The Leg Movement
The legs are moved up and down in a continuous action, and not necessarily in co-ordination with the arms, the motions being free from the hips and not from the knees, keeping the legs straight, without having them bent much at the knees (a fault almost all beginners have) and pointing the toes out straight.
However, after the swimmer has mastered the leg action, he can bend slightly at the knees, in order to get the sort of propelling movements necessary to help move the body in its steady pace through the water. But remember, the legs do not play so large a part in the crawl stroke as the arm movements, and are used mostly to keep them afloat and accelerate the run, and the fellow who gets it into his head that the more work and greater fuss he makes with his legs the faster he will go, will soon find that he is retarding his movements and not getting the full speed.
While there are definite and fixed movements for the crawl, hardly two swimmers use the stroke exactly alike, but all of them must nearly approach the proper position in the water, get good balance, breathe regularly and with precision on each stroke, and relax more in the crawl than any of the other strokes, if a clean, easy movement through the water is desired.
The Recognized Methods of the Crawl Stroke
There are two methods of swimming the crawl stroke that are generally accepted by expert swimmers and master coaches, the one being referred to as the straight crawl, where the swimmer lies very flat on the water, with but very little roll in order to breathe, and uses a six-beat kick, which the majority think is the best method for sprinting, say, from 50 to 220 yards, and the other being called the Trudge-crawl, using a four-beat kick, the under leg being used with a short scissor or Trudge kick, and the swimmer rolling more than on the straight crawl, and the action of legs not being as fast, this latter method is considered best for middle and longer distances.
L. deB. Handley of the New York Athletic Club, a recognized authority on swimming matters, and a man who has had a lot to do with the coaching of many good amateur swimmers, both men and women, and who has spent considerable time in connection with the study of the crawl stroke, has proposed the following suggestion in connection with the crawl method, which the author cheerfully endorses:
“It has been my aim for several years to have universally accepted a swimming nomenclature that would be descriptive, in as much as possible, and I have classified the strokes under the styles of: crawl, for a leg thrash of even scope; single Trudgeon-crawl, for leg thrash with one major and one or more minor kicks, and double Trudgeon-crawl, for a thrash with two major kicks (double rhythm) or two such kicks and minor ones; then add two, or four, or six-beat, to indicate the number of movements per full stroke. That gives to a swimmer a pretty clear idea of a man’s stroke without further explanation, while such names as Australian, American, rotary, etc., mean nothing unless every detail is added.
Swimmers who want to take up a more thorough and deeper study of the crawl stroke than given herein, should read the “Symposium of the Crawl,” in “Speed Swimming,” No. 36R of Spalding’s Athletic Library, price 25 cents.
