Foot Position

[Romper]

Thanks for sharing

still keen to learn of the name of the shims he is using in that video?

romper

[hjs]

Actually I am interested in changing the angle in the other direction, i.e., making the footplates more perpendicular to the ground.

I think I understand now why the rule of thumb is "strap across the ball of the foot": this is where the foot folds as you're going into the catch. Lower, the strap would get in the way of your foot folding; higher, the strap wouldn't really be effective in holding you down. But why must the foot fold at all?

Look at Matthew Segal here: his feet barely move at the catch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qSQD3N9su4

How much you need to lift your heals is a lot about ankle flexibility, in this clip we see that boy can bend hs ankle a lot, way beyond most people can, its not that he does not get to vertical, he has a full stroke.
Strechting te calve/ankle by sitting in a deep squat can help. In modern day life we sit or stand, the natural squat position which young kids can easily do is something hardly done anymore. Use it or loose it.....