The Technicords Story

Technicords was founded by Sue Ellis, 2002 US Olympic Short Track Team Coach and 2000 US Speed Skating Coach of the Year. Using her 30 years of experience in the sport of speed skating, Sue has focused her career on technical skating development. She prides herself not only in teaching the basics, but in working with skaters to maximize their skills to become some of the best in the world.

Sue found that traditional methods used to teach skating were confusing to both athletes and coaches. So she dedicated her career to simplifying coaching methods. After studying video footage of the best skaters in the world, she found that they all had one thing in common: they all applied simple laws of physics and bio-mechanics to generate power. They skated with a great deal of bend in the ankle, applied pressure through the ball of their foot at the end of their push, and they all had great timing. And she noticed that these things happened in the straightaways, corners, and the starts

Over time, Sue modified her own teaching methods and came up with a progression of drills that was not only simple for skaters to learn, but allowed them to better understand and feel the simple movements that created pressure during the push, creating maximum power and speed on the ice. This method of teaching became known as the Ellis Method.

Around the same time, Sue's former coaching partner decided he wasn't satisfied with being mediocre in demonstrating basic movements in coaching clinics. So he began experimenting with different ideas in his basement to perfect the movements and gain a better understanding of the principles of power. That spawned the ideas for Technicords.

The first prototype was made from a bungee cord purchased at the local hardware store. The improvement in his movement from using the prototype was dramatic. But the resistance of the bungee cord was not consistent, and the cord wore out quickly. So he spent the next eight months searching the globe for the right components until he was able to develop a product specifically engineered not only to provide proper resistance, but to stand the test of continual use.

Technicords are now incorporated into all of Sue's skating camps and clinics, and both coaches and skaters are continually amazed at the results. From beginner to elite, athletes who have applied Technicords as part of their resistance training on a regular basis have been pleased with the results. We're confident you will too.