Have you heard that roller skating is making a comeback?
Due to the global pandemic, most of us have been in some form of quarantine, having limited or no access to many of our daily activities and sports. For figure skaters like me, most of us have had no access to ice rinks and, even now, access is still limited. This makes it hard to train and stay in shape for our sport.
The good news is that many of us have redoubled our off-ice training efforts and found new joy in skating off ice in the great outdoors. It’s a great opportunity to share the love of skating with others.
How do we train? How do we even try to skate? Well, let's talk a bit about that and how we can get a foundation for figure skating in along the way!
What Equipment Do I Need?
To start, I'd highly recommend getting a pair of roller blades or inline skates to assist in this skating journey.
Why? I’ll be discussing how we can use roller and inline skates as practice tools. Granted, they will not feel the same as figure skates do due to the rocker of the skate blade on the ice versus the hi-2-lo system that many inline skates have and the dual truck system that roller skates have, but they still have similarities to figure skates.
Let me give you a few examples:
1. This is a Quad Artistic Roller Skate, available on my Amazon Storefront.
Roller skates have a 2-truck system that is mounted onto a boot. In this example, the two trucks are on a singular base as seen above. This allows for them to be placed on any other shoes you'd like as well. There is a lot of culture to roller skating, and if you find yourself intrigued by these, I highly suggest watching the documentary United Skates. It changed the way I viewed roller skating, for sure.
I want to also add that there is a similarity between roller skates and figure skates with the "toe pick/stopper." People do jump in roller skates and achieve very similar movements to what we do in figure skating, but the parallel wheel system does change the technique and approach.
2. This is a Freestyle Fitness Inline Skate, also available from my Amazon Storefront.
You will notice the difference is in the "in-line" of the wheel placement. The wheels are placed in line, which is much more like a normal skate blade. Different inline skates may have wheel structures to them. Personally, I have a pair of hockey inlines that have larger wheels in the back and smaller in front; this is called a Hi-Lo system.
I recommend getting a "freestyle" pair like these. I would not go for street or park because that is a very different kind of roller skating.
You might notice that this pair has no stopper in the front or in the back. You may feel most comfortable getting a pair with a rear stopper that acts as a brake, and then you can remove the stopper as you gain confidence. You will still be able to perform the ground movements with a stopper for now.
3. This is an Off Ice Skate, which is designed to replicate the feeling of being on figure skates.
“The Off-Ice Skate has a uniquely shaped rockered chassis, which means that at any one time you are balancing on no more that 2 of the wheels. … There is a toe rake at the front, which enables you to perform all the jumps. All of these components, along with the fact that you are ven able to spin on one wheel, ensures that the skater can perform jumps, spins and all the other skills found on the ice.”
Off-Ice Skates have been used by skaters on the United Kingdom ITV show Dancing On Ice that I was part of, so feel free to Contact Me for more information.
IMPORTANT: Safety first! I strongly recommend wearing a helmet while skating outside, as well as pads: knee, elbow and wrist guards.
How Do I Start Skating?
How do we use these tools to help us get some off-the-ice ice training? What is important to know is that the way you bend, push, lean and guide is almost all the same as figure skating. What will change are the micro movements and the rock that will provide more continuation of momentum and accessibility to turns when we get on actual blades and ice.
If you’re just learning to skate, the roller or inline skates will give you an advantage when winter comes, and you want to try ice skating!
I've started with a basic skill that will guide you in a safe direction of finding that push, bend, lean and balance through a foundational movement called "the swizzle."
The swizzle is the making of a lemon-like shape through a push into the surface below, created through the contraction and extension of your legs in an angular push behind and around in the lemon shape, with a finalizing squeeze together bringing the legs together.
Using roller and inline skates for this will provide the momentum you need, but the creation of the ellipse will be significantly harder than on ice the because of the lack of a rock. Though harder, it is still safer as you will maintain connection with the surface with both legs at all times. This is also an exercise that will help with finding balance at different ranges of the leg extension. This may seem simple, but finding where the pelvis is in relation to the rest of the body can sometimes escape us.
What's most important with this movement is knowing and "FINISHING" the start and finish. The swizzle starts in a V formation with the heels together and toes out, then continues to ellipse until the toes come together in a "^" formation with the heels flared outward. Making sure these points are hit is extremely important to continuing your momentum and being able to link multiple swizzles together in the future.
Here's a video of me explaining swizzles and giving numerous examples of how to do them in both inline skates and Pic Skates, which are similar to the Off-Ice Skates described above. There are many videos of how to do other off-ice skating skills and how they relate to figure skating on my Patreon Page.
Where Can I Skate Outdoors?
If you live in northern New Jersey, you may have heard of the Skater’s Circle in Central Park, New York City. This is an amazing place to watch skilled roller skaters do their thing and get inspired! However, if you’re just learning or looking for someplace closer to home, seek out recently paved, smooth roads with little traffic, parking lots that aren’t used on evenings and weekends (you’ll see that is where my video was filmed) and smooth paved trails, like bike trails. As you gain confidence to go longer distances, you can check out the inline skating trails listed on TrailLink.
With that, I hope you are encouraged to get some roller blades or inlines and get that feeling of momentum and balance outside! It’s great outdoor summer exercise.
Stay safe, stay healthy, get exercise and keep learning!
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