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Learning To Inline Skate Is Easy When You Break It All Down

child skating

Learning To Inline Skate Is Easy When You Break It All Down by Lee Marshall

When I started out skating all those years ago a friend told me that learning to skate on roller blades was like learning to ride a bicycle. However looking back at my own learning curve I now have to disagree. Learning to inline skate for me was a more complicated affair.

Riding a bicycle requires balance and road awareness. There isn't really much more to riding a bike than pushing the peddles round, using the breaks, switching gears and turning the handle bars to steer.

Don't get me wrong, riding a bicycle isn't always that easy, but for me learning to ride a bike was a whole lot easier than learning to rollerskate. My 6 year old son taught himself to ride a bike in less than an hour after I removed his stabilisers, but learning to rollerskate at a basic level (start, stop and turn) took him weeks.

I like to think that learning to inline skate is like training to dance without any natural rhythm. First you've got to learn about the footwork, where should your feet be when standing still (at the bottom of your legs? ha!), where do you put your weight when applying the heel brake and where should you position your feet, upper body and weight (All at the same time) when turning for example.

All this requires some level of coordination, shifting your body weight over one leg while positioning your feet in the right place can be a real headache for the first time skater. But if you break the moves down into smaller steps (just like a dance step) you will find the learning experience more enjoyable and easier to digest.

Let's take the healbrake stop for example:

Step1, the skater needs to get into the scissor position (the term scissor in skating means to put one leg in front of the other to create a stable stance with your legs slightly apart, for braking you should always put the skate with the healbrake in front).
Step2, with the weight over the back leg, the skater should now engage the healbrake by simply lifting the front of the healbrake-foot up until they hear the brake scraping along the floor.
Step3, the skater now applies gradual force to the healbrake (moving the weight slowly into the healbrake) until they come to a complete stop, putting their arms out in front of them for stability if required.

So there you have it. Learning to rollerskate is easier when you break the moves down into simple steps. Once you've mastered the basic moves the other more advanced moves will be easier to understand and learn. As you get better you'll develop your own unique skating style and may even invent your own skating moves or techniques, but for now concentrate on the basics and ask your instructor (if you decide to take lessons) to break each move down for you.

Most people don't take up skating because they find the learning process lengthy, painful and ultimately not that much fun. Using excuses like, "I'm not fit enough" , "skating is for kids", "I've got week ankles", "skating is dangerous" or my favourite, "I'm to old" are not good enough in my eyes. Skating is NOT difficult if you get the right type of training, invest in some good quality roller skates and get some lessons from an experienced skater who knows how to break the basics down for you.