Skate skills:

SKATE TIP OF THE WEEK
Inline secrets from the world's top skaters and coaches

This week's tip:
'Heeling' a Toe Push

By Eddy Matzger
(Dec. 1, 2006)

Everybody's heard a million times how important it is to push through the heels to maximize power. But in the middle of a workout, it's easy to forget and revert to old, bad habits.

When I push off the toe wheel it not only cramps my calves, but lifts the heel in my skates repeatedly and eventually leads to blood in my boots.

At practice with my students in China, I sometimes take the toe wheels off my skates and replace them with much smaller worn wheels. This makes me drive my push through the heel bone ... where it belongs!

---

Eddy Matzger is one of the winningest skaters in the history of inline racing and leader of the popular SkateFarm workshops. Currently, he's finishing up a month in China, where he has been coaching a speed team. Next week (Dec. 6), he goes to court to fight for the right to skate and train on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a national park near his home in Floyd, VA. He was ticketed in July for skating on the parkway.

• Write a letter of support for Eddy!
• Eddy's web site
• Skate Tip of the Week Archive.