Things you don't know

[Derrick]

Originally Posted by Mort

Ya know tho, whqt I learned last night at practice and session is my friend does not know how to plow stop. I was floored. Did not believe it that such a skater couldnt do a plow... considering I taught him how to backwards hockey stop and backwards plow stop recently, which to me takes more skill to perform. I always figured he knew already and since he could hockey stop he never did it.

Never sell yourself short. There are a lot of mediocre skaters and even newbies on our junior team that would make our coach look embarrassing when it came to a plow stopping! So just because you see a great skater, does not mean that they are as good as you may think they are. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, all you can do is work on them.

Funny, .i was skating with one of the Domes best skaters. Rink Rat, related to the owners. So he's much better than me. (One day he came up to me a said watch what I can finally do. An IB spin, totally jelly here). We were side surfing a bit. And I said, now I'll go left and you right. He couldn't do it that way. Like what?

Of course, thers a million things I can't do, or never even thought to do as well.

[Mort]

Originally Posted by Derrick

Funny, .i was skating with one of the Domes best skaters. Rink Rat, related to the owners. So he's much better than me. (One day he came up to me a said watch what I can finally do. An IB spin, totally jelly here). We were side surfing a bit. And I said, now I'll go left and you right. He couldn't do it that way. Like what?

Of course, thers a million things I can't do, or never even thought to do as well.

I cant side surf to save my life! Tight spots and maneuvers that require holding a side surf, im done.. i can transition my ass off though! Outward hip flexibility is my weakness. The kids know I can chase cars down the street and do a lot of ridiculousness, but it floors them that I cant skate sideways. I even taught my own kid how to do it, yet I cannot.

For me though its flexibility on that trick. When you can barely make a wide spread V with your feet, your fighting a losing battle. Im sure there is a LOT of figure moves out there that are beyond me as well. For the embarrassing side surfing I can do, it MUST be right leg forward. Left leg forward = INSTANT transition lol.

Some skate patterns for tricks get me too. Theres one that I just could not get, and it really used to piss me off. I had to sit down and study it for ever it seemed. Finally got it but man what a pain in the arse.

[Derrick]

I can't do those toe patterns at all yet. And anything that requires pigeon toed work is especially tough for me. I'll still try to learn it, but I doubt I'll ever be great at it.

[Joey]

I can do ANYTHING on skates. Almost.....

I have a million hours of experience in quad indoor and out, artistic couple dance, bounce, line dance, and on inlines I have 2 million hours of speed, hockey, long distance recreational, slalom, frontward, backwards, whatever.

BUT...I DON'T KNOW how to inline skate on ONE wheel. I can't roll even two inches. I can't even get comfortable PLANNING to lift the other skate off the ground to roll on one wheel, front or rear. I see pro slalom skaters go the length of the cone line on one wheel. Hell, I see 7-year-olds doing it. It wouldn't bug me so much if they didn't make it look so freaking EASY too. I see them and say to myself "I can do that". Then I get out there and wonder "How on earth....?"

Also BTW, watching @foot2big videos of aggressive skating here on the forum shows me that there are TONS of things I can't do on skates. Currently, I just don't care about those particular things. It's the one wheel thing that really chaps me.

Also...I don't have a million hours skating. I stopped counting at 25,000 hours about 10 years ago. You would THINK i could do anything given five minutes to figure it out. Nope. Not quite.

[jotson]

I don't know more than I know - but I still have fun rolling!

[Derrick]

Originally Posted by Joey

I can do ANYTHING on skates. Almost.....

I have a million hours of experience in quad indoor and out, artistic couple dance, bounce, line dance, and on inlines I have 2 million hours of speed, hockey, long distance recreational, slalom, frontward, backwards, whatever.

BUT...I DON'T KNOW how to inline skate on ONE wheel. I can't roll even two inches. I can't even get comfortable PLANNING to lift the other skate off the ground to roll on one wheel, front or rear. I see pro slalom skaters go the length of the cone line on one wheel. Hell, I see 7-year-olds doing it. It wouldn't bug me so much if they didn't make it look so freaking EASY too. I see them and say to myself "I can do that". Then I get out there and wonder "How on earth....?"

Also BTW, watching @foot2big videos of aggressive skating here on the forum shows me that there are TONS of things I can't do on skates. Currently, I just don't care about those particular things. It's the one wheel thing that really chaps me.

Also...I don't have a million hours skating. I stopped counting at 25,000 hours about 10 years ago. You would THINK i could do anything given five minutes to figure it out. Nope. Not quite.

Sounds like my IB spin with a one foot entry. Wanted to do it forever. I can get 9 revs on the trainer, but just can't seem to get it on skates. I always feel I'm missing something very basic. I never give up though. Got some more expert advice I hope it helps.

[ipixu78]

I thought I'd reply to this old post with a few comments to encourage skaters seeking to expand their skill sets.

Everyone is capable of doing much more than they realize and all it comes down to is will power. It takes a lot of repetitive practice or play as I call it until you realize you have achieved something new.

I skate regularly at the rink and put myself through regular drills focusing on my weaknesses for the fun of it. Many of the 'cool tricks' I can now do I never thought would be possible when I got into skating 2 years ago. When I look back I realize that it is in constantly developing overall skills of balance and flexibility that help you to achieve some tricks.

I am 39. 2 years ago I could barely squat without needing to hang onto something and now I can almost lower and raise myself on on one leg, as I push myself toward shooting the duck. My quad flexibility is another story and this is what I'm working on now, hopefully to the point where I can do the splits.

Skating has done more for my flexibility than yoga ever did and I believe it is because when I skate I am truely at play. When you are truely at play you don't think about it, you just explore. Through the explorations you find out things about yourself.

It is true that young people generally learn faster, and this has a lot to do with their flexibility but also mostly their mindset. Your mind is still capable of thinking the way a child does, you just need to remember what that is like.

So to get good.
1. Loose the ego, and just focus internally not externally.
2. Don't limit yourself.
3. Be patient.
4. Always have fun, and loose the feeling of frustration.
5. Your body will go where you lead it.
6. Watch others and pre-visualize certain moves.
7. Don't be afraid to look like a Wally. People who judge others negatively because they don't look cool are not worth your time. Attract those that see and appreciate the fact that you are playing and are focused on the fun of it and not how you look.
8. Overtime all these things will contribute to your own style and your own style can only be seen as beautiful and amazing.

You will know when you are at work trying to achieve your goals when your wife or partner gives you crap about your skating when attempting stretching or footwork in public in your regular shoes.

So have fun, enjoy and be obsessive about rolling because it is so amazingly awesome!

[Derrick]

The IB is better. My two foot has gone from ok to very good. I still love to spin. I practice in my basement in very short spurts. That really helps.