I stay still or even go backwards when I work on my kick (Page 2)

Don, I find your response somewhat irritating because it reads to me like you're dismissive of non-coach input.  For example, this:

I read that as "you're making a good point, but in my experience you're wrong".  And note the "I am a coach" autosignature.

And there you go. You invite other coaches to weigh in, in effect excluding the non-coach input.

I'm not a coach, but I did stay at Holiday Inn Express.

Are you tapering, Bruce?  

I agreed with what you said, and expanded on it saying that in my experience it was a combination of both ankle flexibility and kicking from the knees, not just one or the other.  You're reading into it if you got "I'm a coach, and you're wrong" from what I said.

I don't understand the significance of mentioning my signature line.  I'm a full time personal trainer and coach.  You're implying that you find it irritating that I communicate that fact.  IMO, anyone providing a service who participates in online forums like this is foolish if they don't include an easy way to find them in all their posts.

I mentioned other coaches, because rightly or wrongly, I assume that most coaches have seen many more swimmers (i.e. a larger data set) than would be observed at the Holiday Inn Express.  I didn't intend to exclude the input of anyone because they're not a coach.  It was meant to solicit input from a larger data set, and frankly, avoid the "this is my n=1" that gets posted so often, and IMO, propagates bad advice at least as often as good advice.

Let me restate my question so we can get the conversation back on track:  Has anyone here ever observed someone move backwards when kicking who exhibited only limited plantar flexion or kicking from the knees, and not both simultaneously?