Oct 2005
The Technique” - Like the Human BodyRST Interview with Bill Butler [BB] [BB] - The technique is like your lung, it needs air or it needs a partner that can lead and follow at any given time. If it’s leading and following all the time, that’s the way you skate all the time. All of it’s good, but for a skater to be rounded, they must be able to follow and lead. [RST] - You were saying you designed it so that a woman could
also lead?
You have to have a leg and the stronger the leg, the more knowledgeable the leg, the more fun you have. Back to the same 20 people, let’s say you have a leg that only went to the 3rd grade and they get with a leg that graduated. There’s gonna be an underdeveloped team by virtue of the 3rd versus the 12th grader. You following me? The closer the grades, the better the skate at any level. Even two 3rd graders, it will be fun for them but it won’t be the same kind of fun, which makes it fine, because this way nobody loses. You can have fun on the level at which you’ve accomplished, that’s how it works. If you get into a mixed situation, by virtue of education, that’s how it’s going to come out and it happens all the time. People are just not aware of it. My intention is to make sure everybody graduates, that’s why I always say, ‘you haven’t made it happen until you can skate with Bill Butler.’ When I say that, I’m speaking about people who study the technique - no one else. In as much as I say what I say about what I know, it has no self centered anything about it, it’s a matter of how far do you go, how much you put into it - that’s the kind of skating you will do. It’s really simple. ..... you will find at the end of all of this, that the best skates, or any good skate, will only come from the leg that’s got the most experience but on that level. So you’re still staying away from who’s the best - it’s not even about that - it’s about how much are you willing to put into it. The more you put in, the better skate you’ll have, so it’s up to the individual. Trios, it’s the same way. This person has ‘x’ amount of degrees but is not active in all of them. Each person in the trio - now if you put a 3rd or 6th grader in with graduates, it won’t be the same skate but you won’t kick that person out. What you do is bring the grade that’s lower than the other two up to snuff, i.e., you help them, you don’t kick them out. That same application goes for pairs, you share because the more you share, the more fun you’re going to have. It’s almost like forced fun, in a way, because you want to have this great skate, you don’t want to hold anything back - that’s the way I do it. I went through that for 25 years, having all this information and it’s just like being on the earth and having all the money by yourself - what good is it? You’ve got all this money but who can you spend it with, how much punishment do you think that would be? It comes right back to, why is it that we are so quick to deny one another something that we might have? We don’t own it but have nerve to try to keep it from one another, and only give it to a few. Everybody should have it - like the air we breathe. There’s too much of the selfishness going on, on too many levels - it’s too uneven, that’s why I want total integration and it’s hard to do because we are so uneducated in that way with life. I call myself taking something, roller skating, and putting it in a place where you can’t have the time of your life if you horde information. If you’re not going to give your all when you go to the rink, you shouldn’t go. [RST] - Thank you. Posted 10/01/05 Do you have a specific question on the above information or the Jammin technique? Ask Bill |