CHAPTER V

SWIMMING, ROWING, AND WATER POLO

$Swimming.$--A glance at some books of instruction conveys the impression that swimming is difficult and complicated; but many boys learn in three or four days, and we know a timid boy who had much to overcome in fear of the water who learnt in fourteen without more aid than he obtained from reading directions in books. It is easier to learn in a tepid indoor bath, because the novice is not worried by having to keep himself warm, and he has the rail, a sure bottom, and the side of the bath to help him. A friendly companion who will support his chest with one hand at first, especially if he can instruct him too, will shorten the period of learning. There is no need to go into deep water, nor to run any risks in learning to swim.

The action of the arms may be practised in or out of the water. Draw the arms to the chest with the elbows touching the sides. Close the fingers and thumb of each hand, and make the hands slightly hollow. The hands will be under the chin and the hollowed palms downwards. Push them out in front of your nose, not vigorously, but quietly and steadily, for so far the action is one that retards the swimmer rather than advances him. Once at their full extent, however, the hands should be turned almost back to back, and then each should be swept away from the other in a semi-circle, something like the action of the oars when a boat is being rowed. When the elbows touch the body the stroke ends, and the hands should go back to their position under the chin ready for another stroke.

More important than the arms in swimming are the legs, but their movements are very simple and easy to learn. Grasp the rail that runs round the bath with one hand and place the other hand flat upon the side of the bath about a foot below. Draw the legs up to the body, with the heels touching each other, toes of each foot turned outwards, the toes of the right foot to the right, the toes of the left foot to the left. Keep the knees wide apart and turned outwards. When the legs have been drawn up as far as possible the soles of the feet should be only just under the water. Now shoot both legs out vigorously, not only as far as they will go, but as widely asunder as you can spread them. Then bring the heels smartly together so that the legs return in a line with the body again. This last movement is very important, for it is in displacing the wedge of water between the widely opened legs that the body receives its forward impulse. Writers upon swimming have likened this action to the flight of the slippery orange pip when it is squeezed in the fingers of the school-boy.

When the use of arms and legs is practised together the legs are drawn up and the hands are placed under the chin at the same time, and the hands and legs are sent out from the body together. The head should be thrown back well, and it will help the learner to do this if he looks at the sky or at the ceiling of the bath when he is learning.

It is easier to swim upon the back than upon the chest. The movement of the legs is the same, and the movement of the hands not very different. Lie backwards upon the water and with the hands together stretch the arms behind the head, palms upwards, thumbs touching. Then sweep the hands away from each other, using them like oars, and so bringing them back with a wide curve to the hips. Upon the back it is possible to swim without the use of the arms at all.

Learning to swim makes one sadly out of breath, but with practice the art becomes easy, and we swim with almost as much ease as we walk. Having learned plain swimming it is not difficult to add gradually the numerous other methods of propelling the body through the water.

$Rowing.$--To watch and imitate a good rower is the best way to acquire a good style, but a few hints will help. Sit squarely upon the seat and stretch your legs straight before you, but with your toes turned out slightly. Rowers are not agreed about the knees. Some keep them together; others have them apart, and they will tell you that this arrangement permits the body to come further forward over the knees. Your feet should be placed firmly against the stretcher, and this must be let out or shortened, to suit the length of the rower. One foot may be placed in the strap which is often attached to the stretcher. The outside hand is placed upon the handle of the oar, with the thumb as well as the fingers above it, while the other hand grasps it firmly lower down, keeping the nut towards you. The arms are now quickly thrust forward till they are quite straight at the elbows, after which the back follows the arms by bending forward at the hips. Be careful, however, to avoid round shoulders. When your hands have reached their full stretch raise them, and the blade will drop quietly into the water. Then with the water just covering the blade, the body is brought back with a strong but not clumsy movement, till it reaches a little beyond the perpendicular of the back of the seat, when the hands are brought back to the ribs, the elbows gliding near the hips; and at the last moment, as the hand touches the ribs, the wrist of the inside hand is lowered, the knuckles being at the same time brought against the chest, and the oar is made to revolve in the rowlock. This is called "feathering" the oar, a process by which it is brought neatly out of the water. Now push the oar rapidly forward again, first, however, restoring it to its original position in the rowlock. This is done by raising the wrist, and then darting the arms forward till the elbows are quite straight. Now the rower is at his starting point. To "back water" these actions are reversed. The oar is first reversed in the rowlock, and then it is pushed through the water with as much power as is needed, and pulled through the air. When the oars on one side are pulled, and those on the other are backed, the boat is made to turn round completely in a small space. Expert rowers have arrived at the following maxims: Straighten the arms before bending the body forward; drop the oar neatly into the water; draw the oar straight through at the same depth; feather the oar cleanly, and without bringing the oar out before doing so; use the back and shoulders freely, keeping the arms as straight as possible; keep your eyes fixed on the rower before you. By this means the body is almost sure to swing backwards and forwards regularly in a straight line. If you look out of the boat you will probably lose this rhythmic motion.

$Sculling.$--This process is different from that of rowing in that the sculler has a scull for each hand, whereas the rower uses both hands for one oar. The rower sits near the side of the boat, the sculler in the centre of the seat. The sculls are lighter than oars, the action quicker. There are from thirty to forty strokes a minute in sculling, but the average is about thirty-two. The boy who goes out sculling alone is often his own steerer, and so needs to keep a sharp look-out over his shoulder. Having taken a seat in the centre, stretch out your legs to their fullest extent and adjust the stretcher. Grasp the sculls, one in each hand, by the handles, and bend your body forward until your head is well over your knees. Throw your arms well forward, and straight, so that the sculls will be thrown well backwards. Then dip the sculls, try to keep the dip uniform, and pull hard.

The stroke comes to an end when the elbows are brought to the top of the hips, and the hands to the chest, with the body well back as a result of the strong pull. The sculls are "feathered" as they leave the water by the depressing of the elbows and the bending upwards of the wrists, as the back of the hands are turned towards the forearms, an operation which offers the least resistance to the water when releasing the sculls to obtain the position known as the return, that is, the position to begin again. To turn a boat in the water the sculler must back water with one scull and pull with the other. To do this one scull is reversed, its rounded face being towards the rear as the sculler pushes it from him. At the same time pull sharply with the other scull until the boat's head has been turned round completely. Boats without rudders are managed in the water, either by pulling both sides alike, in which case the boat moves in a straight line, or by reversing the action of the oars, equally on both sides, pushing them through the water instead of pulling them, and called backing water. In this case the boat recedes. By pulling one side only, the boat describes a part of a circle, which is made smaller by pulling one oar, and backing the other. By means of a rudder the boat may be made to take almost any direction without reference to the rowers.

A few experiments with a rudder will soon demonstrate what its powers are.

$Water Polo.$--Boys who can swim will find this excellent sport. Each player should provide himself with a sound cask. Place it upon its side and weight it with lead or other material, making this ballast fast so that it cannot move about. Now make the cask quite water-tight. Upon one end fix a horse's head made of wood, upon the other a tail. These features may be made as extravagant and comic as the owner pleases. Get a paddle like a canoe paddle, and astride of this horse take to the water. Choose sides as at football and have for goals stakes driven into the bed of the river or floating objects moored into position. The ball should be a light hollow india-rubber one, or a bladder from the butcher. Some players use the inner part of a football. The paddle both strikes the ball and propels the steed. This game should never be played unless the players are accompanied by a capable person in a boat who can go to the assistance of those who may be in difficulties.