Balancing On Roller Skates - Getting Control Of Your Roller Skating Fundamentals

In this video we're going to cover balance, balancing on one foot and transferring our weight. And we're going to start without skates. This is great for small spaces as well. Before you put your skates on, just stand on one foot. Feel how your foot's making constant little tiny adjustments to keep you balanced. And I'm going to use my upper body as well, which we're going to do when we're skating. So just notice that feeling of adjusting because that's what you're going to need when you get your skates on. First thing we're going to do is just standing still and we're just going to lift one foot. Oh, better have something to lean on, I think, don't you? Can I have a chair please? There you go. Thank you. So all you're going to do is hold on and balance on one foot and just feel the balance. I actually think it's easier to balance in skates than it is in shoes, but that's just me. Once you've got your balance, you can let go. So if you're doing this on carpet, it's going to be a lot easier because your wheels won't roll. But if you're indoors on some sort of laminate or wooden floor, you might get a little bit of roll, which you'll have to control. So the reason I'm showing you this is because when you start to skate, what often happens is you get the penguin move. And that's because you can't balance to get more weight on one foot than the other. So once you're confident that you've got your balance standing, let's get you moving. As a new skater, I don't expect you to put your skates on and balance on one foot whilst rolling immediately because that's just terrifying. So what we're going to do is we're just going to roll on two feet. So you can do your bubbles and then you can roll. And all I want you to do is just feel that you've got more weight on one foot than the other. You haven't even got to lift your foot at this point. So do a bubble and then just lean your weight all the way onto one foot and all the way onto the other foot. When I say to you, change your weight, the easiest way to think of it is you're going to put the knee over your toe and that will transfer the weight from one side to the other. So you just do that when you're skating. So transfer knee over toe. All I'm doing is transferring weight. I'm not lifting my feet yet. That will come in time. So the penguin comes from your weight being central. You cannot skate with your weight central. You have to shift the weight from one foot to the other. So by doing this, you're shifting your weight. So the more confident you get, you'll be able to lift your feet and that will get you skating. So I'm telling you to do this. So shift, shift, shift. As you get better, you'll be able to lift the foot. Don't lift this foot here because it's still going to pull your weight central. So when you lift the foot, you need to take it back. So my feet together, shift, back. Together, shift, back. If you don't take this back and keep it close to the other foot, it's going to pull you off. So I'm just going to show you a progression. So you're going to do a bubble and then you're going to just lean over on one side and then the other. And this is just how you're going to practice. So I'm feeling a bit more confident now. So this time I'm going to do a bubble and this time I'm going to get all my weight on here and I'm going to lift this foot. And you can do another bubble and get all your weight on the other one and lift that one. So you can take it really slowly, just at your own pace, so you're really comfortable and confident when you're doing it. This drill will really, really help you in your skating and it will lead to stroke skating, which we've done a video on. This is such a core, fundamental, being able to shift your weight. It's so important. So keep practicing. It's going to be frustrating, I'm sorry, but please try really, really hard and take it at your own pace and you will get there and you will notice a huge difference once you get it. I'm Katie, you've been watching Skatie and I'll see you next time. Bye! Before you put your skates on, you're going to be like, did you save the floor? Did you save the floor? Oh, my central.