Beginner roller skating
On Quads, the Toe Stop Goes Down at a Quarter Turn
This one is quad-only, and it matters: your toe stop belongs at a quarter turn, knee open, never square to the front. Square on, the stop chatters instead of slowing you, and chattering is what turns braking into panic. Let it drag along the floor until it draws level with your other skate, and finish with both skates together. Inline skaters, your brake sits at the back and none of this transfers. From Najete Kada, a French champion in artistic roller skating.
This one is quad-only and it matters, so it goes first: your toe stop belongs at a quarter turn, knee open, never square to the front. If you skate inline, your brake sits at the back of one skate and none of what follows transfers.
Square on, the stop chatters instead of slowing you. It catches, releases, catches again, and each catch is a small shove you did not ask for. Chattering is what turns braking into panic, because the skate is doing something different every tenth of a second and you cannot lean into any of it.
Turned a quarter, the same stop drags. Let it stay on the floor and travel until it draws level with your other skate, then finish with both skates together. One continuous contact, one continuous slowing, and a position you can stand still in at the end.
The knee opening is not decoration. It is what puts the stop on the floor at an angle in the first place, and a knee held square will put it back down flat however hard you think about your foot. Quad technique, from Najete Kada's Tuto roller series. She teaches quad skating and skates it herself; nothing on this page is a claim about inline skates.
Keep going: this is one section of the full Roller Skating for Beginners guide — sizing, gear, stopping, and where to skate, in one page.