Beginner roller skating
The Small Jump Over a Rail Is All About the Landing
A certified coach files the small jump under intermediate and says the work is in the landing: absorb it with a deep knee-over-toe bend, stay low without ever straightening your legs, and keep a slight scissor on touchdown. I would add: a jump is a choice, unlike a hill, so do not jump much at the start — and when you do, knees like springs, no panic — Cass. From ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
A certified coach files the small jump over a tram line under intermediate, after three methods that never leave the ground, and says almost nothing about the take-off. The work is in the landing.
Absorb it with a deep knee-over-toe bend, stay low without ever straightening your legs, and keep a slight scissor on touchdown. Land tall and stiff and the wheels take the whole impact at once; land low, one skate slightly ahead, and the legs take it instead.
This part is mine rather than hers, and it is about whether to jump at all. A jump is a choice, unlike a hill — once you have started down a slope you have to see it through, but nobody makes you leave the ground. So do not jump much at the start. And when you do, knees like springs, no panic, let it happen. Jumps were never my strong point, so I will not tell you what your feet should do in the air — Cass.
The two pieces of advice agree, and they arrive in the right order. First decide whether this rail needs a jump at all — usually it does not. If it does, the landing is where you spend your attention.
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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