Beginner roller skating
Your Top Strap Jams Before It Is Tight
Many beginners cannot get the top ankle strap tight enough, and it is not their hands. A certified coach names the buckle jam: a long plastic strap runs into the buckle housing and sticks before the cuff is snug. The fix is yours to do: trim about a centimetre off the end of the strap so it can travel further into the buckle. Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
Many beginners cannot get the top ankle strap tight enough, and it is not their hands. A certified coach describes a mechanical cause she sees on real skates: the buckle jam.
A long plastic strap runs into the buckle housing and sticks there before the cuff is actually snug around the leg. The ratchet feels closed, the lever is down, and the skate is still loose where it matters. Unless something changes, that skater may never get the boot tight enough to support them.
The fix is a job you do yourself, once: trim about a centimetre off the end of the strap. A shorter strap travels further into the buckle before it bottoms out, and the cuff can finally close on the leg. The coach's title for the video is literally why you need to cut your top ankle straps.
What a loose cuff costs, in her words: wobbly ankles, ankles that tilt inward, slow progress, and discomfort that spreads from the foot to the ankle and up the leg. It is worth a centimetre of plastic.
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.
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.