Beginner roller skating
The Spread Eagle Starts With a Pivot, Not a Stretch
Both skates open, toes pointing opposite ways, rolling as though they were on a rail. It looks like a position you pull your feet into, and it is not. Come out of a small lemon with the skates parallel, press down on the front of one skate, and let its heel swing all the way round through half a turn. Knees bent, weight in the wheels. The slight curve your line takes is normal and correct. Quad technique, from Najete Kada.
The spread eagle is the position where both skates are open, toes pointing in opposite directions, heels close together, rolling as though they were running along a rail. Knees bent, weight down in the wheels.
Almost everyone tries to get into it the same wrong way, by pulling their feet apart until the toes point outwards. That is not how it is done. You pivot. Because you are already rolling forward, you press down on the front of one skate and let its heel swing all the way round through half a turn.
The entry that makes it easy is a small lemon. Push out, come back, and at the moment the skates are parallel again, open one of them with that pivot. The move is a rotation, not a stretch, and nobody arrives at that on their own.
One more thing that stops people worrying: your line will curve slightly, and that is correct. A gentle arc is the normal spread eagle. Quad technique, from Najete Kada's Tuto roller series. She is a French champion in artistic roller skating and teaches quad; nothing on this page is a claim about inline skates.
Keep going: this is one section of the full Roller Skating for Beginners guide — sizing, gear, stopping, and where to skate, in one page.