It mentions skating without toe-stops all together and I found this one comment particularly interesting:
I've skated derby practice, reffed and bouted without toestops in the last 3 months (just with Reidell-brand jam plugs, which are rubbish).
Stuff thats not so hot without:
Toestop starts; I can duck walk off the line no problem, just the first two strides are not quite as fast.
Tomahawks (aka. derby stops); sure you can powerslide and spin back and on the track no problem, but it takes a lot more effort which would be better put into other things when coming back in play.
OPR without toestops makes my ankles hurt because of these two factors, and in a bout it takes the edge off me. It's also handy to have stops for scrum starts, regardless of where you are in them, and for blocking while skating in reverse.
So, short answer - practice without stops is excellent (improves your footwork like crazy) but do 'live' stuff with stopsIMO everyone should skate without stops for at least a month twice a year!
What are everybody's thoughts on skating without toe-stops? I know that Hot Wheel roller derby do it and they recently took away Hellfire Harlots' undefeated title. Obviously it's not JUST because they skate without toe-stops

