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Old December 15th 03, 08:51 PM
Ken Roberts
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Default what was 'the New Skate' ?

I gained a lot from "the New Skate" ideas when I was first learning to
skate, both from a camp and coaching on rollerskis and from Pete
Vordenberg's articles in The Master Skier magazine (www.masterskier.com).
Now three years later I'm saying these ideas taught with rigor by different
American instructors I've met in different regions, and I see former
opponent Borowski joining forces with Vordenberg in new magazine articles.

Maybe now it's becoming "the Mainstream Skate". I kept hoping the ideas
will get published in a book that everyone can read and discuss, but I still
haven't see it yet. There are two more recent Vordenberg skate technique
articles which have now been put up on the Master Skier website -- check
those out, and a subscription to Master Skier should help keep up with
future American technique developments.

But I had to go back to those first two remarkable Vordenberg articles in
2000-2001 to see what I was reacting to back then. Below is my attempt to
summarize the concepts -- I'll be grateful for corrections:

Ken
_____________________________________
The New Skate
-- ideas from Vordenberg's 2000-2001 articles

(A) Legs -- use both of them equally
(1) No more weak skate-push on one side.
(2) Quiet Upper Body is necessary to enable this.
(3) training with no poles is a great way to learn it.

(B) Body position -- "gunslinger"
(1) ankles bent strongly forward, so knees are above toes.
(2) hips forward, above the heels.
(3) hips square to the skier's overall forward motion,
not turning to follow the glide of each ski.
(5) pelvis tilted forward and up (? but for months I understood this
exactly the opposite from what was intended ?)

(C) Quiet Upper Body
(1) shoulders square to the skier's overall forward motion,
and exactly aligned with the line of the two hips.
(2) No dipping or twisting or rotating -- never ever.
(3) quiet is necessary to enable most effective leg push
(4) dipping, swinging, twisting the upper body wastes energy.

(D) Continuous application of force with good turnover
(1) in order to maintain momentum
(2) No passive-glide rest phase: that just slows you down
(3) higher turnover frequency is usually better
(4) unnecessary upper body motion wastes time + hinders turnover

(E) the Old skate -- what was wrong:
(1) weak leg-push on one side: caused loss of momentum.
(2) Nose-Knees-Toes focus: wasted energy side-to-side and reduced tempo
frequency.
(3) Length-of-Glide focus: reduced tempo frequency.

The original "New Skate" articles:
-- The New Skate, by Pete Vordenberg. The Master Skier Magazine, Pre-Season
2000-2001.
-- The New Skate Part 2, by Pete Vordenberg. The Master Skier Magazine,
Mid-Season 2000-2001.
For newer articles and ideas, see
-- www.masterskier.com
-- www.skipost.com



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