Show ! ' !t It f THE OGDEN STANDARD EXAMINER SUNDAY MORNING JUNE 21 1931 1 i! 1 -- m 1 IfJ ii ?' How the Art of Swimming m 'v s 7V': v 1 Been Revolutionized With the Introduction of Eight Foot Beats to I f Cycle of the Arms V y' $ i? sr ' Z'M’ Edward Keating in Center Winner of' the Lake George Swimming Marathon Instructing Youngsters in the Correct Arm Movement in the American Crawl - ' V Embryo crawlers fell into a faster kick than Cavill’s From the very first drive they acquired a four-beThroughout the country coathes and contestants took up the crawl experimentally Because so little was known of it all kinds of ideas were tested The one idea of that period which proved valuable was conceived by Frank Sullivan of Chicago later coach at Princeton University Sullivan believed as many did those days that the crawl was solely a sprinting stroke He reasoned that all around efficiency could be gained by using the wide scissors kick of the trudgeon and adding three very narrow crawl beats This stroke named the trudgeon-crawas brought into high repute by some of Sullivan’s pupils It became very popular and for a few years was the medium of our competitors O The then new and untried threatened for a while to remain in the realm of unexplored theories as coaches and contestants were almost unamimous in declaring the conceived thrash to be entirely too fast and tiring ever to be maintained adequately for more than 100 yards or so And then came assistance from an unexpected source ' The Women’s Swimming Association of Ne'ftr York had launched on its meteoric career and commenced to be a factor in the shaping of events In the face of overwhelmingly adverse expert opinion two leading champions of the organization ‘Miss Charlotte Boyle first then Miss Claire Galligan gamely undertook to give the condemned stroke a trial And to these enterprising fair pioneers unquestionably we owe the V at I $ ( ' ' Sr “s" " : N :vrsk--s-- x j wl " sm ? r ' N six-be- at - T’Ci r Clarence Crabbe Who Won the Mile Event at the National A A U Meet in San Francisco Is Here Photographed American Crawl & n Stw Swimming the maids of Albion were foremost at the time These standards were bracketed at 1:17 and 6:51 as against the latest universal marks of 1:01 and 5:31 established this year by Miss Helpne marvel of Madison seventeen-year-ol- d the Washington Athletic Club of’ Seattle The approximate difference in distance indicated by the old and new yards at the cenfigures is thirty-fiv- e one hundred and yards at the tury V I j- - - quarter mile It may seem presumptuous to claim that full credit for this extraordinary improvement is due Americans for the original crawl was first used by the natives of the Solomon and Hawaiian Isles But the claim is warranted nevertheless the latest and most efficient styles of crawl wrere developed s in American waters - s J sf & j If vWXvaViavsOi'vv- : " i jj A i Ethel McGary Who Won Long Distance Championship Races Using Botli Eight-Bea- t Foot and Ten-BeMovement to Gain Speed Miss - at proficiency cover any faster and is possible Who Introduced Footwork to the Crawl in Swimming Contests Miss Charlotte Boyle the Six-Be- at By L lc B Haiidley of Women's American Olympic Team of 1932 Coaclt years have TWENTY-FIVpresent writing since famous American swimmers first used the crawl successfully in competition and it is interesting on the silver anniversary to glance back over the amazing national and international results brought about by the introduction and development of the new stroke in America Prior to 1906 the United States trailed far behind other nations in the natatorial sport Charles M Daniels then a devotee of the trudgeon was the only American champion approaching other topnotchers in skill The rest of the American title holders did not rate above mediocrity But no sooner did the crawl become popular than contestants of both sexes began to show striking progress Within a few years they forced their- way to the top and established International leadership by defeating all comers in Olympic contests Then the American crawl gradually found its way to the most remote corners of the globe Eventually it served to revolutionize swimming Today immature boys and girls are able by means of it to outdo the feats achieved by famous men and women exponents of other strokes Far more important those who gain E 'if 4 O "BA - in the American crawl can For better understanding of the subthat the arm ject it needs be explained movements of the crawl are the same xs those of the trudgeon stroke which preceded it except for negligible minor y changes so that everything accomplished must be ascribed to alterations in the leg drive the distinguishing feature among the trudgeon and the several varieties of crawl These alterations it may be added' have consisted of a gradual narrowing and quickening of the action Richmond Cavill of Australia introduced the crawl in the modern racing field some thirty years ago He learned it from Aleck Wickman a native of the Solomons who had taken residence in Sydney arid brought it worldwide notice by swimming 100 yards in close to 58 seconds the first swimmer known to have beaten one minute for the clas- - great leap forward which resulted In 1918 they startled aquatic circles by 2-- A A v WCV ' ' AS V AV vf three-hundr- ed -' r ’ VX- s s y4' Newspaper Feature Service A six-be- at rd A 2-- to reap laurels in the national 440-yachampionship fthen to shatter records j up to one mile a practical demon- stration so convincing that the most skeptical were forced to revise their views tenable reasonable distance a lot with much less effort than with the older strokes so they are a deal better fitted for selfprotection and lifesaving Loss of life by drowning therefore has been immeasurably reduced in recent years Of the tremendous strides made since its advent the official world’s records speak eloquently In 1905 the men’s standards for the more featured listed at 57 regulation events were5 minutes 26 5 100 seconds for yards seconds for 440 years and 25 minutes 24 5 seconds for one mile At present John Weissmuller former ace of the Illinois Athletic Club of Chicago ' 'jvJiZ 'w holds the mark for the cenA$!&'K tury at 0:51 John Taris vv the of France that for V'AVS“'V 5 e at 457 quarter-miland Clarence Crabbe of the Los Angeles Athletic Club that for the mile at 21:27 If the creators of the quoted tvro sets of records could be brought together in actual contest the present holders would defeat the oldtimers by fully twelve yards at the ? century nearly sixty yards -- V over r well and the at quarter yards at the y mile Even greater has been ? the progress among memv bers of the fair sex While in fl905 the classic tests for women included no race longer than 500 yards and no world’s records for maids were registered the British standards for 100 and 440 Ilelene Madison Seventeen-year-ol- d Marvel of the Washington Athletic Club means safe afford a All Holds Who Most Seattle of of the Free Style Records yards of comparison as the mer for Women 2-- un- - using the supposedly 1931 I ' The stroke won recognition at home later abroad But another star of the Diagram Showing Movement of Both Arm and Foot in the American Crawl sic and gruelling century sprint Cavill however did not imitate Wickham faithfully The latter executed four scissoring kicks technically termed “beats” to each full cycle of the arms Cavill performed two kicks only per stroke and combined them with an exceedingly fast choppy arm drive The whirlwind action caused him to ride unusually high in the water and led to the christening of the stroke the “crawl” t kick which presCavill’s two-beently came to be known as the Australia crawl passed into oblivion when the American crawl proved its superiority Somewhat hazy descriptions of Cavill’s leg drive reached U3 late in 1903 Then one day members of the New York Athletic Club racing team saw the club instructor Gus Sundstrom give an exhibition of what he called swordfish arms Head submerged swimming thrust idly forward Sundstrom used for propulsion a swift fluttering motion of the feet Some of the Winged Footers were impressed by the similarity of leg thrash to what they had read of Cavill’s Their last doubt was set at rest when Sundstrom a former sailor told them he had picked up Hie trick in the South Seas A few immediately proceeded to try the thrash in connection with the trudgeon arm movements Thus the American crawl was born ' -- A at Sund-strom- ’s noted association was des- tined to write a fresh page in the history of swimming before long In 1922 when the belief marked had taken root that the human of the limit potentialities in the a of way rapid leg drive Miss Ethel Me Gary 'created a sensation by discrawl in winning playing the eight-beHie national championship over a course Two years later Miss McGary again surprised by capturing the long distance title test using on this occasion the ten-beNowadays the majority of racing naiads hold to the eight-beand men contestants are displaying it in steadily increasing numbers It was the eight-beby the way which made it possible for Miss Gertrude Ederle also developed from novicehood by the New York association to conquer the English Channel and beat all previous records for the historical course though handicapped by the roughest water ever encountered by swimmers on the course has not found many The ten-berecruits to date but its advent is so recent that there is no telling what its future may be More and more swimming is being taught in childhood when muscles are most adaptable As Americans standardized the four-bebefore catching a glimpse of the then exponents of the original crawl developed the six eight and ten-bethere can be no doubt they are entitled to full credit for the wonderful strides made in swimming during the last " I six-be- at - : at three-and-a-half-m- ile at at i W'Ai at f) at at : at i urn quarter of a century — Li - 4 |