The American Crawl

              THE AORXCAK CEAWL
Body Position
While swimming the American Crawl the body is in an out stretchy
position facing downward.  The back is slightly arched to allow the
body to plane over the surface of the water as nearly like a boat as
possible.  This arch is very slight and, by no means, requires any
strain.
A, Hffl&fl. The head and neck are carried straight forward following
the line of the back with the head breaking water at a point-
below the hairline down to a point above the end of the nose.
This is determined by the individual needs of the swimmer.
Eyes.  The eyes are held open at all times looking straight forward for the purpose of seeing where the swimmer is going.
Trunk■  The trunk is held straight with a slight arch as above
mentioned, no side sway or wiggle being allowed while swlaoiftg.
Arms.  The arms are held loose and relaxed all during the stroke
with the exception of the pull itself.  The elbow at no time is
straightened out to the full extention of the arm.  Uhen reaching forward to make the catch, the arm reaches comfortably forward allowing a slight normal bend to the elbow.  The wrist is
held slightly bent as the hand enters the water, and the hand is
held with fingers together and slightly cupped.  The hand enters
the wator slightly turned in with the thumb and first finger
entering first.
Legs, Ankles, and Feet.  The legs are held with 'che knees straig
but not stiff allowing a very small amount of play or movement
during the kick.  This play or movement at the knoes is not intentional but is only a direct result of tho up and down movomen
of the kick.  The ankles arc held as loosely as possible with th
feet slightly pointed and slightly turned in or pigeon-toed.
This is done to allow as free a movement as possible of tho feet
in the kick.
II.  Stroke
The stroke comes easy and oven in rhythm. It is common practic
to time tho kick and breathing on tho stroke. However, any one of t
three may be timed off any other of tho throe. In this caso we will
time tho kick and the breathing on the stroke-. The three main parts
to tho stroke arc the catch, the pull or tho drive, and tho recover;.
These names are given to tho parts of tho stroke by simply explaining
tho action that takes place.
-k* ffhQ Catch. In tho catch tho arm roaches comfortably forward wit
elbow slightly bent, the wrist slightly bont, tho fingers hold
together, the hands slightly cupped as before mentioned, and the
hand enters tho water in front of tho nearest oye, the catch bei
made just bolow tho surface of tho wator approximately from fout
to six inches. The catch is the first grasp or gripping of tho
water in tho stroke.
&• IQSL  Pull«  The pull is straight down and back ynd is tho only ti
that" the arm stiffens or tenses muscles during the stroke.  In