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Old December 16th 03, 04:01 PM
Ken Roberts
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Default what was 'the New Skate' ?

I guess it can be hard for skiers outside North America to see why there was
any need for a "new skate".

Janne G wrote
The only thing new in skating over the years that i have seen
is the development of (V2, 3 gear, double dance) skating tech
to be the dominant tech


I notice you avoid mentioning any significant change in V1 (offset, paddle
dance).

Here's my personal attempt to figure out the American history by looking at
old books:

Audun Endestad skated on the U.S. National ski team, and then teamed with
John Teaford in 1987 to write a book called "Skating for Cross-Country
Skiers". A sound treatment of ski skating technique for racers, with lots
of good tips that are still helpful today. But in the 1990's this book was
forgotten, and American writing about ski skating slid back into shallow
beginner books or deeper attempts which mixed some good ideas with lots of
misleading stuff. Though from what I'm hearing in this discussion group,
some coaches kept the sound knowledge alive (including Endestad himself).

By the time I started to learn to skate in 2000, there was lots of
misinformation and confusion in America about skating technique -- at least
in the books and videos available in normal distribution. (No one told me
about Audun Endestad's out-of-print book until three years later -- Thanks
to Serge!)

So somebody had to present the basics again in a fresh way that could get
people's attention. So I don't begrudge Vordenberg calling it "the New
Skate" -- because he found a way to get it _me_ in a way that did feel new,
compared to everything else I could find.

I'm sure lots of folks in this newsgroup know much more about it, so I'd
love to hear corrections and additions to that story.

Ken


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