Breaststroke has had a wide variety of incarnations. In the Seventies, when the rules did not allow a swimmer to drop their head under water, many top swimmers would schoosh water forwards when they took a breath.
The ‘schoosh’ happened on the powerful insweep of the arms at the same time as the exhalation of breath. This combination forced water forward in a way that can best be described as a schoosh!
I believe that this schoosh style had a degree of showmanship like a powerful roostertail by a water skier. A good schoosh was difficult to attain and quite possibly had a bit of a peacock affect to it. Those swimmers with the best schoosh were envied by all and the legendary Scottish swimmer David Wilkie arguably had the best schoosh of all.
The first time I witnessed this stroke was in person. ‘YouTube’ did not exist in my day, TV was not recorded like it is now, swimming was only shown during the Olympics and so the only way to see world class swimming was in person. I watched a demonstration by an international swimmer who could have rivalled Swartzenegger in pectoral size called Peter Hrdlitschka. Peter had moved to Vancouver to train with the famous coach Deryk Snelling and had returned to his small hometown not long after competing in the the World Championships and did a demonstration swim. As a nine year old swimmer I was amazed at his brilliant schooshing abilities. Sadly I did not develop a proficient schoosh but I was always mesmerised by those who could do it well.
Breaststroke schooshing declined dramatically when the rules about head position changed. After 1984 Olympics in LA, swimmers were permitted to put their head underwater and a wave style was perfected. Swimmers taught by Hungarian coach Josef Nagy in Hungary, United States and Canada (József Szabó, Mike Barrowman, and Annamay Pierce) spawned a following of wave style swimmers to this day. The wave style eliminated the schoosh stroke because the head dived below the surface for a more efficient stroke.
Proud schooshing swimmers might be seen from time to time at masters competitions but slowly the schooshers are becoming more and more endangered, only occasionally spotted. Maybe you will see one and you will admire the beauty of a powerful blast of water racing down the pool, ahead of a rare schoosh breaststroker, and you too will be amazed!
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