to select football. No game or pastime has gained recruits so rapidly as football or is so exclusively British, but there is abundant evidence that the number of Channel swimmers is a witness of the number of men of all sorts and conditions who have recently learnt to enjoy swimming. Sailors have given up the superstition that formerly excused their reluctance to learn the art. In every big town the busiest and least athletic classes . ’ in it (i regular amusement, and all round the coast swimming at this late day first be gins to be recogmised as the proper accomplishment of an island race. —R. G., in the Weekly Scotsman.