Swimming Teams To Be Taught New Crawl Lately Developed By Japanese

"The better aspects of the Japanese crawl, a modified and specialized form of the Australian crawl, will be used extensively by the Harvard swimming teams this winter," Coach Ulen said Saturday. In taking this action, Harvard will be the first Eastern college to adopt this style.

Much attention was attracted to the Japanese style of swimming at the recent Olympic games, held in Los Angeles during the summer of 1932. At that time, the Nippon team, a hitherto rather mediocre squad, showed a sudden speed and stamina which swept all opposition before it and gained the swimming crown for the Japanese.

In an attempt to discover why the great swimmers of Europe and America had been beaten, the coaches carefully studied the little men as they plowed through the water. They found that the crawl used by the Japanese was fundamentally the same as the so-called Australian crawl; but since the Japanese race is composed of small men, certain modifications had been made which were adapted to the shorter arm movememt of the swimmers. In the first place, the Japanese were completely relaxed in the water. There was no tension of any part; every muscle was loose and ready for work. To this lack of tension has been attributed much of the success of the team. There were more important reasons, however, for any swimmer realizes the advantage of complete relaxation.

The most striking difference in the Japanese style was the complete isolation of the arm from the rest of the body. In the forward stroke, the shoulder, instead of following the arm, remained almost stationary. This caused the body to lie flat in the water, and the consequent lack of rolling was instrumental in accelerating their speed. The downward pull of the arm through the water was shortened, and the recovery made faster. This resulted in both arms being in the water at the same down; with two sources of power instead of one, speed increased immensely.

The leg movement also underwent a change. Instead of timing their kicks with their strokes, the Japanese paid no attention to the beat. Their legs were moved up and down as fast as possible, at the discretion of the swimmer.

Coach Ulen stressed the point that every swimmer should not be required to adopt the Japanese style in its entirety. It would be foolish, he said, to try to change the style of men who are already excellent swimmers. It is only in improving the form of members of the squad that the Japanese crawl will be used. Although this style was originally adapted to the use of small men, it is agreed that taller swimmers can use it to equal advantage.