The evening world. Newspaper, June 26, 1922, Page 18

Want Health-Beauty Figure‘ How Women Champ ions Found "AIT These in Swimming Ethelda Bleibtrey, Marie Curtis, Dorothy Becker, Ethel McGary, Josephine Bartlett and Claire Gal- ligan Began as Weakling: Became Rugged Venuses —Others Endowed With Physical Graces Greatly Enhanced Them. « # rd ed By L. De B. Handley. Widely Recognized Authority on Swimmind@. Copyright, pF every girl and woman could be Induced to practise swim min¢ regularly and pain- takingly, physicians would lose half their patients and beauty doctors would starve to death." This remarknble statement, uttered recently by Miss Marie Curtis, cham- pion mermaid of the Los Angeles Ath- letic Club, holds particular interest, for Miss Curtis is proclaimed to be the prettiest and most perfectly formed racing girl swimmer on the entire Pacific Coast. Moreover, she {s amply qualifed to mpeak of the virtues of the art of natation, since it trans- formed her from a frail, {1l-favored youngster, into the handsome, vigor- ous, superb type of girl athlete she is at present. You will hardly believe it upon cing Miss Curtis to-day, but It 1s fact that she was a weakling tn childhood, so thin and sickly that tt was feared she would not live. Her Parents date the beginning of her physical reconstruction from the time she took up swimming at the age of thirteen. In less than one year of aquatic activity she developed into a normal, healthy, comely lassie. be- fore two more years had elapsed she was @ successful contestant in water sports for women, the leader in her own district, Now she is the holder of a long string of championship Utles, she has broken records for standard long distance courses and you will go @ tong way to find a more perfect specimen of buoyant young womanhood. Swimming has been th making of her. Yet her case is by no means exceptional. Tt ts surprising, indeed, to note how many of the mermaids who have earned signal honors in competition stand ready to attest to the great bene- fits they have derived personally from swimming. Our fair aquatic cham- pions are unusually well built and good looking as a class—the claim often is heard that they outrank In pulcbritude the women champions of 1922 (New York Evening World) by Prens Publishing Co. any other sport—yet.one finds among them a number of girls who formerly labored under some definite physical handicap, the overcoming of which each ascribes chiefly or wholly to the good influcnce of regular swimming Take, for instance, Miss Etholdu Bleibtrey, Olympic and world's cham- pion, the greatest swimmer of her sex produced to date. When she joined the New York Women's Swimming Asso- ciation as a novice In 1918 she was round-shouldered from curvature of the spine and so slight that tho coaches of the organization thought Many moons would pass before she achieved her ambition to become a successful competitor. But she was a faithful worker, spar ing no pains, and determined perso- verance wrought miracles for her Within six months she had grown straight and strong, added nearly thirty pounds to her weight and placed to her credit several com- mendable victories. The following year she rose to internatiowal leader- ship by defeating Miss Fannie Durack of Australia, recognized all-around world’s champion at the time, and she kept on breaking records and winning titles thereafter, until her recent de- fection from the amateur ranks to take up professional work as a coach She is the picture of health nowadays. Mrs. George Lineer of San Fran- cisco, better known to aquatic fans as Miss Dorothy Becker, is another Helen WAINWRIGHT. 150 vo WorRLD's RECORD Auten RIGGIN, Oxvmpic Divina CHAMPION. AND Emme. McGARY. Miss GertRUDE )}ARTELT, Pra | Former Nationar 4100 YD. RECORD ~ HOLDER Rs THE EVENING WORLD, MONDAY, JUNE 26, 1922, Mrs Gro. LINEEI neE Dorotuy BECKER > OF San Francisco % Diy Former 5Ovo! Record HOLDER Miss JOSEPHINE “BARTLETT New York Former Natu hich DIVE C UNDERWOOD & UnpeRwoo0 PROTO Miss HELEN MEANY NewYork NaTL Ourooor HIGH DIVING CHAMPION - Mrs Encar Finney wi CrairE GALLIGAN, New Rocnewe, Au AROUND SWIMMING Cuampion 1918 greatest good comes from covel middle distance stretches at mode: pace, so that the tire muscular 6; tem will be exercised thoroughly, without the least strain on heart aq y lungs, and this {s done by going frot a4 410 yards upward easily, but withor ? stoppin Perhaps swimming several hundi yards will seem a monumental to many girls and women, but thi merely because they have not tered a good stroke. Virtually no fort attaches to correct use of modern types of crawl. Evidence fact that in the women's natio} three-mile championship of last mer more than twenty girls, the m jority ranging in age from ten to teen, completed the course in row water and finished without showin sign of fatigu Certainly if o children are able to go miles at speed it should not need much @ ing to permit the average girl woman to hold the same stroke double trudgeon-cra‘ slow gait for half a mile or more, Miss Marit CURTIS, Los ANGELES Long! DISTANCE RECORD Sek oe The first aim, therefore, shoul to learn to craw! under competent} pervision, Then, after the action been acquired, to start going a further every time one swims, A one can negotiate the wanted dists witlmut trouble, During the stages, needless to say, one sho stop to rest as soon as the musd begin to tire or one is out of breal The great mistake made in developil swimmers is to try for speed befa they have gained form. The fault practically universal. Yet in ing a swift action one becomes hausted almost immediately, and is quite Impossible to think of who has ing the movements correctly, 80 0 teaching neither trains the muscles adequate! Women’s nor has a chance to develop g0q prom- form, Speed swimming during tl inent organization of its kind in the novitiate simply retards progress. world, said in speaking on the sub- should be avoided altogether. ject: “Although our purpose in form- ‘The secret of good swimming te ing the W. S. A. was to encourage slow recovery. Unless the idle mov sirls and women to learn to swim for ments are made comfortably, in self-protection, then to practise for jaxation, the arms cannot recupe: health and physical improvement, We between applications of power, uiled completely to fo the they will lack the energy to drive tonishing results which would be at- feetively, This needs be emphasii tained in the latter respect. It has because inexperienced swimmers te one connected’ with the teaching of rs testify to the advan- girls and women by the practice of natation, Miss Charlotte Epst charge of the volunteer staff of the w York Swimming Association, most na revelation tous. Iam not re- most invariably show the tendeno; contestants only but whip the arms forward violently, al membership also, fault which results in totally course, the competitors necessary waste of strength, Fo ater incentive to swim should be used only in the und so profit accordingly water movements, which are the p Yet even among the non-com- pelling movements; the forward gl petitors the outcome of regular prac- of the arms above surface should ce is amazing. They seem to benetit utilized to rest and husband ene! t hight. Apparently, swimming not ‘Then one's physical resources are erring to our the gen ough, ‘of have the often anc Miss ETHELDA BLIIBTREY, Ouympic AND WoRLO'S strikin, mi empion wha ane! ie cted with hip disease CHAMPION SWIMMER only develops thoroughly and sym- ploited to greatest advantage, started life as a pur ing child nd st attending: her offered - netrically, tending always to establish — At the age of ten sh i 1 eat amill honk complete eu CENTRAL HEWE ehOTE standard body proportions, but it In swimming for health and ph 45° pounds, and thy 1 aah ime to her ald also corrects physical defects, ameliorates cal improvement the amount of wq to be done must depend to a large tent on individual ability, condition and the object in view. ailments and makes the com thy the time years of sickness w 1 condition aly veloped a sudden longing to ascribes to frequent exercise in or J pool the excellent health i enjoys and the strength and cures many W for good looks by eleari rting that he frequented the pool solety ed to dixport: in’ the r trouble ving her the plexion and img i swim, and the family pl nfort while afloat, But which have enabled her to achieve glow which goes further than classic Obviously, an expert swim vised that she be humored t discovered that-she we unusual performances in middie dis- features in creating womanly beaify should do more than an inexp the turning point From 1’ anal beheridide hag al tance swimming and attractiveness, Young girls enced swimmer, for the effort first she showed improvemen ame time Then her 4 ~- profit so readily that one hardly 8 in proportion to the sktll the time she wa 1 w roused and she took to . Many similar instances of girl con- recognizes them aft a few months quired similarly, a well t come #9 ft and robust that training t competition, Bventu- Wider apart. During her final year in testants fnestimably — benef! by of frequent swimming. But women swimmer may undertake a sched her Initial swimmer Winpionstiy came an active contestant €OMPpetition she did not succumb once. swiinming might be cited, but the of all ages benefit materially also, It far beyond the possibilities of o Since then she ha toudily ¢ 1 tlhe by Little © not only ef= There 48 not a healthier or more foregoing seem particularly fortunate has been our ext nee that the im- poor condition, Evidently, too, er laurels ar pt 4 “ TT ‘ but lined perfect GePpendable contestant in the fleld that as iMustrations, first, because the vement ts universal purp to be achieved must be n syimming and v 1 ui build sc ason. champions in question had to oye = sidered. instance, a girl sides developing int powerful, fr — come unusual physical handicaps, yet All of whi confirms the claim of seeks to reduce must practise lo ly proportioned ne woman niwy merly Miss — Little Miss Ethel MeGary, thy four- succeeded in earning national or in- aquatic experts that there is no better and harder than the girl who i f Now Roehelle, all teen-year-old star of the New York ternational laurels; second, because form of all around exercise than to build up; one who aims to Then’ there Mrs. Baw vvound national swimming champion Women Swimming soclatic their improvement in health, strength swimming and calls attention to the fitness must devote more time of New York ‘ Woyen 1s of 1918 and a world’s record holder whose cord breaking ts have and appearance was strikingly nota- fact that ynis is the time of ye than another who merely want Miss Josephine Bartlett, it w re. still, had | nes and was subject caused such a stir lately, is another ple when girls and women can best take retain acquired god condition, that ‘ . the to long spel ckness before she Who owes much to swimming. Her , For the rest, while racing mermaids advantage of the opportunity to use This may be sald, thoug! blest metropolitar mr farted tran ' racing. Every father, \. W. Metiry a prominent are selected by preference as illustra- the urt of natation for self-develop- girl or woman willing to take p and was ¢ staan <asbat vid up at intervals, cleetrieal engin con- tion, owing to the t that th ment tu swim a middle distance regul A ‘had me Att elant 1» 1 exploits furpish clear evide it is simply a case of devoting to and often may count on being bd mn r thesap hwoan f of t emmarkable 4 1 j winnnnis ni art of filed in t order, physically WelRclOu uo de Cibo pecan P) 2 severe aud syergh ahs t tiivugh swimming, any time spent ip the water The mentally. = t