SWIMMING ON THE BACK The great importance of back swimming has been little recognised by swimmers. Very great attention is paid to the faster methods of progression, championships and ordinary races for every conceivable distance having been promoted; back swimming, however, the knowledge of which is of primary im portance in saving life, has been utterly neglected. Fast side stroke swimming is of small value in saving life unless other methods of progression are known to the swimmer, and it has not unfrequently happened that the purely speed swimmer has had either to release his hold of a drowning person or else to call for help himself.
Back swimming can be easily acquired by any person able to swim on the breast, for the movements are almost identical, and it is surprising that the leaders of the sport in England, who are all practical swimmers, have not before this made some effort to encourage regular practice in that branch of the art which has proved of eminent service in saving life.
The best method of learning back swimming is to stand in water which reaches up to the waist, then spread the arms out on a level with the shoulder, fall gently backwards on to the water, and as the legs leave the bottom take a slight spring so as to impart impetus to the body. In the first stroke the arms should be brought round almost to the side, the hands being kept in such a position that the thumbs are nearest the surface, and at the same time the leg-stroke should be carried out in exactly the same manner as in breast-stroke swimming. In bringing the arms back to first position the hands should be turned palm downwards, so as to offer less resistance. The more perfect form of this method is to make a sculling motion with the arms, the hands being brought towards the sides of the body during the effective portion of the leg-kick, and pushed outwards when the legs are being bent ready for the next kick. The tip of each hand describes a sort of double loop.
The fastest and best style of back swimming is performed in the following manner : —In diving to begin the stroke, as soon as the body has entered the water it is turned face up wards with a jerk, the arms still being kept extended beyond the head. Upon rising to the surface the arms are brought round on either side, fully extended, with the hands flat and at right angles to the surface so as to catch the water. Each hand thereby makes a great sweep of a third of a circle. While this is being done the legs are bent ready for the kick. The hand, thumb upwards, is brought out of the water about six inches from the hips, and is taken a complete semicircle through the air, the arm meantime being kept straight. As the hand travels forward it should be turned round as far as can be managed in order to bring the palm slightly downward and the thumb upward, so that the hand may catch the water like the float of a paddle-wheel.
The hands, when entering the water, should be from six inches to a foot apart, not close together, for the body would then be retarded slightly at the beginning of the arm-stroke. The legs should be kept near the surface, the head resting in the water. As in breast swimming, there are two movements in this stroke. While the leg-kick is pro pelling the body the arms are being recovered. All inspira tions are taken during the first portion of the arm-stroke. A powerful leg-kick is important, but when the arms are used nothing is gained by an over-long sweep. The recovery of the arms should be accomplished smartly, as the less time they are out of the water the better for the buoyancy of the body. A slight variation of this method is made by bending both arms at the elbows as they leave the water, and carrying them the air thus bent to recommence the stroke instead of keeping then, straight. This is useful when swimming a -distance. • The same method of recovery of the hands is used when swimming on the back under water, but in the propelling move ment the arms are brought more towards the surface than to the side, so that the body may be kept beneath the surface.
There are many slightly different styles which are practised. such as taking each arm-stroke alternately with a kick of the legs between, or swimming with the hands on the hips, folded across the chest, or behind the back. By practising the alternate arm-stroke a swimmer can acquire what may prac tically be termed a Trudgen stroke on the back, and this will give him increased speed for racing purposes.
When saving life the body cannot be kept in the same position as when swimming on the back in the ordinary fashion. The legs have to be inclined towards the bottom at a greater angle, in order to be moved freely without coining into contact with the body of the drowning person. The action of the thighs is necessarily limited, and the best method of swimming when thus hampered is to move the legs from the downwards in semicircular sweeps, never actually closing the legs together. If the ordinary back-stroke kick of the legs be used, the rescuer will in his efforts to retain hold of the drowning subject sink, at intervals, below the surface. It is therefore, ithportant that every swimmer Should practise -the life-saving kick, so as to be able to render assistance when -necessary, and to learn it the arms should be folded across the chest, and the legs kept in continuous motion by short sharp kicks and never quite closed together.
One of the fastest back swimmers in England at the present time is Mr. R. A. Crawshaw, of the Mayfield Amateur Swim ming Club, Manchester, to whom we are •indebted for many valuable hints on the subject.