Basics steps of skating

Standing




Establishing an athletic stance with good balance is of prime importance to the novice skater. A proper posture is essential for mastery of the maneuvers that follow.

Difficulty: Easy

Here's How:
Stand in the ready position.
Place your hands out in front of you.
Bend your arms at the elbows to a 45-degree angle with your upper body.
Bend at the knees, so that your weight is on the balls of your feet. You should feel your lower shins pressed against the tongues of your skates.
Bend forward slightly at the waist as if sitting in a chair. That's it! You've now established the correct skating stance to maximize your balance. Your center of gravity is now centered over your skates.
To establish a staggered skating stance, repeat steps 1 through 5 from the above procedure. Now, let's take it a step further and add a staggered positioning of the feet. This works to improve your stability and allows an inline
skater to absorb bumps and vibrations while remaining in balance at all times.
When you're ready, separate your feet until they are about 10 to 12 inches apart.
Position your right skate out in front of you while your left skate remains behind.
Adjust this staggered positioning until the heel of the front skate is about even with the toe of the back skate. There you have it!
Tips:
The staggered stance keeps you stable, centered over your skates, and in balance.
Remember to keep your muscles relaxed. If you learn to relax, you'll be able tohandle varied terrain and changing speeds, as well as conserve energy and avoid fatigue.
What You Need:
A schoolyard, outdoor skating rink, or church compound.
Safety equipment
Inline skates


How To Stop

The heel stop is a critical skill for all inline skaters to learn. You employ the brake at the rear of your right skate brake for this stop. Your body weight needs to be centered or even slightly on your back skate when you're just learning the heel stop. The keys are a straight back and bent knees.

Difficulty: Average

Here's How:
Move into a staggered stance with your breaking skate out in front.
Once you feel stable, bend forward at the hips and knees.
Extend your braking skate forward.
Lift the toes up in the front of your braking skate.
Push your heel down in the back of your braking skate, which forces you to apply the brake.
Tips:
You may find that you aren't slowing down enough or not getting enough toe and heel action for braking. This is very common with beginners. If this is happening to you, you need to get further down in the knees during step #2 when you bend forward at the hips and knees. You should actually feel it in your quads as you drop further down. When you can feel it in the quads, you'll get the necessary heel force on your brake to slow down.
Remember to keep a straight back at all times.
What You Need:
Schoolyard, church compound, or outdoor skating rink
Safety equipment
Inline skates

How To Turn

Turning effectively on inline skates requires edging and weight transfer, which are the basic skills involved in alpine skiing and parallel turning.

Difficulty: Average

Here's How:
To make one turn to your right, push off with both skates.
Skate a short distance to gain speed.
Go into a staggered stance with hands out front.
Keep your feet about 10 to 12 inches apart. The heel of the right skate should be about even with the toe of the left skate.
Place more pressure on the outside edges of the wheels of your right skate by pushing down with the ball and big toe of your right foot.
Point your hips and feet to the right.
Keep you legs together and coast to a stop.
To make one turn to your left, push off with both skates.
Skate a short distance to gain speed.
Drop into a staggered stance with hands out front.
Keep your feet about 10 to 12 inches apart.
Place more pressure on the outside edges of your left skate by pushing down with the ball and big toe of your left foot.
Point your hips and feet to the left.
Keep your legs together and coast to a stop.
Tips:
While shifting your weight in steps #5 and #12, be sure to also move your upper body and arms in the direction you want to go. This helps to compliment the movement in the lower body.
What You Need:
Schoolyard, church compound, or outdoor skating rink
Safety equipment
Inline skates


How To Stride and Glide

If stopping is the most important maneuver in inline skating, striding and gliding is the essence of the sport. This is the core skill to master.

Difficulty: Average

Here's How:
Stand in the ready position.
Drop into a staggered stance with your right skate out front.
Using the inside edge of your left skate, push outward to your left side toward the ten o'clock position. You have now taken your first stride.
While your left skate is in the air, glide forward with your full weight on your right skate to provide directional stability. You have now taken your first glide.Circle your left skate back under your body until it returns to the home position next to the gliding skate.
Using the inside edge of your right skate, push outward to your right side toward the two o'clock position.
Glide forward with your full weight on your left skate.
Circle your right skate back under your body until it returns to the home position next to the gliding skate.
Repeat steps 3 through 8 above from side to side.
Tips:
When you push outward and to your left side as far as possible, you're actually using the inside edges of all four wheels of your left skate to accomplish the striding part of the maneuver.
When you become good at striding and gliding, you'll become an effective skater in terms of your movements, as well as an efficient skater when it comes to conserving energy. Why? Because your wheels spend a minimum amount of time on the pavement, which reduces your rolling resistance. This means you won't have to work as hard to reach a given distance. This is an important factor when skating longer distances.
What You Need:
Schoolyard, church compound, or outdoor skating rink
Safety equipment
Inline skates