Boys High School - Edisonian Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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Sldlmlgg During the school term of 1938-39, the Board of Education issued a request that each swimming instructor keep an accurate account of the number of boys who entered the school and were unable to swim. It stated that if possible, every boy was to be a swimmer by the end of the school term, even if he had to receive private tutoring. In this school this group of non-swimmers was tried from month to month, and out of a grand total of 108 non-swimmers, 102 were taught to swim.The others had such a fear of the water that it was impossible for them to learn the art of swimming. Those who learned are very proud of their achlevement and are new capable of passing the American Red Cross 'be- ginners and swimmers tests. The .intra-mural swimming contests proved very close and most ln- teresting. The finale were witnessed by an enthusiastic audience. Hr. !lorrissey's sophomore group 2B and lr. Cooke's freshmen group 1K were the victors. lr. Kean and lr. Chapin, members of the faculty, acted as judges. The individual championship of the school was wen by James Poppen- burg with a total of 30 points. He was followed closely by Thomas Daurello who garnered 29 points. The very cream of sw1mmers,B in all from the junlors,compsted ln this event. It was a severe test of b events, the boys competing ln 2 events each night. ' Hr. Burke has issued a warning to each class relative to outdoor swimming. All boys were warned to walt until the water was sufficient- ly warm to enjoy this outdoor eport. This advice was given not because the boys are incapable of handling themselves ln the water, but because of the danger of cramps, submerged objects when diving, shsllow water. W Advance ln Swimming. As I think of leaving this school, I look back to the first year that I entered the door of the Boys High School.At that time as a swim- mer I was a very good rock. W knowledge of swimming was so limited that I thought that all there was to it was to kick your lege and thresh your arms about in the water. The first few weeks lr. Burke gave us lessons in the leg k1ck.Experiences ln this exercise aided me in build- ing up confidence and made me the more determined to become a good ewlm- mer. Our next exercise combined breathing with the leg kick and I soon found that this exercise was both beneficiary to sql lungs as well as to improve on my ability as a swimmer. After the breathing drill oame the arm movement which plays a very prominent part in swimming. This exer- cise consisted of hooking your toes to a railing attached to a side of the pool. You then stretch out upon the surface of the water and go through the motions of swimming, but of course you do not move as your feet prevent this. This exercise includes both rbythmetlc breathing as well as proper arm rotation. Well, finally the day came when we started swimming the width of the pool and I found that I could do lt. what e thrill this was. Of course the distance was not very great,but 'it was my first achlovment and cf course I was proud of nyself. The stroke we then learned was the Breast Stroke and finally the BackS1'roke. I paid strict attention to Hr. Burke's advice while we were having these lessons and I now feel that I have profited by his advice. Today I can swim very well and I know that ln case of an emergency I can be counted upon to render W serv- icee oapably, because included in ey training was lifesaving drills. I learned how to break the front strangle hold, the back strangle hold, and also the double strangle hold. Then I was taught artificial respi- ration and shown the actions to bring to consciousness a person who has been partially drowned.