Beginner roller skating
Rehearse Where Your Weight Goes in Shoes, Before You Lace Up
Before the inline skates go on, one thing can be checked at home, in shoes. ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby uses a simple standing exercise to show how the bend of the knees decides where the weight sits across the feet: knees straight and it drifts back; knees forward over the toes, body up, and it settles where it should. Skate day starts with that check, off the skates.
Most of what goes wrong on inline skates is decided before the wheels turn: by where the weight sits over the feet. That can be checked at home, in shoes, before the skates go on.
A certified coach uses a simple standing exercise for it. Stand in shoes and notice where the weight is across the feet. Let the knees go straight, and it drifts back towards the heels, the position that tips a skater backwards. Bring the knees forward over the toes and the body up, and the weight settles across the front half of the feet, where it should be on skates.
The bend of the knees is what decides it. That is the whole lesson of the exercise, and it is easier to feel in shoes, on a floor, than on eight wheels with everything else going on.
So skate day can start with that check, off the skates. Knees forward, body up, weight forward, felt once in the hallway; then the boots go on and the same position is what you are looking for on the wheels.
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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