synchronised swimming

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The Submarine and other swimming tricks

periscopeI am always looking for ways to make my swimming lessons more fun so I try to include tricks and games. This is for several reasons:  it makes the experience more enjoyable for everyone involved, including me;  people learn more when they try new things; being a competent and confident swimmer involves more than just swimming from a to b.

So I was rather delighted to read that swimming star Annette Kellermann, aka the Diving Venus, was advocating swimming games one hundred years ago. In her 1918 book How to Swim she recommends various interesting activities including: The Steamboat, the Rolling Log, The Corkscrew, Mothers Old Charm, Spinning the Top, The Bicycle, The Wheel, Two Man Somersault, The Pendulum,  The Submarine and one which I have to admit I have not tried called ‘Bound Hand and Foot.

I am completely with Kellermann when she says

‘Swimming must not be taken too seriously.’  but that it should be a joyful experience.  although she does also warn that some of the tricks she describes are not for the ‘raw amateur‘.

Imagine my surprise when I looked closely at this photograph taken on Boxing Day and realised that there is someone executing what I imagine is a full blown ‘submarine‘ with leg as periscope.

 

 

 

 

 

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Face in the water

face

Many people tell me before they come to their fist swimming lesson that they can’t put their face in the water. So far every single adult I have ever taught has been able to do it within about five minutes of arriving at the lesson. Some people have had a fear of this for years but for some reason, and with a little bit of guidance they are always able to do it. I am not sure exactly how many people I have taught but it is certainly in the hundreds.

Children are quite a different matter. They will not put their faces in the water until they are ready for it. This may take five minutes or it could take several months or longer. You absolutely cannot persuade a reluctant child to do it if they don’t want to. This is one of the main ways in which teaching children differs from teaching adults.

To learn to swim you do really need to be able to put your face in the water. This is a simple matter of physics. Our bodies are less dense than water, but only slightly. That means that most people float (there are some very rare exceptions). But any part of the body that is held out of the water is heavy. This means that you cannot float without doing something. If your head is out of the water you have to move your arms or legs to keep you afloat. If your face is in the water you don’t have to do anything.

It takes time to learn what the resistance of the water feels like, how to ‘catch’ the water, and how much effort you need to use to propel yourself forward, or to keep your head out of the water.  Once you have learned to swim it is easy to swim with your face out of the water, but to learn to swim this way is not impossible, but quite difficult.

As I say I have never had any problem at all persuading any adult, however scared they are, to put their face in the water. This is never a stumbling block. But there is a point where many people get stuck and that is in allowing themselves to float. Many people find it very difficult to let go and allow the water to hold them.

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Men who swim: Swedish synchronised swimmers

I first learned about these Swedish male synchronised swimmers through the Storyville documentary Sync or Swim.  Film maker Dylan Williams got together a group of more or less ordinary, unglamourous middle aged men, formed a team, found a teacher and trained in this sport that is usually practised only by women. The formed the Stockholm Gents Synchronised Swimming Team and much to their surprise ended up as world champions, partly because there was so little competition!

They have since been campaigning to have synchronised swimming for men included as an Olympic Sport.

o