Norup Middle School, Oak Park, MI, 2003 Click on an image to see it full size with a description.

"Every time you're in Detroit, you have a home here at Norup Middle School," said P.E. Teacher Thomas Whinham, who invited Eddy to come speak on behalf of some 250 3rd - 8th graders, March 5, 2003.

Eddy wore his skates into the school gymnasium and gave an hour long presentation, first making motivational remarks about his life on inlines and then taking questions from the curious kids.

"How many languages do you speak? " What special technology was used to make your skates?" "What's your longest winning streak?" "What bearings do you use?" were just a few of the questions that Eddy answered.

Eddy used Casey to demonstrate how much stronger he was when he used gravity in addition to his leg strength. First Eddy made a futile attempt to push Casey over from a vertical position using just his quadricep muscle. Then, while Casey continued to anchor himself like the rock of Gibralter, Eddy leaned into him with his body weight and pushed him over easily, nearly falling on top of Casey in the process. After Eddy told the story how he had taken a gymnastics class and learned how to fall without hurting himself, he was asked to demonstrate. Eddy obligingly got up some speed and then sprawled and rolled across the floor, getting up again without a scratch.

As if that wasn't enough, an upper classman then challenged Eddy to perform a back flip. Eddy quickly seized the opportunity to take off his skates and launch into a series of back flips.

Normally hard to impress, these kids roared their approval before Eddy got back on message: "Find something you're good at and become an expert," was Eddy's advice. Whether you become an artist, lawyer, musician, scientist, linguist, or athlete, there are no shortcuts to hard work and persistence. So go to it!"

	Brain bucket		Norup rules		Hawker
	Demo time		Casey the Rock		Bleachers
	Hilarity		Your speaker		Tumbling
	Woo-hoo!		Packed		Challenger
	Hiya!		Stop!		Tom & Eddy
	Rapt attention		Assembled		Questions

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