Beginner roller skating
On One Foot, Sink Into the Strap Instead of Hopping the Rail
Gliding over a tram line on one skate, the reflex is to unweight or hop the skate across the gap. A certified coach says the opposite: do not lift, sink deeper into your ankle strap for stability and let the wheel roll through. The backwards version follows the same rule — cross the gaps in a reverse scissor with your weight held securely over the trailing leg, never floating. Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
Gliding over a tram line on one skate, the reflex is to make the skate light: to unweight it, or to hop it across the gap. It feels like the safe move. A certified coach says it is the opposite.
Do not lift. Sink deeper into your ankle strap for stability and let the wheel roll through. A skate that is loaded and settled tracks straight over a gap; a skate that is floating has nothing holding its line, and that is when the wheel wanders into the slot.
The backwards version follows the same rule. Cross the gaps in a reverse scissor with your weight held securely over the trailing leg — the one that leads when you are going backwards — never floating between the two.
It is the same lesson as the first method, reached from the other end. There, weight on the back foot kept the front skate light enough to roll over; here, on one skate, there is no other foot to give the weight to, so the answer is to commit to the one you have.
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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