Old Age, Gender and Physical Activity The 'older the more valuable' Philosophy and Golf The Allurement of Golf The Moral Value of Golf Every Golfer His Own Doctor The Up Swing - Golf Different forms of Swing - Golf The Making of a Putting Green A Few Golf Maxims Watering Greens The Right and the Left Hand "Strength is Health”: George Barker Windship Health Through Sport Learning to Svim Svimming Learning to Svim - Complete Confidence of Pupil Swimming - Dog Fashion The Great American Spa Boom How to Train the Body for Health and Poise Medicine, Science and Sport Running Back to Nature The Changing Face of Rugby League The Bicycle and Tricycle as Aids to Health and Recreation Passive Smoking What is Strength? Health Insurance Decisions What Makes Man a Sprinter? What to Fish for in February? Sport and its Economic and Social Importance Use of Weights for Health Long live the Revolution British Football Does Ageing Drive Health Expenditures Medicare: Policy Issues Indoor Training for Outdoor Sport Starting and Starters Insured versus Not Insured A Case for Bilateral Taxation and Amenity Rights Theories of the Universe Babylonian Astrology The Wrath of Heaven The Displaced Zodiac and the Beginnings of Astronomy The Duty of the Son of Heaven: Orientation Time Was Once Relative Why Mohammed Needed Astronomers Hamburgers - Sunday and Holiday Variations	Learning to Svim The basic principles concerning the teaching of swimming to the physically handicapped are the same as those for the non-handicapped. One must first of all become acquainted with the water, and then movements are taught with modifications corresponding to the pupil’s possibilities. A) Becoming acquainted with the water At first contact with the water, the pupil, finding himself relieved of all his artificial aids, must enter the water progressively by a stair-way if possible. It is preferable that he enters the water independently after being splashed with water. If necessary he will go down the steps into the water in a sitting position, “walking on his hands”, provided he is able to and that he does not risk injuring his skin. (Paraplegics must pay particular attention to this delicate aspect of themselves.) If this is not possible, he must be carried and gently lowered into the water until the whole body is submerged up to the head, in a standing, sitting or lying down position according to the depth of the water and the convenience of the pupil. It must then be made certain that the pupil is well positioned at the base of the pool, on his feet or sitting with his hands on the bottom of the pool, or lying with his elbows on the bottom, with the shoulders and neck also in the water and only the chin upwards above the water. In this position he must be made to take deep breaths through the mouth, watching that he empties his lungs well. This is very important. Everyone concerned with swimming knows the degree of importance breathing has in swimming, and this is why from the very beginning one must learn to control one’s breathing and use only the mouth. It is the reverse of breathing on land. When in the water, breathing must always be through the mouth and never through the nose. One can well imagine how unpleasant and even dangerous it is to receive a wave in the face when about to breath through the nose. If on the other hand the wave arrives in the mouth at the moment of inhalation, it is very easy to spit out or swallow the water, as, in spite of all that is said about the water only being for external use, everyone has at some time swallowed it or spat it out. If possible, it is better for the handicapped person to enter the water by himself. From the outset therefore the habit of breathing through the mouth must be adopted, exhalation through the nose only being allowed occasionally to rid the nostrils of and prevent the penetration of the water. The nose clips worn by many swimmers, even in the international class, can be used to acquire this habit. The few deep breaths taken at the beginning are aimed at relaxing the body muscles, in particular those of the chest. It has often been remarked that when the pupil enters the water for the first time, he puffs his chest out, filling his lungs with air which he will not empty completely. He merely takes short and insufficient breaths to renew the air in his lungs. This is understandable when one thinks that at the first contact with water the body is surprised not only by the relatively cold water but above all by the weight of the latter. Near the surface, each square decimetre of the chest supports a pressure of approximately one kilogramme, totalling an appreciable weight, according to the size of the chest. It is a detail which one forgets very quickly and about which one is not even aware after a few seconds. But the beginner, entering the water for the first time puffs his chest out instinctively to combat this pressure. The few preliminary breathing exercises not only relax the beginner, but also help him lose some of the unconscious apprehension caused by the pressure of the water. These deep breaths should not be too numerous: no more than 5 or 6, because of the risk of muscular spasm or an attack of fainting, especially for spastics. It is above all important to empty the lungs completely. One must learn to blow in the water. This brings us to the following exercises which have countless possibilities and may include all sorts of games which have one aim, to give confidence to the beginner and teach him to put his head in the water. This is essential. If a pupil claims that he should not put his head in the water on the advice of a doctor, he should not be taught to swim. In fact, this would expose him to definite danger, as whether he wants to or not, a swimmer is forced at one time or another to put his head under water, if only when a wave passes over him. These cases are rare; we have come across two and they were otherwise physically normal; they had deep perforations in the ears. Once the beginner knows how to put his head into the water, he must learn to leave it under for 10 to 15 seconds, then to take it out and put it back under several times in a row, breathing out under water and breathing in above the water. The time during which his head is immersed should be longer than that above the water. In other words breathing in by the mouth should be rapid and breathing out under water should be prolonged so as to correspond with the rhythm of breathing when swimming the crawl, breast-stroke etc., and to arrive at the point where respiration becomes automatic. It is necessary to learn to use the eyes under water, which eliminates some of the fear; while the eyes remain shut one might as well be blind. The pupil should then be taught to float, without moving or making the slightest action, both face down in the water and on the back. At this point the instructor can determine the beginner’s ability to float. The degree of this ability varies from one individual to another; lean people float less easily than plump people. The ability to float also depends on the level of salt in the water; in his book “Des nageurs et des records” (Swimmers and records), François Oppenheim writes: “A swimming pool 25 m by 12 m. 50, with an average depth of 2 metres contains 600 cubic metres of water. With 38 grammes of salt to the litre (the most frequent density on the West Mediterranean coasts) the water in a similar pool would contain more than 22 tons of salt. With 16 g. to the litre, (average density in the Baltic) the water in the pool would contain less than 10 tons of salt. One can see straight away the difference in buoyancy according to the seas.” In sea water as salty as the Mediterranean, nearly everyone can float keeping competely still provided that they and especially their muscles are relaxed, and their lungs full of air. On the other hand, in fresh water, where the density is slightly less, one floats less well. Some can float horizontally and remain motionless even with their arms parallel to their bodies. For others, in fact very few, the legs sink down even with the arms held behind the head and the lungs full of air. The instructor himself should be able to demonstrate this floating exercise, aware of his own ability to float or balance in the water. For example, he should know where to put his hands so that his motionless and outstretched body floats horizontally, the feet remaining at the surface of the water whether floating on the back or the front. For many people the hands should be level with or behind the head, with the arms apart; otherwise, if the arms are brought back beside the body, one often finds that the legs sink down and the body slowly tilts up, even to the vertical position if one remains still for long enough. This is a question of the centre of gravity, which should be made to coincide with the centre of floatation by moving the arms so as to remain in the horizontal position. The lungs should generally be kept full of air, as in emptying them the body slowly sinks down. Certain people, noteably those with a large lung capacity may even control their level of floating in this way. The relationship between lung capacity and weight of the individual is very important in swimming. It is often this relationship which makes some people more gifted than others and allows some children to become champions. It is maintained that variations in the degee of floatation in the physically handicapped is even more accentuated depending on their disability. For example, for the majority of spastic paraplegics, the legs have the tendency to sink down, while some victims of poliomyelitis, paralysed in the legs, float so well that they have difficulty in returning to the vertical. For hemiplegics, in general the paralysed side sinks to such a degree that some are unable to float on the surface, at least at the beginning; whereas those with one or two legs amputated are able to float very much better than the non-handicapped of the same build. Most of those suffering brain damage but able to float sink immediately in the event of a spasm when the muscles contract. Basically the pattern is the same — the part of the body which is stiff or tense sinks down. Why does a tense limb not float while the same part floats when relaxed? We have not yet found a satisfactory answer to this question. While on the subject of floatation, we should mention the fact that several coloured African children we were fortunate enough to observe, appeared to have slightly less floating ability than other children with the same disability. Our experience in this field is too limited to allow us to confirm this fact. It is just an impression which should be verified by those with the opportunity, because a positive result would have to be taken into account in swimming instruction. When learning to float, the beginner able to stand on his feet in the water should learn to lift himself up. The classic movement for this is to bend the legs quickly, bringing the knees up next to the stomach and pushing the water with the arms and hands, straightening out the top half of the body. The same method can be used whether one is stretched out on the front or the back. For those who cannot bend their legs because they are paralysed or their hips or knees are immobile, there is another means which consists of lying firstly on one’s back, something which they should also be taught. Then, when the beginner is stretched out on his back, the arms should be brought parallel to the body and, keeping them straight, lifted a few centimetres out of the water at the same time as the head is brought forward to look at the feet, until the face is in the water. The legs then go down and the body tilts obliquely first and then to the vertical, which allows the pupil to reassume the standing position. How quickly one adapts to the water depends very much on the individual. Some handicapped people adapt just as quickly as the non-handicapped; for others this can take much longer. We have had members of Sport Handicap, beginners, who floated on their fronts and backs a few minutes after entering the water for the first time. For others time and infinite patience are needed in the many exercises and games combined with the apprenticeship of movements.