Beginner roller skating
Turn Wide and Gentle Before You Ever Turn Tight
The third cause of a skidding back foot is ambition: a sharp, tight turn attempted before the edge and the knee bend exist. The body panics and flicks the back skate round to finish the arc. A certified coach's progression is patient — wide, gentle ninety-degree curves first, and the arc tightens only as the knee bend and the balance improve, never ahead of them. Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
The third cause of a skidding back foot is ambition. The turn you are attempting is tighter and faster than the edge and the knee bend underneath it can support, so the body panics and flicks the back skate round to finish the arc by force.
A certified coach's progression is wide, gentle ninety-degree curves first. A quarter turn, drawn big, on a knee bend you can actually hold — and repeated on the weaker side until it is boring.
The arc tightens only as the knee bend and the balance improve, never ahead of them. That is the whole rule. The radius of your turn is not a decision, it is a readout of how much bend and edge you currently own.
Which reframes the tapping foot as a gauge. If the back skate starts to skip, the turn is tighter than you are ready for today — open it up, and it will carve again.
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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