THE BACK STROKE SWIMMING No one stroke, however, is good for all occasions and for all purposes. Swimming-strokes are like clothes ; one does not get on comfortably with only one suit. If the side-stroke is the day garment of the swimmer, the old trousers and sweater in which he does his rough work is the back-stroke. The stroke is not ornamental, but it is the one stroke that a tired swimmer can cling to when everything else fails. Swimming on the back is of all methods the most like floating, and the one therefore which keeps the swimmer up with the least ertion. Since it is the easiest of all strokes to swim with the legs alone, it is the best of all strokes whenever one must have his hands free, either to strip off his own clothing or to assist another person ashore. Moreover, in spite of its awkwardness, it is surprisingly fast, much faster than the breast-stroke ; while for many per sons it is the easiest of all strokes to learn. By all means, then, if ever we are likely to swim in open water outside a shallow tank, let us master the back stroke.
The back-stroke lends itself especially well to learning without water. In fact, it is the only stroke which, without spe cial apparatus, can be swum correctly and comfortably in the air. It is, besides, in all essentials the breast-stroke made easy. For these two reasons, it is a waste of time to attempt the breast-stroke before the back-stroke is well learned.
For the kick of the back-stroke : Lie on floor or couch, face up, hands at side, legs straight and side by side, toes turned down. This is the " slide " position, in which the body will rest when moving by its own momentum. Through the follow ing exercises, the heels are to be kept in contact with the surface on which the pupil lies. Draw up the feet, heels together, until they come to the spot where the knees were. The thighs should now make about a right angle with each other; that is to say, the knees will be something like a foot and a half apart. Straighten the legs, and at the same time carry the feet as far as possible away from each other, until at the finish, the legs and body together form a Y. This is the most difficult part of the
stroke. It is also the most difficult part of the breast-stroke, which is, in this respect, exactly like it. Most persons who try to learn to swim and fail, fail at this point.
Small boys usually do it to perfection ; women, unless they have been taught with unusual care, rarely do it at all. Without it, no speed is possible.
Unfortunately, the movement is diffi cult to describe. The motion is not a mere straightening of the legs, but a sortofflick of the lower leg from the knee. The feet travel in a curve, and each gets as promptly and as far as possible from its mate. Like the corresponding snap of the arm which puts the pace on a thrown ball, this peculiar motion comes with time and trying— or does not come at all. In the meantime, the foot, starting with the toes drawn up toward the shin, has returned to the posi tion which it has in standing.
Now comes the second point at which many swimmers, especially women, go wrong in the breast-stroke. The legs must not simply float back to the slide position; they must be snapped back hard. The drive of the leg-stroke comes from the re action of the wedge of water held between the forks of the Y. In this part of the kick, the feet are held as during the preceding part, at right angles with the shin ; but the outer side is turned a little back of the in ner, so that the sole of the foot catches the water like the blade of a screw-propeller. Pointing the toes downward tends to float the feet higher in the water.
The description of this leg-stroke often given, that it is like the leg-stroke of a swimming frog, is totally wrong. Frog and man recover a good deal alike. But the frog, after drawing up its legs, spreads its umbrella feet and kicks straight back. Its stroke is : up — back ; one — two. The man's stroke is : up — out — together ; one — two — three ; quite a different mat ter. The frog gets the push from the soles of the feet; the man from the inside of the leg.