Beginner roller skating
Heel Brake on a Hill: Sit Down and Push It Forward
A certified coach's downhill heel brake: scissor the braking foot forward, most of your weight on the back supporting leg, apply and release as needed. To finish, sit down into a deep support-leg knee bend and push the brake past your front wheels. Mine was never powerful enough to stop me and hurt my shin, so I took it off, and a hill I doubt I can stop on I ride it out — Cass. From ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
Most people learn one position for the heel brake and never learn how to finish with it. On a slope, the finish is where the power is.
Scissor the braking foot forward and keep most of your weight on the back supporting leg. Apply and release as the gradient asks rather than holding one constant pressure; the brake is a control, not a switch.
To complete the stop, sit down. Sink into a deep knee bend on the support leg and extend the brake forward, past the front wheels of that support skate. That combination — low hips, brake well ahead — is what produces maximum stopping power, and it is the part that is usually missing.
The coach's position, stated plainly: the heel brake becomes usable on hills earlier in a skater's progression than any other stop, which is a real argument for keeping it while you are learning.
My experience differs, and both are here because both are true at different stages: mine was never powerful enough to actually stop me when it mattered, and braking hard with it hurt the front of my shin on legs not yet trained for skating. I took it off once I was comfortable, because it got in the way when I crossed one foot over the other in turns. I am not saying a beginner should skip it — it is there for a reason.
One thing sits above all of this, and it is mine rather than hers: a hill I doubt I can stop on, I ride it out rather than brake. Trying to brake halfway down a gradient you have already misjudged is worse than riding it to the flat — Cass, a non-professional street skater.
Technique from Asha Kirkby of Skatefresh, an instructor certified by the Inline Certification Program. She teaches inline skating, and that is the discipline this page is about.
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