Changing direction without losing speed
Plant, push, redirect is the slow way. Here is what the fast players do instead.
The taught method for changing direction is to plant an edge, push against it and redirect. It works, and it costs you most of your speed, because a plant is a brake.
The alternative twists and tilts the hips so the skates follow a new line without the body ever stopping. The Y-angle between the legs is what makes it possible, and a stiff ankle is what makes it impossible.
If a change of direction leaves you accelerating from near zero, the mechanics are the problem, not your conditioning.
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