Beginner roller skating
Transitions Are the Most Frustrating Intermediate Skill
Turning from forwards to backwards while rolling is the intermediate skill that tends to cause the most frustration, says ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby. For most skaters the weaker-side transition does not exist at all, or feels very awkward and clumsy. Worth knowing before you start: on inline skates, the struggle is the usual shape of this skill, not a sign that you are behind.
Turning from forwards to backwards while rolling is the move that separates a beginner from an intermediate skater, and a certified coach is blunt about what it costs.
Transitions are the intermediate skill that tends to cause the most frustration. Not the crossover, not the one-foot glide: the transition. She says it in answer to a skater asking for help with his weaker side, and she says it as a general fact about the skill.
For most skaters the weaker-side transition does not exist at all, or feels very awkward and clumsy. This site has already said to train the side you avoid; the transition is where that advice bites hardest, because the gap between the two sides is at its widest.
That is worth knowing before you start. On inline skates the struggle with transitions is the usual shape of the skill, not a sign that you are behind. The next page is about the other surprise: the good side is not as good as it feels.
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. Free, no sign-up, nothing to buy.