Beginner roller skating
The Hockey Stop Is Probably Not Your Next Stop
The hockey stop, or parallel slide, is the one everybody wants and it sits at the top of the difficulty list for most skaters. That is not a reason to give up on it — it is a reason not to make it your current goal. The stop worth your next few months is the powerslide from a forwards entry: far more realistic, and the one experienced skaters reach for in traffic and on slopes. Inline technique, from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
The hockey stop, also called the parallel slide, is the one everybody wants. It looks decisive, it looks like control, and it is the thing skaters point at when they say they want to get good.
It also sits at the top of the difficulty list for the majority of skaters. Not near the top — at it. For most intermediate skaters it is still a long way off, however much time they put into it, and that is a matter of prerequisites rather than talent or effort.
None of which is a reason to abandon it. It is a reason not to make it your goal right now, which is a completely different thing. Goals are not just about what you want; they are about what the next few months can realistically deliver.
The stop that is genuinely worth those months is the powerslide from a forwards entry. It is far more realistic to reach from where most skaters are, and it is the one experienced skaters actually reach for when something happens in traffic or when a slope turns out steeper than it looked. It is a working stop, not a display one.
Ambition is not the problem here. Ambition in the wrong order is, because it spends a year on the skill you cannot yet reach and leaves you without the one you needed on Tuesday. Inline 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.
Keep going: this is one section of the full Roller Skating for Beginners guide — sizing, gear, stopping, and where to skate, in one page.