The Tateyama Long-Distance Swimming Camp and the Yochisha Lifesaving Club

According to written records, long-distance swimming at Keio Yochisha Elementary School started around 1893, with a one-month swimming camp held around the beaches of Kamakura and Kanazawa. While the location and format of the long-distance swimming camps changed, they continued on through the Taisho and Showa eras, and ended with the completion of the school pool in 1958.

Thanks to swimming classes held at the school pool during the past half century, Yochisha pupils have set excellent records in the four styles of competitive swimming, but on the other hand, they no longer had the opportunity to swim in the open sea with their schoolmates. Therefore, in July 2012, to revive Yochisha’s long-distance swimming we held the Tateyama Long-Distance Swimming Camp at Kenbutsu Beach in Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture. Rather than swimming next to and against an opponent on the other side of a course rope, racing down to a hundredth of a second, we wanted pupils to experience swimming long distance at a steady pace, maintaining a formation by swimming at the same speed as each other, and then all crossing the finish line together.

Sixth graders who have obtained grade 1 or 2 for the school’s swim test in the previous school year are qualified to participate in the five-day, four-night trip. Every year so far, about 20 to 30 pupils have signed up for the camp, and they make the most of their time at the ocean at Tateyama. We teach basic swimming skills that are useful in open-sea swimming such as treading water, the scissors kick method, underwater diving in rocky shores, and head up breaststroke method for long-distance swimming. We also practice rowing boats and tying ropes to anchors, and students get to experience many activities like snorkeling, making fishing poles using bamboo sticks, going sea fishing using handmade poles, and casting fishing nets with the approval of the Japan Fisheries cooperative.

At practice, we form groups of about 10 pupils and two to three coaches are assigned to each group. On the afternoon of the fourth day is the main long-distance swim. Every year, we tailor the swim based on the number of participants and their swimming levels, and they swim for 2000 to 3000 meters which usually takes one to two hours. To ensure their safety, there are plenty of escort boats and coaches who swim along with them.

The coaching team not only consists of Yochisha teachers, but also includes members of the Keio University Institute of Physical Education, members of the Hayama Division of the Athletic League Swimming Team (including past members, and current university and high school students), several doctors who teach BLS (Basic Life Support) at Yochisha and are good at swimming, coaches who taught the Keio Futsubu Junior High School’s swimming school over the years, graduates of Yochisha and Futsubu, teachers from Keio Senior High School, and university staff. Those who gather from this wide range of fields and occupations are all called “coaches” and they volunteer their time to support the pupils. This group of coaches is collectively called the “Yochisha Lifesaving Club,” and the two main pillars that have emerged are the swimming support from members of the Hayama Division, and the medical support from Yochisha BLS instructors.

In order to better prepare the camp to accept even more pupils in the future, we at the Yochisha Lifesaving Club are endeavoring to expand the club as well as improve our skills out in the open sea.