People can roller skate at any age.
Here’s the 5 important roller skating skills we think you should learn to master in 2019:
- Balance – learning to balance on roller skates is a critical roller skating skill and takes some work. You can practice at home in front of the TV by standing on one foot and shifting your weight over that foot until your nose, navel and toe is all in line and you can stand this way for a while. Once you can do it on one foot, shift to the other and work on that one. Standing still on skates on one foot or another easily is balance
- Roll Forward – once you have your balance and can stand on one skate or another, use one foot to push yourself forward by placing most your weight on one foot and using the other foot to push out, as you start to roll forward your ‘free’ leg will create almost the curve of the letter D ending up behind you. Pushing out to the side creates motion of your other leg and body. Bring your free leg back, shift your weight to the other foot and repeat with the free leg.
- Stop – an important skill once you get rolling is how to stop! The T-stop is using one of your skates behind you a bit and applying pressure to the floor to drag your skate sideways on all four wheels to slow you down to a stop. You can also use your toe stop to drag behind in the beginning but mastering the T-stop is a goal in our 5 most important skills. Anticipating a stop will allow you to slow down naturally and making stopping easier. Click here to watch a video on Livestrong.
- Backwards – stand at a stop and point your toes in and heels of your skates slightly out. Lift one foot and then shift to the other like marching in place. If you have your heels out, marching in this manner will let your skates begin to roll. As you get the hang of it using that all important balance, switching from one foot to the other you’ll be able to start pushing a little to get some speed up!
- Fun – Any new sport requires time and dedication but few sports offer the unique ability to have fun like roller skating. Sign up for Rollarama’s classes and learn more roller skating skills! This original social network offers friendship, music and help from other skaters that make roller skating the Fun You can Feel!