SWIMMING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23106, 4 February 1937, Page 5

SWIMMING

By Neptune

Club Hours (at Municipal Baths).St. Clair and St. Kilda Life Saving Clubs: Mondays, 8.45-9.45 p.m. Kiwi Amateur Swimming Club: Tuesdays. 6-7 p.m.; Thursdays. 8.45-9.45 p.m.; and Saturdays. 6-7 p.m. Dunedin Amateur Swimming Club Wednesdays and Fridays 8.45-9.45 p.m Kaikorai Amateui Swimming Club: Saturdays, 8.45-9.45 p.rn and at Kaikorai Baths during season. Training College Amateur Swimming Club, Saturdays, 8-9 a.m. Zenith Amateur Swimming Club, at Y.M.C.A Baths nightly except Fridays. DUNEDIN CLUB'S HARBOUR. RACE Surely for consistency Miss P. Duncan, the winner of the Dunedin Club's Harbour Race on Saturday, has established a record which it would be difficult to excel. At the beginning of last year she was victorious in the same race and took fourth place in the Annette Kellerman Cup contest, against the pick of New Zealand's open water swimmers. Now she has clinched her claim to rank among the best in the Dominion by gaining second place in the Batt Cup race and premier honours in her own club's harbour event. Although weather conditions on Saturday could hardly be called bad, they were certainly not easy, and the stiff south-westerly breeze gave the competitors a gruelling thrash back to the finishing line after they had rounded the buoy. From the time she dived off Miss Duncan looked a certainty to retain her hold on the E. H. James Cup, for she set herself a good, pace which she knew she could maintain, and, never varying her stroke went along steadily over the whole distance. It was a well-deserved win and a popular one, for Miss Duncan is one of the brigade whose creed is that the win is merely incidental to the game. Another fine effort in the race was Miss L. Gordon's swim off the limit mark to take second place. Miss Gordon was obviously not in the best of form for a long open-water swim, but very pluckily she insisted on starting and had her reward in the applause she received from the crowd, who in no uncertain manner showed their appreciation of her sportsmanship. As was expected J. O. Byrnes easily registered fastest time. Byrnes appears to thrive on this type of racing, and the harder the conditions and the longer the distance the better he seems to like it. For a youngster Neil Williams did particularly well to swim into fourth place, more especially as he had a start of only two minutes and a-half. MRS JARRETT'S REINSTATEMENT Mrs Eleanor Holm-Jarrett, formei world backstroke swimming champion, against whom disciplinary measures were taken in connection with the last American Olympic team's visit to Berlin, intends to carry on her fight for reinstatement. She planned to plead her case personally before the United States Athletic Union's convention, which was to be held last month. In conversation with Auckland swimming officials recently, Mr F. Cady, manager of the American champion,

Jack Medica, expressed the opinion that Mrs Jarrett would be reinstated by the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States. Several executive members of the union had lost their seats, including the president, Mr A. A. Brundage, who had been foremost in disciplining Mrs Holm-Jarrett. HARD LUCK! Give sympathy to the Stratford Swimming Club, of Taranaki. It has not even opened its season yet (com- | rnents an exchange). The building of ; municipal baths at Stratford, owing to difficulties in raising loan money, has j been delayed and delayed; in the meantime, the swimming club had hopes of using the primary school baths ] for its training and carnivals. But j the baths showed signs of collapsing down a cliff into a river when they were filled the first time and they are still out of action. Then the club decided to hold its opening day three weeks ago at a dam on the river. But rain fell heavily in the morning and in the afternoon there wasn't a chance. Undismayed, the club officials, who have had precious little to officiate about, so far, are doggedly carrying on, hoping that some form of club activity will be possible before the summer is ended. THE STANDING START The enforcement of the " standing " start for swimming races is now the general rule in the United States, according to Mr F. Cady, manager of the world's champion. Jack Medica, who was a visitor to Auckland recently. This system of starting was introduced to abolish the defects of what was known as the " flying" start. Tests made by means of several watches had shown that when swimmers plunged from the starting board in this manner they had forestalled the command by from .7sec to I.2sec. Competitors were now required to stand a pace back from the board, and to move forward at an order by the starter. It was imperative that they should start from a flat-footed position, and they were not permitted to lean or crouch forward before the command "Go." Responsibility for two false starts incurred disqualification. MEDICA'S STYLE The following interesting criticism of Medica's style, which appeared last week in the New Zealand Herald, should prove helpful, not only to budding sprinters, but to coaches as well:— Balance has been a great factor in the success attained by Jack Medica, the world's champion swimmer, and this he demonstrated clearly during his exhibition swims in the Tepid Baths recently (says the writer). It was balance, together with complete relaxation, that enabled him to cover lap after lap effortlessly, without disturbing the position of the body and without losing the timing between the arm and leg actions. Onlookers with only scant knowledge of swimming technique quickly notice his continuity of movement. Analysis of Medica's technique gave rise to the conclusion that his skill was substantially the result of his timing of the arm strokes, the placement of the arms at the stage called the "catch," and his habit of rolling the head sideways for breathing. Recovering an arm, Medica carried it to full reach forward before making the " catch." At this stage oc-

curred the most instructive features of his technique. Contact was made with the water, not directly in front of the head, but a few inches outside the shoulder line. No sooner was the pressure applied on this arm than the other, recovered smartly, was placed ahead too, there being the same wide placement, and the actual "catch" occurred when the leading arm was exerting the downward pressure, preliminary to performing the drive. The effect was that by the time I it was in the advanced stages of the | drive the other arm was fulfilling its | function as a balancing agent for the j body. The driving arm, having reached I the thigh, was recovered immediately, i and returned to the forward position jto maintain the balance. Spectators ! remarked on the fact that both of ■ Medica's hands were in the water at the same time. The contrast to New Zealand swimmers was plain. These commonly have one arm still in recovery at the very moment the drive is completed, with the result that they roll badly and have jerky, chopping styles. The rolling of Medica's head had a share in sustaining balance. The average swimmer lifts his chin when in the water and unwittingly throws a strain upon the neck muscles. Medica has avoided this. He started swimming face downward, and in order to breathe, which he did at every drive of the left arm, he simply rolled the head to the right and inhaled through the mouth with the cheek resting on the water. Consequently, he did not force the left shoulder down, and moreover, when exhaling, he rolled the head half to the left, and thus equalised the weight on each arm. Medica had a tendency to hook the right arm when recovering, but the hand, no less than the left hand, was placed in the water quite flat and with the fingers pointed directly forward. For the drive, the arms were pulled back cleanly and straight, and a slight bending at the elbows was noticeable. There was not the faintest sign of strain in his movements, the arms, the legs and the body being wholly relaxed. It was inconceivable that a man could be so supple. Another arresting characteristic was his leg action. Moved upward and downward, chiefly by means of the thigh muscles, the legs functioned smoothly and easily, and the feet flicked the water with rhythmical beats. The upward thrust lifted each foot higher above the surface than is advised in text books.