New skater from Canada :)

[moni5550]

Hello! My name is Monika, I live in Ontario and recently became interested in slalom for fun and fitness. Today I bought my first pair of seba skates and had them rockered. I am so excited to try them out after I get home (on a trip for a few days where I can't atm).
When I tried them in the store it was a lot harder to control the skates than I thought, and this has made me worried. I'm wondering how everyone got started? I mean from the VERY beginning. Any tips or exercises to get used to your skates so you can then feel comfortable to start learning tricks etc.... Im a complete newbie.

[Derrick]

Originally Posted by moni5550

Hello! My name is Monika, I live in Ontario and recently became interested in slalom for fun and fitness. Today I bought my first pair of seba skates and had them rockered. I am so excited to try them out after I get home (on a trip for a few days where I can't atm).
When I tried them in the store it was a lot harder to control the skates than I thought, and this has made me worried. I'm wondering how everyone got started? I mean from the VERY beginning. Any tips or exercises to get used to your skates so you can then feel comfortable to start learning tricks etc.... Im a complete newbie.

SKATE --A LOT! You will have times when you learn fast and times when you learn slow, but never get discouraged.

Welcome aboard and have fun with it.

[Trixton]

Once you get rolling around a bit, try going in circles over and over to practice your crossovers. I used to do this for hours on end in my parents concrete drive which doubled as a basketball court. Do it in both directions from the beginning so it doesn't feel awkward to switch it up. If you practice only one direction like they do in a rink environment, you will feel awkward when you change from clockwise to counter clockwise and vice versa.

Once you get the hang of crossovers, try going slowly backwards. I would suggest checking out a local rink for two reasons. First, you can practice in a tame environment where it won't hurt as much to fall. Second, you can watch the other skaters and emulate their technique/style. Then take what you learned outdoors. You might want to pick up some good wrist guards for this. Maybe some other pads if you're starting outdoors.

Once you get good at going backwards, start doing some backwards crossovers. It may take a while to reach this level so be patient. But then it's the same thing, just go in circles over and over like you did with the forward crossovers, switching between the two directions clockwise and counter clockwise.

Then you can start doing figure eights, transitions from front to back, spins, toe work, whatever you want or feel like. From there, the sky's the limit. Just make sure to hammer the basics for a good while until you find your stride. You won't become expert overnight. Forget the destination for a while, it's all about the journey, especially with skating. Just do what feels good and have fun

[Oicusk82huh]

A wonderful way to get used to a rockered set up is to take some ice skating lessons.

A rockered frame feels just like ice skating, but on ice you can actually get some professional instruction. With inline skating there's hardly any instructors around...especially slalom.

Ditto Trixton's advice too, it's great. Most importantly have fun, and welcome!

[BigFoot]

The ice skating suggestion is a good one. Or maybe you already know how to ice skate. If so, that would be an easy switch. If you don’t ice skate, you can still watch and apply the ice skating form to your skating. I do this when I skate. My inspiration was an Olympic ice skater. I don’t know if you are a hockey fan, but tomorrow night the Ottawa Senators play the Pittsburgh Penquins in the Atlantic Division playoffs. It is going to be an exciting game and it might give you some motivation. In time, you can skate just as fast and agile. Pretty cool, huh?

In the beginning, I learned with a skate on one foot and a shoe on the other. It looked like I was skateboarding. I rolled along the side of a chain link fence so I could grab on to it for balance. I soon put on both skates and followed the chain link fence. Then after a while I stoped using the fence for balance. I’m not saying this was a great way to learn, but it worked for me.

For learning tips, keep your knees slightly bent. This lowers your center of gravity and puts you in the “ready” position to make balancing corrections with your feet. It might look funny at first, but after a while you don’t need to do this as much. Learning to turn is another good early-learning thing, and a simple way to slow down and stop. You shed a lot of speed when you turn. If you turn sharp enough, you stop. In fact, a very sharp jump-turn is called a hockey stop, but that is a more advance technique. For now, you can be content to slow down by making a turn. Also, as soon as possible, learn to skate only on one foot at a time. This will allow you to do a simple stop called the T-stop. To do this, you need to balance on one skate and lightly drag the other skate sideways behind you. Learning to stop will help you lose the fear of crashing/falling and give to confidence to try new moves.

Go Monika! The world is sprinkled with smooth skate-able surfaces waiting to be played on, surfed and enjoyed.

[ursle]

As I read the thread I imagine you grew up ice skating, I did, roller skating was a simple process, but I ascertain you didn't
So get wrist guards, take your time, And put in hours, roller skates may be easier to start on, get your balance then switch to inlines.

[nickajshelden]

welcome

how I got started: spent 5 hours acquiring blisters at the rink in quad skates until I was fast enough to pass everybody and keep up going backwards. just didn't give up. I was a cyclist, so many of the physical concepts were familiar

my tip would be start slow, move both feet in mirror motions and try to work out in your head what every force from your feet will do. It's a head game, a physics playground. solve it, and the rest will be finish work.

only difference from ice skating, in my egotistical opinion is cornering (and toe picks, if you used those).

[nickajshelden]

For learning tips, keep your knees slightly bent. This lowers your center of gravity and puts you in the “ready” position to make balancing corrections with your feet. It might look funny at first, but after a while you don’t need to do this as much..

bending knees also helps when you fall. your wrists are most likely to get injured in a way that you will feel for days to come. if you have your knees bent, you will more likely fall on your rump or to the side (hopefully roll). also, this will lower your stance and you will simply have a shorter fall, that is, less a moment of inertia when you hit the ground, that is, less injury. in any case, wear protective gear and enjoy (it's safer than cycling)