Hard Work Essential When Swimmers Train

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 548, 28 December 1928, Page 10

Hard Work Essential When Swimmers Train

Moo re house Tells of His Experience A broad REGULARITY ESSENTIAL “The methods used in the training of competitive swimmers in the United States and on the Continent are much more extensive than those used in New Zealand, and different, too/’ says Len. J. Moorehouse, Christchurch swimmer with the New Zealand Olympic team, in a special article for THE SUN. “More willingness for hard work is absolutely necessary if we are going to compete with any measure of success against our rivals in other countries/' he adds. Moorehouse says: Training in other countries varies very little for sprint and distance swimmers. For the first week of the actual training the swimmer should be in the water once a day, i but should not do | any serious swimming. Playing | about in a pool loosens and softens i. o lie swimmer is then ready to go on with slow, long swims, which are the second step toward racing fitness. Those swimmers who are training for sprint races of anything up to 220 yardß should, alter the fortnight s loosenins-up, at once start in to swim at least once a day—twice, if possible. At first, long swims of anything up to 1.000 yards are necessary. These enable tlie swimmer to get well into his stroke, and any faults which have developed can be corrected. A gathering fitness will be noticed after two or three

weeks, when the speed of the swims should be gradually increased. After a month to six weeks of this training good form must be in evidence. At this stage the swmimer should vary his swimming by indulging in sprints. After having his swim of 1.000 yards or so, he should have a short rest and then do 50 or 100 yards at top speed, swimming, if possible, with three or four others. By this means, the racing and competitive spirit is developed with complete physical fitness. A short rest, and then another burst of about 50 yards will complete the workPREPARING FOR RACES A week before a racing meet, the swimmer should have solid swims, plenty of liard work, and sprinting against others. The long swims are essential, as it is necessary to have a good foundation for the hard racing later in the racing season. The training programme of the distance swimmer should be similar to that of the sprinter. However, he should make his swims longer, and when he is tit plenty of racing over the distance, with others. Sprinting is also necessary to the distance man; otherwise his stroke is liable to become plow and he will get laggard in the water—a sure lead to staleness. After a meeting, rest from the water Is necessary for a couple of days, and then fast swims should be alternated with slow long swims, until a week before the next meeting, when once again fast work all the time, and, if possible, with other swimmers, is necessary. It is essential for the coach to impress upon his pupil the value of the long slow work at the start of the season. and also of at least one swim a day. Starting and turning are also of great importance, and practice at this should be carried out for a. few minutes each day. It is the fault of a great number of swimmers to try to improve their style of stroke by copying others. Now, unless the stroke is very crude, these tactics are not only useless, but harmful. It is quite common for a swimmer to waste many valuable minutes practising a stroke because Arne Rorg. “Boy” Charlton, or some other top-notcher swims like it. When one starts swimming he must adopt a stroke to suit himself, and this he must develop. All that is needed is the foundation of a stroke, and this one must develop. The stroke must be natural and not a copy.