Beginner roller skating
The First Spin to Learn Is on the Toe and Heel Wheels
A spin always gets a wow, and on quads there is an easiest way in. A certified coach starts with the toe/heel method: weight on the front wheels of one skate and the back wheels of the other. It is the simplest spin to begin with, and it belongs in a dance sequence as much as in plain skating. This is where spinning starts. Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
A spin always gets a wow. It is one of the few moves that reads as skill from across a rink, and a certified coach treats it as an essential one — something to add to a dance sequence as much as to ordinary skating.
There is an easiest way in, and she starts there: the toe/heel method. The weight goes onto the front wheels of one quad skate and the back wheels of the other, and the pair turns together. It is the simplest spin to begin with, which is exactly why it is the first one to learn.
Simple does not mean quick. Her tutorial builds the technique very slowly, and the next two pages carry the two things it insists on: how much rotation to attempt at each stage, and how the weight has to be shared between the two skates for the spin to keep going.
The full spin is the last thing that arrives, not the first. This page is where spinning starts: two skates, front wheels and back wheels, and a turn small enough to be done properly.
Technique from Asha Kirkby of Skatefresh, an instructor certified by the Inline Certification Program who also teaches quad skating. This page is about QUAD skates first: it comes from her roller-skate and quad tutorial, and the site's own skater does not practise quads, so nothing here is vouched for by her.
Keep going: this is one section of the full Roller Skating for Beginners guide — sizing, gear, stopping, and where to skate, in one page. Free, no sign-up, nothing to buy.