Eddy Matzger Roadshow in Washington DC Area

Hey Patchc! Glad you made your way here to post about the workshop in DC. Those who missed Greensboro really missed a chance to get some personal attention, but not the last chance. In Greensboro for 2008, we had skaters of all levels at our workshop, ranging in age from mid-teens to retirement age (but not retiring from life by any means!). Eddy sees where you are and helps you progress, and soon he has a plan for how to have the group working on these things together and in twos or threes. After many workshops, I can see that they all share some common points, but are each different based on who is there, how much attention they are focusing on it, how much "seriousness" or relaxation is evident, skill levels, personalities, goals, and even what inspires him at the moment. This means that each workshop is different and fun but has a thread of continuation through it as well. This year I backed off somewhat on trying to be speedy DURING the workshop, and simply tried to stay at the point just BEFORE i lost my form totally. I can't say I'm gifted at speedskating, but I sure do love it, and since I usually skate a mildly hilly course, it was fun to be on relatively (but not totally) flat terrain working on form. Since this year's workshop, I haven't done drills so much (and in our workshop this year I think we did fewer "drills" and more practicing and repetition in more subtle ways perhaps), but I have worked on two basic thoughts, hips and heels. I think what distinguishes Eddy's way of skating is use of the hips to lead instead of the shoulders (a la Chad Hedrick in inline heyday before Olympic training perhaps). I think Eddy's advantage is over the longer distances in particular, and as we all get older, that should be even more true. I'm not sure of all this. It's just what I think. Give yourself and your love of skating a gift and go to one of Eddy's workshops or visit him at the skatefarm. He's a great teacher for every level of talent or interest, seriously (but not too seriously). It is indeed serious fun. Thanks for posting Patchc, and we hope you'll share more about Eddy's workshops and skatefarms and other skatey topics as you're able. Welcome!