I NOTED SWIMMER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 21014, 18 April 1938, Page 6

I NOTED SWIMMER

Norman Wainwright In Timaru NEW ZEALAND NEEDS MORE TEPID BATHS The standard of swimming in New Zealand is not likely to show any marked general improvement until the sport is in a position to erect more tepid pools, and to employ professional coaches, according to Mr Norman Wainwright, holder of all English and British swimming records for distances between 150 yards and a mile, who is visiting Timaru and is at the Grosvenor. Mr Wainwright, who is on a business visit to New Zealand in the interests of Richard Tiles Ltd. and Edward Jones, large manufacturing firms in Stoke-on-Trent, England, came out to Australia for the Empire Games and will leave the Dominion on May 17 for Canada, where he hopes to spend a month. Since his arrival in New Zealand a fortnight ago, Mr Wainwright has given exhibition swims in Invercargill and Dunedin, but he does not intend to swim here as Timaru does not possess a tepid bath. A poisoned hand spoilt Mr Wainwright’s chances of lifting one of the swimming titles at the Sydney Empiad. the injury keeping him out of the water for eight days and hampering him when he did compete later. However, he had the satisfaction of defeating some of the Games title holders a week later at Melbourne. There he beat Leivers, the winner of the 1650 yards Empire title, the time being 4secs outside the record, which could be attributed to the fact that the Olympic Pool in Melbourne, where the race was held, is generally regarded as being slow due to the shallowness of the water. Leivers, incidentally, also hails from Stoke-on-Trent, but he swims for a different club from Mr T. Wainwright. He also beat the South African, Collard, who was second in the 110 yards at the Games, equalling the time in which the race was won at Sydney. The time equalled the record for the bath, which was established about three years ago by a visiting Japanese swimmer. Advice to Young Swimmers Discussing New Zealand swimming, Mr Wainwright said the Dominion required more tepid pools. “Swimming is not just a summer sport,” he said. “If you want to be any good, you must be in the water all the year round, and that is impossible without tepid pools.” The sport was more popular in England now than it had ever been, and new baths were being erected all over the country. In Stoke-on-Trent there were seven tepid baths, he added. In a word of advice to competitive swimmers, Mr Wainwright said to get into championship class required a great deal of hard work. “Training is the only secret I know,” he said. “When I started I used to train for periods of from 30 to 45 minutes three times a day, every day, winter and summer. Even now, I try to spend at least one hour every day in the water.” He added that he found the most satisfactory time for training was 3 o'clock in the afternoon or 11 o’clock in the morning.

“Keep at your training and watch your style. It is not a question of strength. If your style is not right that you can't get speed,” was Mr Wainwright’s advice to beginners. He will leave Timaru to-morrow for Christchurch, where he hopes to do some swimming.