Beginner roller skating
The Ankle Strap Test: Bend Until Your Knees Cover Your Toes
How tight is tight enough? A certified coach gives a test instead of a feeling. Do the top strap up, then bend your knees until they cover your toes. The cuff should hold you at the deepest point of that bend without stopping the movement itself. If your ankle can still tilt inward down there, the strap is not doing its job yet. Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
How tight is tight enough? Tighter is the usual answer and it is not a measurement. A certified coach gives a test instead of a feeling.
Do the top strap up, then bend your knees until they cover your toes. That is the deepest point of the working knee bend, the position this whole site keeps coming back to. The cuff should hold you there, at the bottom of that bend, without restricting the movement itself.
Two ways to fail the test. If your ankle can still tilt inward down there, the strap is not doing its job yet and needs to come tighter, or the strap end needs trimming so it can. If the cuff stops you from getting your knees over your toes at all, something else is wrong with the fit, and more tension will not fix it.
Pass it standing still, before every session, and the drills start from a boot that holds. The coach pairs this test with the strap trim on the previous page: first make the strap able to tighten, then check that it tightens enough.
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. Nothing on this page is for sale: no brand is recommended and no link leads to a shop.
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