Eddy Matzger Inline Speed Skating Workshop

London 2003

Introduction

London saw the first ever arrival of the Eddy Matzger workshop in June 2003.  The workshop ran from 6th June through to Sunday 8th, and was a great weekend of skating that apparently left some of the beach regulars feeling distinctly self-conscious about their skating technique when they saw the workshop taking place just down the Serpentine.

Putting it all together in front of the Albert Memorial

Fitness?

The whole workshop is geared around techniques and the principle of minimum work.  There are loads of drills and exercises to improve your balance, co-ordination, edging skills, etc., and many will really open your eyes!  So the goal of the workshop is not to give you a fitness workout, but simply to improve your skating skills.  Given how much time we spent doing the drills, though, resulted in it being a pretty exhausting weekend.

Friday evening

Consisted of a chalk talk and video evening at the Victoria pub.  Good fun and some fun conversation.  Two things I remember were Eddy showing why the fall is so important, easily pushing over the biggest guy on the workshop, and his custom Miller monocoque skates.

Saturday

Ouch, 08.00 start at the Beach in Hyde Park.  No, it's not a real beach, but it's been called that for years by all the old school skaters.  It's the western-most bit of the Serpentine Road that's near the triangular car park and right alongside the Serpentine Lake.

Skate yoga!

We started off doing the Eddy skate yoga stretches.  That was a very different experience since I'd never done any yoga before.  I've since become a convert and am doing the series nearly every time I go out training.  Big benefits - no more stiff muscles the day after training, and better balance.  Rule number one - never skate with more than one skate on the ground at one time!  Rule number two - always look up!

Then onto a whole series of drills, working on the components of the classic push, doing the 5 steps of ampersand, fall, push, set-down, and recovery.  See this page for Eddy's description.  By now many of us were getting just a little tired, but luckily it was time for a much-needed lunch break, from 12.00 till 14.00, when we met in front of the Albert Memorial, since the Serpentine tends to get too busy in the afternoon.

Ampersand, fall, push, set-down, and recovery

Now onto crossovers work, really building the power of the under push.  I have to admit I thought my crossovers were pretty good until Eddy's workshop, and now I know a little better than that!  Whilst a little humbling, at least my skating has really improved as a result of working on my skills and accepting my weak points.  The cross-over session naturally lead into some pace line work which was a lot of fun and new for most of us since many had never raced before.

In front of the Albert Memorial

Then Eddy did our individual video review, filming us from the front and the side, after which we ended with a couple of fun games, and then were off to the pub for the evening session.

Recovering at the Vic!

Eddy went through each of our video clips, analysing us for knee bend, forward push, landing beneath the centre line, etc. etc.  Very useful to see yourself on video, albeit a little painful, as it's always good for your skating.  Yet another nice supper at the pub and a few drinks, leading to a bit of a late night for some.

Sunday

Aaaarrgghhh!  Another 08.00 morning, and even worse we're now feeling a whole lot more tired and the legs are definitely feeling a little stiff and slow.  Eddy's morning yoga had us up and hopping pretty quickly though, after which we did some cool dry-land training.

Bam, straight into a huge series of double push drills that had everyone's thighs really burning.  Great exercises for your balance and edging control, though!  Come the lunch break, most of us really needed the rest since everybody was starting to feel very slow by now!

Some of the double-push drills

The afternoon we again moved over to the Albert Memorial to continue on pace line and drafting strategy work, and then some time putting the double push together.  We also touched upon skating up hills, sprint starts, and numerous other useful techniques.

Last was Eddy giving us a complete revision of the drills from the entire weekend, with some plyometrics demonstration.

At the beach!

Conclusion

What an awesome experience!  I'd been reading a lot of this stuff on Eddy's website and working on it all last summer, but doing the workshop was easily a hundred times better and really disciplined us all to work on those drills.  I had the biggest increase of my skating ability in two years as a result of the workshop.  From what I saw, every one of the participants were left exhausted and much better skaters than before.

Eddy is amazing - not only did he go for a 3 hour run just after flying across the Atlantic, but he really is the skating diplomat and teacher extraordinaire that everyone talks about.  No wonder there are only good things to be read about Eddy everywhere on the net.

I can thoroughly recommend the workshop to anyone, even if you've no intention of ever speedskating.  Your skating skills are guaranteed to improve and you'll be faster, more efficient, and more graceful as a result of the workshop.

LS Links:

The forum thread about the workshop, including questions and answers beforehand, and participants feedback afterwards.  There are three pages on the thread - the positive feedback all comes at the end.

An article about the Hawaii workshop earlier this year by Kalani!

External Links:

Eddy Matzger's skatecentral.com website.

Link to Eddy's workshop write-up and photos.

These videos from RoadSkater.net give an idea of some of the drills involved in the workshop.

http://roadskater.dynu.com/movies/emwsat.mpg

http://roadskater.dynu.com/movies/emwsun.mpg

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